Homosexuality Essay Research Paper Homosexuality in AmericaDespite

Homosexuality Essay, Research Paper

Homosexuality in America

Despite the United States. progress toward homosexual liberation in

the past few years, anti-gay and lesbian attitudes are still showing their ugly

faces. Violence towards homosexuals is on the rise, conversion groups are

popping up everywhere, conflict over homosexuality innateness is high,

religious and personal discrimination is rampant: all this in

a time when more and more gays and lesbians are .coming out. and their

coming out at younger ages. It is a time in America when we need to support

the homosexual community.

Jamie Nabozny, now an openly gay man, was a troubled teenager who

attempted suicide three times and had frequently stayed in psychiatric wards.

In high school he was tortured with emotional and physical violence from his

peers. On one occasion in his freshmen year, two boys attacked him in the

bathroom. He fell into the urinal and the boys proceeded to urinate on him.

.I just remember sitting there, waiting for it

to get over with,. recalled Nabozny (Jerome, 1). The school did nothing to

prevent the harassment. Later, in his junior year, he was beaten so severely

that he had to undergo exploratory abdominal surgery. Nabozny decided to

sue the school district. The case was thrown out, but when he appealed to the

federal courts, they decided a school could be sued for not preventing

harassment. The district settled out of court, paying Nabozny $900,000

(Jerome, 5).

Willi Wagner, a gay teenager who came out in ninth grade, was also

harassed. Most of the time the abuse was verbal, and he was always ready

with a comeback. .They.d call me a faggot and I.d call them a hick,.

Wagner said. However, things did become violent. When Wagner and some

friends were walking down the street, two vehicles stopped beside them and

eight boys jumped out. Five of the boys formed a circle around Wagner,

while the others beat him, leaving him with two black eyes, a broken nose

and many bruises. .I could feel my nose crack. It wasn.t a good feeling,.

Wagner said of the incident. Two of the boys were put on probation for the

incident; not near enough punishment for the crime (Jerome, 3).

Incidents like these are quite common. In fact, one

study showed that while the overall crime rate decreased four percent,

anti-gay crimes rose seven percent (Peyser, 1). Another study, conducted by

the Massachusetts Department of Education, found that, for homosexuals, the

high school years are filled with abuse, some of it self-inflicted. Gay and

lesbian teenagers are five times more likely to use cocaine

or skip school out of fear for safety than straight kids. Over thirty six percent

of homosexual teens will attempt suicide each year (Jerome, 1).

Conversion groups, usually run by religious denominations, are

becoming more widespread. The goal of these groups is to convert

homosexuals into heterosexuals, and in the meantime save them from the pits

of hell. Conversion groups thrive on the idea that homosexuality is

a choice, something about a person that can be changed. Some programs

include butching up the men and feminizing the women. This is done by

taking the males to sporting events and having make-up or shopping parties

for females,

or by pairing them with heterosexual .mentors. to show them the way to act.

Others have gays and lesbians imagine members of the same sex as diseased,

or perform .exorcisms.. These programs say they have about a one-third

success rate, success being when a homosexual is cured, that is when he or

she no longer acts on urges (Schoofs, 2).

Often, however, these therapies end up doing more harm than good, as

they did for Jeffrey Coates. He had been raised to believe that gay men go to

hell. So after his first sexual experience with a man, Coates joined a twenty

week conversion program called Desert Stream. He was recognized for

making excellent progress in his group, even though he admitted that he .felt

absolutely no different inside.. He continued to try to become heterosexual

until he finally decided suicide was less of a sin than same-sex relationships.

He drank heavily one night and drove home on a narrow road, hoping to drive

into the canyon. Fortunately, he made it home alive (Schoofs, 1). Now

Coates is comfortable with his sexuality and does not regret his conversion

experience merely because it helped him come to terms with himself.

Another man, Brandon Bauer, could not be accepted as gay by his

Mormon peers. He attempted suicide at age seventeen, and soon after, he

was admitted into therapy under a Mormon psychologist. He told Bauer that

he was under .Satan.s influence., that Satan was making him believe that he

could not change. Bauer.s parents were instructed to remove all magazines

that might contain male underwear models and to

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать