The world is a violent place. That could be a fact that may be tough to swallow, however the proof is overwhelming. What’s worse is that this violence appears to draw those that want our assist probably the most, like youngsters and the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
LGBT persons are 9 occasions extra more likely to be victims of violent hate crimes. Quite a few assaults, harassments, and even mass shootings — just like the 2022 Membership Q taking pictures and the 2016 Pulse bloodbath — are only a few items of proof.
One can not help however marvel why anybody would do one thing so horrible and inhumane. When folks came upon that Omar Mateen, the gunman of the 2016 bloodbath, was an everyday on the Pulse nightclub and used homosexual courting apps, it left us with extra questions than precise solutions.
This poses the query: Are homophobic folks truly homosexuals themselves?
What’s internalized homophobia?
Internalized homophobia is the idea of getting damaging beliefs, emotions, and attitudes towards one’s personal homosexuality. This may come up from societal stigma, discrimination in opposition to LGBTQ+ people, or rising up in a family that disapproves of that way of life.
An individual who suffers from internalized homophobia could exhibit disgrace, guilt, self-hatred, and even denial. They are going to fiercely try and suppress or deny their sexual orientation as a result of they consider what they’re feeling is unhealthy or flawed.
Are homophobic folks secretly homosexual?
The brief reply is not any. The concept that all homophobic persons are secretly homosexual is a fable and has been debunked by analysis.
Homophobia can stem from a wide range of elements, comparable to cultural or non secular beliefs, lack of publicity to range, or private insecurities. There is not sufficient counter-research to make use of this as a dependable indicator of 1’s sexual orientation.
Nonetheless, researchers on the College of Rochester in New York, the College of California, and the College of Essex could carry some gentle to the speculation after the Pulse taking pictures tragedy. The collection of research decided that individuals with homophobic tendencies usually tend to be homosexual.
After analyzing 4 totally different research from the U.S. and Germany about homophobia as an “exterior manifestation of sexual want,” researchers found that many homophobes who declare to be straight may very well be homosexual themselves.
In psychological assessments, those that declare to be straight have a tendency to indicate a robust attraction to an individual of the identical intercourse. Nonetheless, exterior elements comparable to rising up in super-conservative households that forbid such wishes could contribute to those findings.
“These individuals who have such discrepancies, who’ve actually a break up between their unconscious attraction and what they consciously say about themselves, usually tend to come from authoritarian properties,” mentioned Richard Ryan, a psychology professor on the College of Rochester.
College of Essex professor Netta Weinstein believes that these homophobes really feel threatened by gays and lesbians as a result of they remind them of their very own typically forbidden wishes.
Within the case of Mateen, this can be a doable reply to his 2016 rampage that resulted within the dying of 49 folks. However does not give us a stable blanket assertion about homophobes being homosexual themselves. Solely homophobes might harbor some same-sex attraction.
Based on a frequent clubgoer, Ty Smith, Mateen “would go over within the nook and sit and drink by himself, and different occasions he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent.” Smith additionally claimed that Mateen had talked about his father just a few occasions and that he had a spouse and youngsters.
Whereas there is no concrete proof that homophobic individuals who go on these violent benders are homosexual themselves, in accordance with Ryan:
“Individuals who have homophobic attitudes, who’re extra prejudiced or discriminatory in opposition to homosexual folks, are themselves extra more likely to have a discrepancy between their unconscious points of interest to same-sex companions than what they’re conscious of.”
The Orlando and Colorado shootings aren’t the top of the violence focused on the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and, sadly, will not be the final cases. Hopefully, we as a society can have open extra conversations in regards to the acceptance of the LGBT neighborhood.
Caithlin Pena is an editor and former contributor for YourTango. Her work has been featured on Thought Catalog, Huffington Put up, Yahoo, Psych Central, and BRIDES.
