Suspicions Confirmed

Have you ever wondered why some people are so quick and loud to protest and demonize the lifestyle of other people -- especially since those other people are doing nothing to harm those who would criticize them? Doesn't it seem more than a little odd?

This is especially true with homophobes -- those who would demonize and even outlaw the lifestyle of gays and lesbians. The gays and lesbians are doing nothing to harm the homophobes. In fact it is quite the opposite. The homosexual community is one of the most understanding and accepting of others of any community in this country. They know what it is like to be discriminated against and vilified, and generally have no wish to do that to others.

Many of the homophobes try to hide their hatred behind their religion. I'm not buying this. I may now be an atheist, but I spent many years as a christian (including 5 years at two "christian" colleges). I know that their Jesus only laid down two real commandments -- to love god, and to love your neighbor (your fellow humans). He made no exceptions to this love of others -- not for homosexuals or anyone else. And he went out of his way to demonstrate a love for those his own society vilified.

I, along with many others, have long suspected that those who make the biggest spectacle of hating homosexuals and their lifestyle are really trying to hide their own feelings behind a wall of hatred. Now I learn of a scientific study that shows this to be true. This study is a few years old, but I just learned of it (thanks to the excellent blogger Badtux, the Snarky Penguin).

In 1996 the Journal of Abnormal Psychology published a study done by researchers at the University of Georgia Psychology Department (done by H.E. Adams, L.W. Wright Jr., and B.A. Lohr). These researchers questioned heterosexual men about their attitudes toward homosexuals, and then used this to divide the men into two groups -- those who were homophobic and those who weren't.

They then connected a device to each man's penis (which would only register sexual arousal) and showed them a series of short videos -- one showing straight sex, one showing lesbian sex, and one showing gay sex. Both the homophobes and the non-homophobes showed arousal watching the first two videos, but only the homophobic group showed arousal watching the video depicting gay sex. They were aroused by the very thing they most loudly condemned.

This goes a long way toward explaining homophobes like Ted Haggard and George Rekers who are caught doing the same thing they publicly condemned, and many others whose desires are either still latent or well hidden. Remember this the next time you hear a homophobe spouting off. He is telling us far more about himself than those he is criticizing.