Is all homophobia rooted with religious beliefs

[Keithzworld]

I'm not going to say that every person who is homophobic is religious. But in my experience a lot of homophobic people have had some sort of religious morality agenda to why they are against it.

But in saying that online I've noticed a few obnoxious person's who are homophobic and jsut plain gay hating for reasons other than religious beliefs. The main arguments are "it freaks me out" "the gays caused aids" "its against nature". Of course none of these arguments really point towards facts at all.

So even though these arguments may seem non-relgious, could they be rooted with religion or perhaps have some sort of influence taken from religion even though such individuals profess to be non-relgious?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Seems to be possible.  The culture that is our environment is awash in religious influence.

However, the religious influence on someone's homophobia  would seem difficult to show.

[coltcat]

I just have a dinner with a friend , having some usual moral/gods discussion.
hes a atheist (maybe sometime a pastafarian), a practical man
and as a male , off course he like lesbians.
but when I ask if our country having a vote for gay marriage , will he vote "yes"
he told me he won't go to vote. no pro , nor con
he feels the man on man homosexuality just disgusted him. for no really clear reason.
my country dont have that many opposite voice against gay ppl. we just dont have a real law for them to marry each other.
I think if a human can born gay , off course we will have human born feel uncomfortable about homosexual.
its nothing religious, his gayphobia just becuz he got wired that way.
but again , for a world man can enjoy to having lesbians (vise versa) , support the gay marriage.

[Tank]

To disprove the question "Is all homophobia rooted with religious beliefs" one would have to find one example that was not rooted in religious beliefs. As homosexuality is a minority behaviour I would be very surprised if there have not been, or still are, societies that attempt to suppress the behaviour simply because it is considered 'different'. I can't think of a specific example but I would be surprised if there were not one.

It would appear that the dominant institutionalised superstitions (religions) all hold homosexuality to be a sin and as such allow those who follow these religions to 'look down on' and harass homosexuals. So I would agree that religious dogma facilitates and encourages anti-homosexual thoughts and feelings in the followers of said dogma. As humans are variable one would expect that some would take these feeling to extremes.

However, as religious books tend to codify the general morality of the time they are written it is possible that religion incorporated its anti-homosexual stance from the prevalent culture of the time. Once codified as dogma the views would have been reinforced. So the absolute root may not be religion, religions simply became the medium in which the meme of homophobia took root and grew.

Why the interest in the question?

[teifuani]

I stumbled upon a study earlier that suggested sometimes it may be rooted in the person's own homosexual attraction:

The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. Perry, 1992). Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8772014

I like to call it the "He doth protest too much" phenomenon.

[Squid]

Ted Haggard - perfect example.  Great find though, bravo.

[Martin TK]

I think it is human nature to inherently find fault or to dislike those things we do not understand, or that do not meet our own standards for what is the "norm."

For instance, I find homosexual behavior "odd" because I do not participate in that behavior, however, since I have no religious dogma against homosexuality, I do not have a "reason" to try and eliminate it from society, or to vote against some law that might give those who do participate in the activity equal rights.

In short, I think that what one does in the privacy of one's own bedroom, regardless of how I "feel" about it, is NONE of my business.  I would respect religion a lot more if they spent their energy and money on social issues that really benefit society, rather than on issues that have NO benefit to society at all.  For example, I was shocked when I learned how much money was spent by the Religious Right in California to try and fight the legalization of marriage in that state, thinking that the money could have fed countless children, provided healthcare for these kids, or built how many homes for the homeless, just to name three things.

I know that the "Right" is totally against social programs that are paid for by the government, but I think this is a root problem for religions.  Social programs should be the domain of the religious if they truly follow the teachings of their Jesus, but instead, the "Right" wants to control government and neglect their social responsibility.  Again, this is just my humble opinion.

[Martin TK]

I stumbled upon a study earlier that suggested sometimes it may be rooted in the person's own homosexual attraction:

The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. Perry, 1992). Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8772014

I like to call it the "He doth protest too much" phenomenon.

Thanks for sharing this, I want to do a little more research into the idea, but I can certainly see the point made.

[SSY]

and changes in penile circumference were monitored.

Really?

Also, more likely in my opinion is that people who don't like gays simply use religion to validate their bias.

[Whitney]

Also, more likely in my opinion is that people who don't like gays simply use religion to validate their bias.

I think this has a lot to do with it for those who are strongly against equal rights for gays...they just doing like the idea of two men together (man on man seems to bother Americans more than female on female...probably because we have made female female into a fantasy scenario).

When I was religious I was told to believe that sex before marriage was immoral and that god didn't like homosexuality and it was a sin too; but I didn't hate or try to deny the rights of those who had sex before marriage or of my gay friends.  Ultimately it's up to the person on if they are going to allow their religious influences to control how they treat others; I knew that being gay didn't make someone an evil person and made my religious views bend instead of my moral views.

[Sophus]

Some people try to act "reasonable" by referencing the "research" of clearly biased psychologists like Paul Cameron, which claims homosexuals have a lower life expectancy and tend to be pedophiles. Even though he's been proven to be sneaky, deceiving SOB (refer to first link   ) once those numbers are out there very few people care to research it and they go around quoting it like crazy. So this is one example of how people could become influenced by something other than openly religious BS.

[Squid]

It's people like Cameron who gives social science a bad image, especially psychology.  And no matter how many good scientists show the short comings and poor methods these people use there's still so many jackasses who will support their work and stick by them just because they share the same ideology.  I know that in Cameron's case the majority of the scientific community know he's a nut and a pimple on the ass of psychology and social science research.

[NothingSacred]

I think a big part of homophobia stems from sexism ( which can often come from religion). Homosexuality challenges gender roles. As for lesbianism being considered less threatening I think that is because of hegemony. People are often more offended by " feminine" gay men than gay men who fit into the traditional male gender role. It seems like they are saying to themselves "Why would anyone stoop to be womanly? They need to be a real man.". Lesbianism can be sexualized by heterosexual men though so that's "ok".

[Thumpalumpacus]

A very good point.  Hadn't given that angle much thought.

[Sophus]

I think a big part of homophobia stems from sexism ( which can often come from religion). Homosexuality challenges gender roles. As for lesbianism being considered less threatening I think that is because of hegemony. People are often more offended by " feminine" gay men than gay men who fit into the traditional male gender role. It seems like they are saying to themselves "Why would anyone stoop to be womanly? They need to be a real man.". Lesbianism can be sexualized by heterosexual men though so that's "ok".

That is interesting. Perhaps Homophobia is Sexism's ugly bastard child. Let's ask Maury...