Gay and Lesbian Haters

[September]

Why? What do straights get out of bashing Gays and Lesbians? Why can people be productive and respected members of society and when people find out they are Gay or Lesbian everything changes? Why should Gay and Lesbians be quiet about their identity in order to be accepted? Why do people assume it is about sex and not love?

[Engels]

I wish I knew the answers.

I suspect a certain amount of the homophobic comments you encounter come from those (usually men) who are a little uncertain of their own sexuality. Call it the Larry Craig syndrome. Sadly a lot of hatred and intolerance is picked up from parents. If a kid grows up hearing his dad cussing and growling about "faggots" etc. - he'll probably be the same way. The same is probably true for racism and other anti-social behaviors.

[starrzzz]

Because fear and misunderstanding of people who are "different" from you breeds ignorance, hate and intolerance.

["shazbat"]

Why do people hate "others", be it race, religion, nationality or other, it's always been fear of the unknown combined with ignorance and in this case the perceived association of gay relations with sexual perversion, ie. pedophilia or other deviant behavior.

[September]

It is not the same thing as those who hate "others". This one goes across race, religion, nationality, whatever. When it is associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the States, people take offense.

["shazbat"]

It is not the same thing as those who hate "others". This one goes across race, religion, nationality, whatever. When it is associated with the Civil Rights Movement in the States, people take offense.

Why is it not same? Is this a bizarre question of semantics?
I see it as a perfect example of the "SELF" "ID" "EGO" or whatever you want to call it extablishing the base line of what all OTHERS need to judged by or compliant with. If you do not then you are suspect.

[September]

No it is not bizarre and it is not about semantics. My point is that the type hates you mentioned have origins in some sort of tribal or communal connection wherein one group shuns another. It is hard to find another group of humans who are shunned by as many other groups as gays and lesbians.

["shazbat"]

No it is not bizarre and it is not about semantics. My point is that the type hates you mentioned have origins in some sort of tribal or communal connection wherein one group shuns another. It is hard to find another group of humans who are shunned by as many other groups as gays and lesbians.

As do "anti-gay" sentiments, for example the Sodomites which were shunned by the "tribes of Israel" as published in the Torah and Bible.
No difference, it's still a manifestation of "the others", along with race, gender, national or tribal origin, physical deformity or illness or any other of a million possible differences.

It is a psychological norm to hate, dislike or distrust anything which is different or unfamiliar. There is nothing tribal about it, it's built into our psyche as human animals.

[September]

There is nothing tribal about it, it's built into our psyche as human animals.

Nothing at all? How are you so sure?

["shazbat"]

Nothing at all? How are you so sure?

Lacking any imperial facts to the contrary the same thing that makes you so sure that it is. My opinion.

The direction of this thread and your strong opinion as to potential causes for hatred of "alternative life-stylers" has given me pause for thought and introspection.

As a child there was no teaching implied or other to dislike gays.
There was always the "don't take candy from strangers" and "watch out for the strange guy down the street that likes to mess with little (fill in sex here) children". But there was no teaching to specifically hate gays.
But as it was the 60's in West Virginia there were no gays and thus no lessons to teach.

Now there was obvious hatred, or predjudice as I prefer to call it, for many other wide variety of ethnic and racial groups, blacks, Italians, Catholics, and anyone that just plain thought that they were fucking special.

Now as I matured and realized that there was basically nothing to fear from any of these groups, and I learned about gays and also realized that they weren't the pervert down the street and thus there was nothing to fear from them either, all of those predjudices kind of fell by the wayside.

Except for the hatred or dislike of those that just thought they were fucking special.

I never gave consideration till now that perhaps gays fall into that category, the "Tribe of self important fucks" and that is why all other tribes hate them.

Huh, go figure, you learn something new every day.

Nah, on second thought that's obviously not true as there are gay people I like and trust and there are others that I know to not be gay that are self important fucks in their own right.

Hmmm, seems to require further thought before the concept reaches the hypothesis level.

[September]

Thanks for sharing.

[The G]

They are all Gods children.

["shazbat"]

Thanks for sharing.

For the record I did research and read a variety of studies via the internet related to motivations for "gay bashing" and crimes against gays and not a single one that I came across mentioned or espoused a "tribal" theory of origin as the motivation.
The concept piqued my interest enough to check it out and there is some very interesting reading on the subject, but in the end it comes back to the same motivations that have been used against many another group from the dawn of time.

[September]

see below....

[September]

Tribal behaviors, as are evident today in the Middle East for example, can perpetuate hate. They are an expression of the idea you stated perfectly, "Hate, dislike or distrust anything which is different or unfamiliar".

It is not unusual for tribes to befriend other tribes with similar enemies, threats or for some other reason based in symbiosis. There are many examples of this behavior throughout history. In these cases the differences are put aside for mutual benefit.

As I stated originally, it is hard to find another group of humans who are shunned by as many other groups as gays and lesbians. In Western society it has been rare, until only recently, to find a tribe, community, religion or society that does not have well ingrained homophobic values and has been willing to befriend homosexuals.

This being the case, it seems rational that there may be additional reason why homophobia is so broadly practiced.

[MYCAR47562]

They are all Gods children.

I HAVE TO DISAGREE GOD SAYS IT IS WRONG TO LAY WITH SOMONE OF THE SAME SEX

DO I HATE GAYS NO BUT I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM THEM DUE TO THE FACT THAT I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM GANGBANGERS AND CRIMANLS THEY ALL ARE SINNERS I DONT WANT TO BE AROUND IT AND NO IM NOT SAYING GAYS ARE AS BAD AS THE OTHER GROUPS I NAMED HELL NO THE LADY THAT LIVES ACROSS FROM ME IS A LESBIAN AND SHE IS AS SWEET AS CAN BE BUT I STILL WOULDNT HANG OUT WITH HER

[Marcus O'Reillius]

Why should Gay and Lesbians be quiet about their identity in order to be accepted?
It used to be that homosexuals used to have a "love" that dare not speak its name. Now it's the "love" that won't shut up.

Why do people assume it is about sex and not love?
Because it is specifically about sex and having sex with more and more people who willingly engage in it.

What do straights get out of bashing Gays and Lesbians?
Notice to disagree with the homosexual agenda or calling it what it is has now been re-defined as "bashing." See, you cannot even offer criticism. The intolerance of the homosexual agenda relies on political correctness to silence its opponents.

Why can people be productive and respected members of society and when people find out they are Gay or Lesbian everything changes?
It's just a matter of character, integrity, and honesty. Democratic Representative Barney Frank doesn't have either of the first two in any sense of the word in a positive way, but at least he's honest about what he does. He's still in office and he keeps get re-elected too.