Homophobia Hurts Everyone By Warren J. Blumfeld

In the article, How Homophobia Hurts Everyone by Warren J. Blumenfeld, Blumenfeld describes his experience growing up as a homosexual, and how homophobia affected him, as well as his family and peers. To begin, homophobia can be separated into two different catergories, personal homophobia and interpersonal homophobia. Personal homophobia can be described as a personal belief system, or prejudice that homosexuals, bisexual and transgender people are entitled to, should be disliked or remain powerless, due to their desires. They are also sometimes seen as psychologically disturbed, genetically modified or defective and overall, unfortunate human beings. While on the other hand, interpersonal homophobia refers to the personal prejudice or bias that affects relationships within individuals. An example of interpersonal homophobia could be making a joke, name calling, or insulting certain individuals or groups. This can be either verbal, physical or intimidation related.

In a recent podcast regarding a transgender high school student being forced to change in the nurse’s office instead of in the locker room with other students addressed the controversy regarding the treatment of members of our society who identify as LGBTQ. Throughout the podcast, multiple individuals have voiced support for the school’s decision to isolate the transgender student when changing. Do to the opinions voiced in the podcast regarding this case, I realized that the treatment of the high school student is only one example of the existing discrimination towards those who identify as LGBTQ. As such, I intend to explore the controversy of LGBTQ and our obligations that we have as members of the same society. Throughout this paper, I

LGBT history has changed the way society works in the United States and has had an impact around the world. The homosexual community came as an impact to the world during the early 1900’s. They were considered different; odd, ill, and weak, but little did we know the effects it would have in today’s society and politics. The war, queer, and AIDs movements seem to relatively impact members of the gay and lesbian community the most. In an series of interviews in “Word is Out” conducted by Nancy Adair and Casey Adair, the reader is introduced into the lives of Pam, Rusty, and Pat; lesbian women living within their true identity during the mid-1900’s. Their stories consist of broken family relationships, marriage failure, and gender roles. To help one understand the dynamics of their relationships and lives, John D’Emilo talks about the effects of war and how it structures and damages the gay community and their opportunity for equality. Elizabeth Davis speaks about the Lesbian experience in public spaces that exposes many to find their character by associating with those that fit best to their community in “Lesbian Bar Culture in the 1930’s and 1940’s”. The LGBT community for centuries has won the spotlight in the news and many articles published in well know newspapers, but what many never get to hear or see are the struggle that many homosexuals face. Both gays and lesbians in the United States have received backlash because of their race, gender, and social class. The

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people remained silent and unseen in American culture until after the Second World War. During the mid-1950s, there was a rise in discrimination against the people of the LGBT community. LGBT individuals were seen as a threat to the American way so as that belief grew so did the harassment. Imagine living in a world that tells you what you can and cannot do. Many people of the LGBT+ community have been harassed or worse based on their sexual orientation, which goes against Article two of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Due to the prejudice against the LGBT+ community many have risen up to protest and voice their opinion against their oppressor. Society should be unbiased about sexual orientation.

The LGBTQ community has struggled for decades to receive equal treatment but despite many advancements, this group of people is still not treated justly. The prevalent discrimination and prejudice enacted against the LGBTQ community can be witnessed on accounts of the Stonewall Riots and laws that affect the community such as not allowing gay men to donate blood, sexual orientation in connection to the military, et cetera. The gay rights movement has united to eradicate these issues through support of the LBGTQ community and to help people understand the process, timing, advantages, dangers, and pitfalls of coming out, as well as recent local and international rulings of the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage and the methods, laws, and attitudes of having children.

With more and more people coming out and developing their sexual identity each year. I feel as future social workers we have an obligation to support and respect this community as well as each person's identity. Our job involves understanding this population and advocating for equal rights for all individuals. It is clear that the concept of social justice will not be realized until society can embrace the notion that different does not mean bad.“The only idea involved in all questions of sexual orientation are the great transcendent issues of justice and love. Acceptance of the homosexual community will leave both communities free from the need to conform to narrow stereotypes and free to develop all the qualities that belong to the fullness of the human personality.”( Blackwell, C. W., Ricks, J. L., & Dziegielewski, S. F.

Throughout the years, the LGBT community has put forth tremendous effort to gain rights and recognition in the United States. Yet there have been numerous laws that have discriminated and made them feel unequal. LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered. Many people in the community have a hard time accepting who they truly are in terms of sexual orientation or gender identity. Coming out is challenging enough on its own, and laws and regulations that discriminate against those who only wish to live freely can make it hard for them to do so. Living in the time period we do, we have seen many changes in the right direction as far as having equal rights for all, but it has not always been this way. There have been many movements and actions the LGBT community has taken over the years to get to where we are today. There have also been many laws and regulations specifically targeted at same-sex and transgendered individuals, some of which that still apply today.

Although the issue of LGBT+ has been thrust to the forefront of issues in contemporary society, this is a battle that has affected social, political and health-related spectrums of our communities for decades. For many years, homosexuality was thought to be a psychiatric illness. In fact, it was defined as such by the APA until 1974. Gay conversion therapy was fairly popular, subjecting numerous patients to horrendous acts of torture in the name of medicine(source 3). On top of these brutal and quite frankly inhumane acts, there were laws and regulations prohibiting homosexuality. Although very loosely acted upon, it was these documents that paved the way for discrimination of LGBT members of the society to be discriminated against. Men and women alike could be easily discriminated against when trying to obtain housing or applying for immigration(Source 2). Without being able to partake in society as a functioning person, the disparity between sexual minorities and their heterosexual counterparts grew immensely.

Homophobia has destructive effects within the Black LGBTQA community due an increase in discrimination. Young kids who identify as LBGTQA may find the people around them as unsupportive due to the homophobic environment they may be exposed to by their families, friends, and peers. They are often targets of vicious, violent attacks, which include emotional and physical abuse from their families or peers. Parents who resent their child that identifies as LGBTQA often resort to name-calling, physical violence, and abandonment to show their child the wrongs of homosexuality to convince them to change their sexual orientation. Some of the children that go through this repetitive abuse, find an escape by running away from their families, about 40%

Homosexuality has been an issue for the public for an extremely long time dating back to even Ancient Rome and Greek. Especially with the birth of Christianity, the religious society has been persecuting anyone claiming homosexuality, forcing people to hide their own sexuality for centuries. It is important to understand and know the past of the homsexuality to understand the reason for their fight and the mentality of their opposition. Homosexuality has never been accepted into the norms of society and was even viewed as a mental disease by the American Psychiatric Association (Bowman). Not until a few decades ago has the movement for gay rights began to kick off. The event that really set off the movement was the Stonewall Riot of 1969. “New York’s gay community had grown weary of the police department targeting gay clubs, a majority of which had already been closed. The crowd on the street watched quietly as Stonewall’s employees were arrested, but when three drag queens and a lesbian were forced into the paddy wagon, the crowd began throwing bottles at the police” (“Stonewall”). This event is regarded as the foundation for the modern gay rights movement including the formation of many gay, lesbian, and bisexual civil rights organizations.

In the modern era, people of the United States of America have increasingly become more tolerant and accepting of differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. However, the new liberal mindset of people regarding characteristics such as race and sexual orientation would not be possible without the relentless protesters and dedicated activists who fought hard to make their views heard through a movement that would greatly impact and shape the future of this country. The gay rights movement which started in the late 1960’s aimed at achieving human rights for homosexuals; the phenomenal empowering poems and widely acclaimed literary works of Audre Lorde significantly promoted gay rights and provided a unique point of view of the life of a homosexual.

As anyone in the 21st century can attest to, our social and moral norms are constantly changing. Things that were once considered taboo or unacceptable even 50 years ago are now more commonplace and an accepted aspect of our culture. One area that has showed a great increase of acceptance among people is the issue of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgendered rights (LGBT). While there are numerous social issues that I believe are important to our society and culture, I felt a special need to research and report on LGBT rights, as it seems there are so many people who are blatantly opposed to this lifestyle for various reasons. I feel it is important for people to not only understand the advances that have been made, but more importantly,

Looking back throughout history at the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender individuals, it isn’t hard to see that we have made the majority of our strides in the past 10 years. As a society we have decided the time is now to put an end to the lack of rights for people of different sexual orientations. Accepting LGBT individuals and providing them the same rights and protections as all other Americans makes us a more united, respectable Country. Everyone deserves equal treatment and opportunities regardless of what their sexual orientation may be.

The LGBT community has been silently suffering through generations. But in this generation, they are finally showing the world their voice. There have been many instances where young adults were denied their right to be who they are and now they are speaking out about the mistreatment. Even though the united states have begun to be more open about the LGBT community here is still more change it come. These changes can be explained through many sociological perspectives including: functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionism and interactionism. Along with these perspective religion, norms and deviance all impact these individuals who are striving to be open about who they really are inside and out.

The struggle for equality has been intense, and still continues to this day. With this being said, much progress has been made in establishing respect and external acceptance for all individuals sense of identity. For example, in 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Same Sex Marriages, marking a pivotal point in the civil rights movement for the LGBTQ community. For many, this act helped to support their sense of self, a right that been denied for so long. The United States effectively validated the LGBTQ community, giving this group all rights granted to all other citizen’s, However, the creation and acceptance of this community has not had positive benefits for all members. The Gender Binary has been changed, but many distinctions