Who sees the joy, the party atmosphere and freedom of the Gay Parades cannot imagine the Prejudice they suffer in their daily lives. A theme repeated over and over again in various media, homophobia is the repulsion or prejudice against homosexuals putting the other person in the condition of inferiority and abnormality based on hetero logic. It comprise from jokes until actions such as physical violence and murder to the belief that homosexuality is a disease that needs "healing."
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right" according to the Declaration of Human Rights but in practice it is quite different.
People are abused, humiliated and rejected at work, in hospitals, in schools and even by their own family. They are victims of physical and verbal aggression in the street and in some countries even tortured and dead.
State Homophobia
You did not read wrong, prejudice even exists in the legislation of some countries. The same state that should care for the well-being of its citizens (since gays also pay taxes) and protect the essential rights of the minority are the first to show signs of intolerance and violence.
73 countries in the world, the vast majority of them in Africa, prohibit and punish homosexuality with the death penalty, life imprisonment, hanging, stoning, forced labor or house arrest (for women).
Attacks and murder are frequent even when there is no trial and it is not only the state, extremist, religious and terrorist groups torture and kill with the tranquility that only the certainty of impunity allows. They claim that it is something unnatural, a "way of life that should not be accepted" as if people choose who they like.
Homophobia of every day
Even in countries that have legalized homosexuality, prejudice is still very great. It may be discreet, subtle or evident with physical, verbal, and moral aggression in which the aggressor often uses offensive words against victim or community LGBT as a whole not recognizing their prejudice by treating the occurrences of discrimination as mere "jokes".
The episodes range from shoving to beatings and treating the person as if he were disgusting, inferior, demeaning and out of the ordinary. According to the homophobic, gays attempt against moral and ethical values of society and, as expressed the opinion of the majority, is in the right to punish that which neither tries to understand, without realizing that the harmful is his hypocritical attitude.
They become aggressive when see demonstrations of affection between people of the same sex, deny service, promotion or equal treatment to the victims. Defamation is also one of his tactics as well as obscene gestures, lack of cordiality, insinuation, antipathy in social coexistence, irony and sarcasm.
There are cases in which the victim has difficulty proving that her honor and dignity have been violated, creating the impression of impunity. The beat marks on the skin disappear but the emotional scars remain open and for what? To prove that being different is a sign that the person does not deserve respect? Attitude even more cowardly is the one who blames the victim and innocent his aggressor, as if by being homosexual you deserve the offenses and the aggressions.
Prejudice starts early
Homophobia does not forgive children and adolescents, just a trick like a more delicate boy or a more masculine girl for him to face and find in school bullying fertile ground. Children should be preserved from such a crime of hatred but learn from their parents and colleagues to hate everything that escapes normalcy.
Teachers, students and even principals get involved in episodes of discrimination and when do not do so are omitted. Of course, there are good examples that use these cases of prejudice to show that being different is normal, but that is not always enough to change the homophobic behavior that comes from home.
Even with so many attempts to raise awareness, a 2015 survey shows that 70% of LGBTI students did not feel safe in schools and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Another research, conducted by Columbia University, reveals that young homosexuals are five times more likely to be suicidal than hetero young men, and the probability increases when they are rejected by their parents.
Be because cannot stand everyday discrimination or their families do not support them, many see death as the only way out of a life of suffering.
They are sad stories that could be modified by small attitudes but often the signs that a suicide gives are interpreted as means of "attention" and in a homosexual young man who isolated himself from the world are imperceptible until it is too late.
From school to work
What starts in the classrooms extends to the working day and not always a good resume is enough to get a place in the job market, not when prejudice speaks louder than competence. If you keep your job and win the respect of your colleagues it's not easy. In this respect some people find it better to hide what they are to avoid conflict, others make it clear from the beginning.
To assume towards on your colleagues is not always good.
In environments where there no room fordebate and with homophobic in the middle, silly jokes are accompanied by social isolation. Bullying can get to such an extent that often the victim has to resort to superiors to cease the episodes by appealing to ethics and their rights.
The biggest targets of homophobia at work are transsexuals and transvestites because they transgress their gender of origin and assume a new identity different from that of birth, something difficult for a biased mind to understand.
The psychological scars
Such discrimination can cause trauma by placing the person in a state of exclusion, withdrawal, intolerance and even hatred. Feelings of inferiority and shame are felt by the victim who each day considers a battle.
Embarrassment and helplessness are frequent, the person may develop physical and psychic symptoms such as panic, anguish, depression and even attempt suicide.
In this context the most affected is the man for being required of him the posture of "male" and "strong", stereotypes that are not always reality. Many feel impelled to repress their sexual orientation, their habits, their customs, and forced to fit into a world of which they are not part by creating social masks that later turn them into unhappy and frustrated beings.
In practice, sexual orientation can not be a reason for degrading treatment, but the impunity that the victims of homophobia find is revolting. Homophobes hurt, mistreat and in most cases nothing is done as nothing prevents that aggressor kill by prejudice.
And what stimulates it? That there will be no punishment.
Tougher laws against homophobia are needed. It is not only an opinion, it's violence, it's torture, it's death, it's harassment, it's suicide and causes irreparable damage to those who suffer it. Be it's the parents who bury their young son because of the evil of others, be the person who lives a lie for fear of being who are or the warrior who fights headlong against daily prejudice, every form of love deserves more than respect.
