Homophobia is an Addiction to Anger and Fear

By Richard Ammon
GlobalGayz.com

I have seen and read about homophobia for many years, from the streets in Eastern Europe to the recent debate on South African TV ('Is Homosexuality un-African?').

A report came across recently that Scott Lively--the American anti-gay crusader who stirred up gay-hate legislation in Uganda last year--was recently in Moldova warning legislators of the impending "outbreak of homosexuality" if they passed an anti-discrimination bill.

There are plenty of reactions to his trip, mostly critical. See JoeMyGod or Throckmorton and numerous others.

The usual vociferous pro and con voices are shouting at each other in public forums. Fortunately in quiet courtroom and research offices the truth about same-sex attraction as a natural phenomenon is proving itself legally and scientifically.

But regardless of these reasoned and studied efforts the homophobes continue their rants and raves. They will not drop their cause or cease their activities. One wonders why?

Homophobia is an Addiction to Anger and Fear
I think an essential force in all this fierce hateful drive against homosexuality is 'addiction'.

To quote the American Society of Addiction Medicine:
"Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in the individual pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors. The addiction is characterized by impairment in behavioral control, craving, inability to consistently abstain, and diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships…"

It doesn't take much to read into this definition the angry behaviors of many religious fundamentalists and evangelicals who spew vehement and toxic curses against homosexuality; who are defiantly clear-minded that it is a moral plague upon the earth, a demonic drive, an agenda to destroy heterosexual marriage, an anti-Christ, a sexual disease (along with AIDS)brought about by unnatural behavior--and they are sure that all this is a matter of choice. End of argument.

Their anti-gay words and actions are driven by an addictive craving and fear; a craving to feel angry which feels empowering, bold, forceful. And out of control. They cannot let go and cannot reach a middle ground of understanding. Hence their impairment in behavioral control.

They cannot let go because of two irrational forces in their lives, religious conviction and fear of human sexuality. The craving for religious fervor and the feeling of insensate fear are both irrational conditions. In homophobic addicts religious anger and sexual fear are both aroused emotional states of mind, separate and distinct from the more reflective and moderating cortex.

(The monastic life is a balance between these mental conditions, a deeply felt devotion and a reasoned management of that devotion. They don't rant or bash the 'enemy' in public.)

For addicts there is no reasoned middle ground. A blind, tenacious, unquestioned conviction founded in unproven religious mythology becomes an hostile emotional substance that offers spiritual ease or relief against perceived enemies. Such self-righteous fervor they believe is to be shared.

At the same time fundamentalist spiritual addicts secretly feel a deep seated fear of their own sexuality (homo or hetero), that mysterious force within one's psyche that is ever present and on the edge of overt expression. It's an animal-like impulse for objects of desire. Such an urge is to be suppressed; it underlies their loathing toward homosexuals.

Religious fervor and sexual desire--one expressed the other repressed--grinding against each other in the 'souls' of addicts. This tension increases confusion and drives hateful emotional expression against a target (gays) outside themselves; it's done in the name of another target (pleasing God) outside themselves; God is used as a political weapon.

Clearly we see here the "dysfunction in these circuits" that lead to the bizarre "psychological, social and spiritual manifestations." Who in their right mind would profane a funeral with hateful posters quoting Biblical distortions! Who would encourage inhumane discrimination in foreign countries!

More than one religious clergyman has failed to balance these two internal forces--from Catholic priests to evangelical preachers. For clergy the result is incredible hypocrisy and crime. For laymen and self-proclaimed pastors the result is hate speech, irrational beliefs, gay bashing and dangerous legislation.

The great challenge is to find recovery. Homophobes want to 'cure' homosexuality, an impossible task. In return we ask if homophobia is curable. The answer, fraught with difficulty, is yes. We are born with a pre-wired sexual orientation. Babies are not born with anger and fear.

Also see:
-Avert: Homophobia, prejudice & attitudes to gay men and lesbians
-Wikipedia: Homophobia s a range of negative attitudes toward gay people
-ADL: Homophobia is hatred or fear of homosexuals
-Statistics About Homophobia: National Organization for Women
-Racism and homophobia ‘worse in chaotic environments’

Words Matter: They Breed Homophobia That Kills

From: Washington Post
February 2, 2011

In Uganda and America: Words Matter

By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson (photo right)
IX Bishop of New Hampshire

Words can inspire good, and they can incite hatred. We're seeing a lot of the latter lately, and it's getting dangerous. Even deadly.

Last week, one of the only gay activists willing to speak out about gay rights in Uganda was bludgeoned to death with a hammer that fractured his skull. The authorities say it was a likely robbery. But David Kato's image had recently appeared in a daily Ugandan newspaper with the headline "Hang Them." His murder, regardless of its true nature, has sent palpable fear through the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gender community and their friends, colleagues and families. Because in Uganda, not only might you be murdered for being gay, there is formal legislation that may soon go for a vote before Parliament that would make being a gay "repeat offender," punishable by death. For others - life imprisonment. It proposes extradition for all LGBT Ugandans living overseas, and prison sentences for those who don't turn in their gay friends, colleagues, and even family members.

So what does this have to do with America -- a continent away?

An array of conservative American Christians have taken it upon themselves to "educate" those in Africa about the evils evils> of homosexuality. Appearances throughout Uganda and even before the national legislative body, by people claiming to be scientistsscientists >, warning about threats to their children from homosexual predators, and calling acceptance of homosexual people a Western plot to undermine the families of Uganda, had their effect.

But it is a member of "The Family" itself who used this extremist propaganda to create the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, bill: Uganda Member of Parliament David David> Bahati. "The Family" is the secretive group that organizes the highly influential National Prayer Breakfast that is being held this Thursday morning in Washington, DC. Among the most terrifying of the statements in the bill Bahati introduced is this line: "A person who commits the offence of aggravated homosexuality shall be liable on conviction to suffer death." (photo left, David Kato)

Words do matter. While American conservative Christians feign shock that their words would lead to such draconian laws it's not nearly enough when their influence means that every moment of every day, members of Uganda's LGBT community fear for their lives. Why, they had intended no such awful thing!

In southern California, when someone is careless with a campfire, which then gets out of control and burns thousands of acres of land and countless homes, they are held accountable. Just because you didn't intend to burn down trees and homes doesn't mean you are not responsible for its happening. We hold them accountable for the very real damage that they've done, whether or not they intended that damage.

Similarly, words matter, because they can be as combustible as a match in dry underbrush. Incendiary words, whether spoken on TV, or in a town meeting, or halfway across the world, can incite hatred and even violence. When that violence occurs, it's not good enough for those who have incited it to claim no responsibility, because they never intended it. They need to be held accountable.

I know whereof I speak. I have been the target of such incendiary criticism. Dehumanizing someone - in my case someone who is gay -- is the first step in making it acceptable to "take them down." When Anglican archbishops called me and people like me "lower than the dogs" and asserted that when I was consecrated a bishop, "Satan entered the Church," it gives the crazies all the reason they need to take this to a violent level. I required full time security in 2003, and wore a bulletproof vest for my consecration. A year ago, state police arrested a man on his way to kill me - with Mapquest maps to my house, pictures from the Internet (across which the man had scrawled "Save the Church! Kill the Bishop!"), and a sawed-off shotgun and ammo sitting next to him in the passenger seat. These are not idle threats. Incendiary language has real ramifications, giving such imbalanced people the notion that such actions are warranted and acceptable.

So as a bishop in the Episcopalian Church who has been attacked for being openly gay, and as someone who has friends and colleagues in Uganda, I call on the National Prayer Breakfast organizers, as an act of good faith at this Thursday's Breakfast, to lead their roomful of influential politicians, religious leaders, and dignitaries in a prayer of compassion and concern for the family, friends and colleagues of David Kato, and pray for their protection from further harm.

People need to be held accountable for their words when their rhetoric incites people to go a dangerous step beyond verbal hyperbole. If you spread the sparks of dehumanization and hatred, then you have to own the wildfire you have had a part in causing -- in word, and let's pray, in deed.

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The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson was invested as the IX Bishop of New Hampshire in 2004. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and in 2009 gave the invocation at the opening of the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies at the Lincoln Memorial, upon invitation by President-Elect Barack Obama.

He has recently joined with leaders at Auburn Theological Seminary who are gathering faith leaders committed to justice nationwide, across region, religion, demographic and issue, to represent the majority and stand with all those whom religious extremists shun in the name of faith.

Yet Another Gay Teen Suicide

By Richard Ammon
October 10, 2010

A 19-year-old gay man from Norman, Oklahoma has taken his own life, and his parents say a hate-filled recent City Council meeting he attended may have driven him over the edge. Zach Harrington was a talented musician who’d endured years of struggles due to his sexual orientation in high school in conservative Norman, Okla. On Sept. 28, Harrington attended a three-hour public hearing on a proposal to declare October gay history month in the city. Although the council ultimately approved the proposal, Harrington’s parents described the meeting as potentially “toxic” for their son, a private person who internalized his feelings.

Full story:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20101010_12_0_NORMAN920113
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/10/gay-teen-in-oklahoma-takes-his-own-life.html

Murder by Speech
Toxic speeches from the mouths of 'righteous' people were essentially the perpetrators, the killers of this fine young man. Venom spewed out against homosexuality during a city hall meeting overwhelmed this naturally-born-gay man and poisoned his self esteem and self control. Now he is dead thanks again to the insanity of homophobes, some of whom justify crucifying gay people based on ambiguous and time-twisted misinterpreted verses from the man-made Bible (not the words of Jesus).

Bullying of gay youth by callous other young people might be understood due to their lack of maturity, but to hear alleged grown-ups spread homophobic curses against gay citizens--including gay youth--is unforgivable. It is among the worst forms of bullying since it comes from adults who are supposed to be role models and also be 'good Christians'. It is a great sadness and and curse in our free society; it's an abuse of liberty to condemn people who are different.

This is a country of differences. Historically minority groups have always been targeted by the majority (mostly WASP) but over time they have mostly been absorbed into the majority--Jew, Irish, Asian, Black. The Gays and Hispanics are the last big minorities to be targeted by hate speech. At least the Hispanics are 'only' culturally discriminated against whereas the Gays are also religiously discriminated against, so it will take longer for them to be accepted.

Meanwhile gay youth will continue to feel bad about themselves. They need all the adult approval they can get--and adults know this. A great shame on the homophobes in Norman, Oklahoma who drove this young man to despair.

But combating homophobia is not easy: http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/09/suicide-surge-schools-confront-anti-gay-bullying/