Homosexuality Isn'T A Crime

Fag, Queer, Cocksucker, these are all terms I hear said to me on a daily basis. Homosexuality is on subject that American society refuses to accept. It's not a crime, a sin, or even a disease. There are many misconceptions that people have about Homosexuality. These misconceptions range from a variety of topics. Many of these are stereotypes. People often use lesbian and gay stereotypes to identify a person's sexual orientation, such as gay men are effeminate and lesbians are butch. A study conducted to see if people could accurately identify a person's sexual orientation after watching a series of video taped interviews. Close to 80% of the subjects were unable to identify the person's sexual orientation (Berger et al, 1987). Some studies have found that lesbians do rate higher on masculinity scores, which comes largely from their high self-rating as independent. The measures of masculinity and femininity tend to be gender-biased and are not very useful in the study of gay men and lesbians. The homosexual community is very diverse and its members can not be neatly categorized into stereotypes based on myths and appearance. Only when we dispel these stereotypes, that continue to fuel people's homophobic attitudes, will people realize that there are more similarities than differences between the gay and straight population.

In a homophobic society, it is certainly important for lesbians and gay men to build their own community to overcome social stigma and alienation. Research has shown that both heterosexuals and homosexuals shared similar beliefs in the value of social support. Both report receiving similar amount of support but their sources differed.

Gay men and lesbians tended to depend more on friends and their partners and less on relatives and family than heterosexuals did. Despite the obstacles to the creation of meaningful support networks, many lesbians and gay men are able to develop circles