Like all phobias, 'homophobia' can interfere with the daily life of the phobic. If the fear or aversion is beyond control, the phobic person may receive a clinical diagnosis of "anxiety disorder".
Luckily for all of us, there are successful treatment options for all phobias - including homophobia.
In addition to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which can help the homophobic patient change the cycle of negative thought patterns and retake control of their lives, homophobes also respond well to sustained systematic desensitization programs (or graduated exposure therapy).
Firstly, the homophobe is taught relaxation techniques to take control of their fear.
Secondly, through a sustained and graduated program of exposure to homosexuality, the homophobe learns to control his/her irrational fear and overcome their anxiety disorder.
In addition to the troublesome anxiety caused by homophobia, homophobes also experience social isolation due to impared emotional funtioning. Fear of homosexuality limits emotional bonding and physical intimacy with members of the same gender. These basic human needs become only available through different-gender-intimacy, which, often linked to sexual activity, is therefore limited in its availability.
The uncontrollably anxious and 'hugless' homophobe's suffering can, if unchecked, manifest itself in antisocial behaviour (unprovoked verbal assaults), and at its worst, physical violence. The last 24 hours of Matthew Wayne Shepard's life remind us that the suffering inflicted by homophobia goes well beyond the anxiety and emotional isolation of the homophobe.
Thus, unlike most phobias, the major victim of homophobia is not the phobic patient him/herself, but the object of the fear itself: the homosexual. This transference of victimhood - where the pathological homophobe projects his/her pathology onto the homophobia who thus becomes stigmatised - allows whole groups of homophobes to reinforce their anxiety disorder and mask responsibily for their pathology in phony "moral norms".
So common is this process of transference that whole societies can become infected with homophobia. The organs of the state, instead of seeking a cure of pathological homophobic behavior in the wider population, reinforces homophobia and creates social acceptance of homophobes by institutionalising homophobia. Homophobia, instead of being treated, is normalised; homosexuality is stigmatised and punished.
State sponsored homophobia takes many forms.
In most Western countries, many homophobic states still refuse to publically acknowledge and fully legitimise homosexual relationships. For example, only 5 countries in the world (The Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Belgium and Canada) fully legitimise samesex relationships with the 'normal' institution of marriage. Though many countries allow same sex civil unions, with some or all the legal rights associated with marriage, samesex relationships are still legalisally stigmatised and devalued in relation to heterosexual marriage in most western countries, with the separate category of "civil union". Homosexuals in Western countries continue to suffer at the hands of a phobic state which denies them the civil legal protections enjoyed by straight people.
At its worst, state sponsored homophobia, finds its force through the crimial code, where the object of fear (the homosexual) is punished through the criminal sanction. According to a survey by The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) published in November 2006, 86 countries continue to criminalise consensual adult homosexual sex either through direct anti-sex laws, or through the selective application of laws of promiscuity, prostitution and immorality. In many countries homosexuals regularly suffer arrest, imprisonment and/or fines for simply expressing themselves.
Shockingly, over 300 million people (more than the entire population of the United States) live in countries where sexual relations between people of the same sex may be subject to the death penalty, including Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan. Hanging and stoning are the most popular methods of execution.
Never underestimate the means which the homophobic state will use to allow the homophobic majority escape responsiblity for their collective anxiety disorder.
According to the same survey, Europe is by far the safest continent to be a sexual minority- no country in Europe criminalises homosexuality. South America is also a relatively free place - the only country which still proscribes consenting sex between same sex adults is Guyana. Africa is probably the worst continent to be a homosexual, particularly the ex-British colonies (which inherited the pre-1967 British sodomy laws) and states influenced by Sharia Law. Across the African continent, with the exception of South Africa, homosexuals continue to be marginalised and criminalised by sexually paranoid states.
Looking at the list of countries and their individual expressions of state sponsored homophobia, it seems that, in general, richer westernised countries are more relaxed about homosexuality. State sponsored homophobia across Europe and much of the Americas is thankfully now limited to differential treatment in areas such as marriage, taxation, parenting and pension rights. Singapore (rich but undemocratic) continues to apply antisodomy laws in consenting adult sexual relations - which suggests that a vigorous democratic tradition is important for reducing state sponsored homophobia.
One country with strong and entrenched democratic traditions, however, stands out for the continuing acceptance of extreme state homophobia - India. Infact, with such a large population, the vast majority of those people on the earth who live under repressive (as opposed to discriminatory) homosexual laws actually live in India - the world's greatest democracy.
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) penalizes "voluntary carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal." (IGLHRC) with a fine and up to 10 years in prison. According to the IGLHRC "documented reports and anecdotal evidence suggest that the impact of Section 377 on lesbian, gay, bisexual, hijra, and transgender communities in India include: police violence including sexual assault, custodial abuse and extortion; forced electroshock and drug-based reparative therapies in mental health institutions; the use of police by parents and older siblings to detain and intimidate family members in gay and lesbian relationships; the arrest of NGO workers doing HIV/AIDS prevention with men who have sex with men (MSM); and daily stigma and discrimination against LGBT people contributing to significant suffering and suicides".
That sexual minorities in the world's largest democracy continue to suffer from irrational and corrosive state sponsored homophobic repression, reminds us that the gains in the civil rights of sexual minorites made in most democracies over the last 30 years remain incomplete.
Many democratically elected governments across the world continue to respond to the irrational and pathological fears of a disturbed population with discriminatory legislation. Some continue to criminalise our existence. Instead of treating their disfunctional homophobia, the heterosexual majority continues to punish sexual minorites - the object of their collective sexual anxiety.
- - - - - - - - - -
Matthew Shepard Foundation
ILGA
