Secret Sexuality

Homophobia results in drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, and avoidance of career choices.

Is it okay to call someone a gay, queer, or faggot when you can’t call someone a chink, wog, or nigger?

Gays and lesbians are the most isolated, and unhappy students on any campus. They suffer verbal, psychological, and physical abuse everyday due to homophobia.

Homophobia is as big a global issue as racism, bullying, obesity, or any other horrendous issues that exist in the world. These concerning issues have different causes and consequences on people. But one thing that every issue has in common is the psychological consequences that come with it. Such as depression, isolation, or anxiety, that may later lead to suicide.

Homophobia is an issue that should never be tolerated anywhere in the world. Right now, however, the public doesn’t seem to think so. Homophobia is in the school playgrounds, hospitals, police stations, or even in your home.

Over the past decade, a lot of things have been done to change the public’s opinions. One such example is Harvey Milk. Thirty years ago or so, he became the first openly gay man to be elected as a member of the board of supervisors in San Francisco. He gave hope to millions of people all over the world and was known as a martyr for gay rights.

Today in 2011, the issue of homosexuality has come a long way since 20-30 years ago. Gays and lesbians have been more included in the media. The gay icon has been changed from Harvey Milk to Ellen Degeneres, the famous gay television host. The controversial gay marriage has also been declared legal in such countries as South Korea, Spain, and Canada.

However, the fact that countless people die each year due to gay-hate homicide will not be ignored. Homophobia is inarguably still an enormous global issue that destroys people’s lives and futures every day.

 “Mum, dad, I’m gay”. Try having this conversation with your parents and see how it will go down. Will unconditional love save you from getting kicked out of the house and getting thrown into the streets?

Twenty five percent of young homeless people are homeless as a result encountered after they disclosed their sexuality. What happens to the so-called unconditional love when a child needs it the most?

It is a crucial moment in a teen’s life when they decide to finally open up to someone they’ve known all their lives. After years and years of laying low and suffering silently by themselves, they hope telling someone will make them feel love and freedom for the first time.

And what do parents do when their son or daughter finally reveals the biggest secret of their life? They kick them out of the house, leaving them with no money whatsoever, and letting them rot in the streets. When a parent fails to provide support when their child needs it the most, what choices does that child have?

This is the reason why seventy percent of gay teens don’t tell their parents. Parents don’t accept their child for who they are. They just decide to finally stop loving the person they’ve loved the most all their life, for one reason, stereotype.

Stereotypes are passed from generations to generations. It’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be stopping. For this reason, gays and lesbians feel guilty for being who they are and what they are. They feel like they are doing the wrong thing when they are just clearly being themselves.

Parents brainwash the idea of stereotypes to their baby the moment they are born. They associate different colors with different genders, different objects with different genders, and different attitudes with different genders.

If homophobia can be resolved at all, it needs to start with parents. They need to love their child for who they are. They need to learn to be open minded, not stereotypical and close minded all the time.

Two-thirds of gay teens have support from their mother and half from their father. This is a terrifying statistic. If this issue is to gain resolution, a day will have to come when parents are able look beyond their child’s personal life choices and love them for who they are.

Over the past few years, schools have done a pretty good job dealing with racism. Right now, in school, however, it seems that racism will not be tolerated but homophobia will. Students need to be taught that homophobia is ‘uncool’ the same way racism is ‘uncool’.

Fifty nine percent of students perceived that teachers ignore incidences of discrimination against gay and lesbian students. This is a terrifying and unacceptable result. Teachers need to be more aware of homophobic behaviour at school.

Homophobic language such as queer, gay, or homo, should also be prohibited in school playgrounds. It is little insults like this that peers keep feeding to homosexual teenagers which may contribute to gay-hate homicide. It’s little things like the bumps and shoves and steely eyed stares that graduate into punches, kicks, beatings, and death threats.

Homophobia is a global issue affecting millions of lives all over the world. It violates people’s rights to safety. It destroys teenager’s futures. It’s a problem that leads teenagers into homelessness, alcohol and drug problems, avoidance of school subjects and career choices, and unsafe sex choices.

The dominant religion in the world, Christianity, followed by millions of followers, has a massive impact on resolving the issue of homosexuality. It affects the way people think and act and is a religion that appears to have connotations of prejudice written all over it. Coming from a religion that says God blesses us all; gays and lesbians will not be blessed.

Homosexuality is like the weather, it just is. The Society forces you to think it’s a choice, but it’s in one’s nature. From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people. If love is really between two people as they often say, why does gender matter?  After all, love is, and always will be, free.