Americas Ignorance

Che’s rejection shows how important masculinity and heterosexuality is to Chicanos and their society. This is also exemplified by the week 6 readings of “Queer in Aztlan” where the author Mario Martinez is also rejected by his parents for being gay. “As soon as the word gay came out of my mouth, my mom started crying and my dad stood up quickly, very upset, and almost turned abusive” (Martinez 234). The parents of Martinez have the same reaction as Che when he finds out Jes being homosexual. Interestingly, both the fathers of Jes and Mario have violent reactions towards the discovery which represents how much homosexuality is rejected in masculine societies.

Joe, a homophobe with an innate fear of AIDS, is reluctant to take the case also because of his personal reasons, but after seeing Andy humiliated in a public library, can't resist standing his corner with him. You can see immediately why Hollywood took this film to their heart. Hey, it's about ISSUES! But in typical Hollywood fashion, they can't resist the temptation to dumb the issue down to make it easier to sell. It's a difficult thing sometimes, criticising a film like 'Philadelphia' as it leaves the critic open to accusations of homophobia themselves, but 'Philadelphia' patronises the homosexual community so much, it's like an instruction video for schoolkids "Listen kids - gays are people too, you know?".

The film follows the complicated character of Marcello, a homosexual man with a traumatic homosexual experience in his childhood, which results in him becoming ashamed of his sexuality and begins to fear being shunned by society for it. Marcello deals with this shame by shutting down any homosexual desire he may have and becomes his idealized figure of normal; which at this time was a loyal and disciplined Fascist. Marcello learns how to conform perfectly by becoming a Fascist spy, but two significant people in Marcello’s life disrupt his path to becoming

The odd thing is that many of these homosexual men feel more afraid to tell their fathers that they are gay. They feel like their father would be more ashamed of them. One homosexual told me that his father would feel like less of a man if he knew. When I asked a number of heterosexual men, ranging form the ages of 18 to 30, why they feel homosexuality is wrong, they all came up with basically the same answer. In one way or another they all said, “That it is just wrong, and... ... middle of paper ... ... should be able to look the mirror at themselves and not feel “gay” or not masculine, just as a female can.

In fact, in the early nineteenth century many letters and diaries that have been examined show that middle class men and women of all ages participate in relations that verged on sexual- homosexual love. Today these acts would be judged as homoerotic, yet were viewed with tolerance and were even encouraged by leading middle class moralists. Readers of the time took little notice to poets like Whitman, not even to condemn them for immorality, a charge which they typically reserved for poems with heterosexual themes (Killingsworth 98). Whitman was a unique poet and a... ... middle of paper ... ...e had no idea when writing this work what the future would hold, we are now reading this in our literature class. Is this really appropriate?

The Colonel shot Lester because he realizes that he himself is a gay man, living a lie; afraid of the truth, afraid of people knowing his sexual preference, afraid of losing his family, and afraid of facing himself. This just shows how homophobia can lead a person to commit something drastic like this or worse. American Beauty takes us deep inside ourselves and invites us to lose the fear of truly knowing ourselves. If we pretend we are someone we are not, if we desperately hold on to the lies we force ourselves to live, then we only succeed in becoming more lonely and estranged.

Our country stands strongly behind everyone having equal rights. Prohibiting gays and lesbians from marrying is completely unconstitutional. America has been fighting for equality since it became a nation and discrimination against different groups of people is only getting worse. In today’s society, everyone is a critic and people believe that it is okay to treat people different because of who they are. According to recent studies of homosexual bullying, gay and lesbian teens are two to three times as more likely to commit teen suicide than other youths.

In 1950, a homosexual man named Harry Hay and a group of homosexual activists decided that they were tired of being treated unequally just because of their sexual orientation (Mattachine Society Today 3). They started the Mattachine Society where they could begin acting and organizing against this type of oppression. They wanted to give male homosexuals support and the sense of pride for being who they were. The main goals were to unify isolated homosexuals and to encourage them to fight for their rights while providing a society of safe and social activities (Mattachine Society Today 9). The group was in for a struggle though: their conservative ways did not satisfy many.

Thirdly, the severity of homophobia has reached a point of no return, where the lives of many innocent have been viciously taken away. Lastly, many individuals choose to practice homophobia, whether it is a personal choice or not. Homophobia is the result of fear, ignorance and intolerance. History of Homophobia Homophobia is the fear of homosexuality and those who practice it (Fone, 5). Much of the negativity towards homosexuals had evolved in the nineteenth century and progressed greatly once the twentieth century and World Wars had arrived (Dadisman).

The deeper his sinfulness reached, the higher God’s grace became. In this essay, I will compare the different aspects of religion between “The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” and other sources of literature. Crusoe’s conversation with his father about leaving home could have been understood from a religious perspective but his original sin was when he constantly kept mentioning leaving without his father’s approval. Not only does this sin go against his father but it goes against God as well. All Crusoe’s father ever wanted was for him to be a good, middle class guy but that just wasn’t enough.