Social networks in Iran have been flooded with compromising footage featuring several known ultra-conservative officials engaging in homosexual activities. While homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran, the Iranian regime has attempted to deny the videos and cover up the scandals. We spoke to a former religious authority who says authorities are trying to “save face” by refuting the wave of videos.
No. Can people stop blaming gay people for the people who want to kill gay people, please?
The idea is more that most people are somewhere on a spectrum - most lean straight, but might find a person of the same gender somewhat attractive every now and then. Some are straight as an arrow, and never feel any attraction for anyone of the same gender whatsoever. Some are queer as hell and don’t ever feel any attraction for anyone of the opposite gender. And then there’s the asexuals, of course. But a bunch of people find themselves somewhere on the spectrum, even if they are for all intents and purposes straight.
In a culture where being gay is fine, a predominantly straight person might see someone of their own gender and think “huh, that’s an attractive person” and get on with their life without really thinking too much about it.
If this person is deeply religious and of the belief that homosexuality is a sin, or just brainwashed by toxic masculinity, things get more complicated. Moving on is not all that easy when they’re confronted with an identity crisis (literally) from hell, and the fact that a bunch of people find taboos extremely intriguing doesn’t help either. So they become obsessed.
Which is where homophobia comes in. Because honestly, why the hell should anyone give a fuck what other consenting adults are doing in the bedroom? I think the answer is that they don’t - homophobia isn’t a response to the actions of others, it’s a desperate response to the intrusive thoughts and insecurities going on inside their own brains. In their minds they are straight, so how do they explain to themselves that they keep having obsessive, intrusive homosexual thoughts? The only way out without abandoning their convictions (be it of religion or of their own conception of masculinity) is to direct it towards hatred.
Saying they’re “gay deep inside” is inaccurate, because they’re not actually “gay deep inside”. It’s not like there’s a flamboyant gay person waving a rainbow flag deep inside of them. They’re just normal people who have been mentally repressed to the point of absolute panic at the face of even the slightest intrusive thought. What is meant is that they have sexual urges - weak or strong - that they are extremely uncomfortable with, and that homophobia results from the cognitive dissonance that follows.
It’s just easier to say they’re gay deep inside, and a bonus is that it probably pisses them off as well. I can see how it’s also offensive to the gay community though, so I generally try to use more nuanced language myself.
Good explanation.
To expand on this, think of how homophobes are usually triggered. They don’t like anything where the “gay agenda” is “shoved down our throats”. Pride, rainbow flags, literally any time someone is openly gay in public. They have to “protect the children” from being exposed to this. Why? Because anything that normalizes homosexuality is yet another reminder of their identity crisis and insecurity. Anything that can keep homosexuality out of the public sphere is one less threat to their fragile identity.
Frankly homophobia should be classified as a mental illness and what these people need is therapy. But can you imagine!?! Gay conversion therapy, turning good god-fearing christians gay.
Stop muddying the issue. Nobody is blaming homosexuals in general, they are blaming a very specific subset of homophobic homosexuals.
“Muddying the issue” would be trying to get people to sympathize with homophobes instead of hating and rejecting them. Like this idea of them all being self hating.
It’s not sympathy. It’s pointing out their own internalized self hatred as an explanation beyond them being some mustache twirling villain. It’s more pathetic imo for a homophobic politician to struggle with their sexuality vs learned values so hard that instead of coming to the conclusion that gay = ok they try to exterminate gays instead.
If they were just awful people for no reason other than religion that’s just straight brain rot but if you are literally part of the group you’re trying to extinguish I feel like that has to be the most embarrassing thing for that individual. Like just get therapy at that point.
I’d be surprised if anybody arguing in good faith would genuinely believe the above criticism is somehow a jab at gay people as a whole when it’s very obvious it’s just about the homophobe in general. The moral here is you can be gay and still want to stomp the rights of others in your same situation. I know friends whose black/immigrant parents voted for Trump. There’s psychos everywhere my guy.
It doesn’t really make me sympathize with them any more. Maybe you could utilize the information to avoid raising more homophobes in the future.
you can not blame them all you want, it’s still true; i speak from experience when i say this: gays are the most-clueless of all the minorities.