(Weekly Column)
This week, we learned that virulently anti-gay Puerto Rican Senator Robert Arango was on a diet. Like any straight man wanting to show off his sculpted new body, he posted pictures of his anus on the gay men’s cruising software Grindr. Last week, a homophobic Indiana lawmaker, Rep. Phillip Hinkle (R), answered a Craig’s List ad for an $80 male prostitute looking for a Sugar Daddy. After he was exposed by the escort, Hinkle said that he isn’t gay and declared “I don’t know what was going through my mind.” And, of course, we all know about Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) who sought sex in a Minneapolis airport men’s room by tapping his foot.
These tawdry tales of deception and deceit are tailor-made for the tabloids. They provide vindication for the LGBT community and punish villains who deserve their fate. However, it is time to look beyond the headlines and have the psychiatric community examine the heads of closet cases that inflict enormous damage on their own people. These disgusting betrayals are much greater than hypocrisy. They represent full-fledged pathology that has devastating consequences for the LGBT community.
To protect their “dirty” secret, these scoundrels are inciting persecution and passing discriminatory laws that lead to many forms of suicide: career, social, financial, emotional, spiritual, and actual. Gay couples with limited rights must pay higher taxes and hire expensive lawyers to draw up contracts. These couples must also endure the emotionally devastating prospect of not having hospital visitation rights when emergencies strike. Careers are irreversibly harmed when homosexuals hit glass ceilings or they are fired in states that offer no legal protections. And, we lose young people every day who hear homophobic rhetoric coming from closeted politicians or those influenced by them.
Enough is enough.
Society needs to stop being squeamish and treating these vulgar events as personal tragedies or sordid anomalies. Such phenomenon are neither episodic nor mere coincidence, but part of a pervasive pattern that strongly suggests that the most rabid homophobes are usually gay. Indeed, solid research backs up this hypothesis: In 1996, a University of Georgia study by Dr. Henry Adams proved that men who are most outspokenly anti-gay were the ones most likely to be turned on by gay porn.
Given the research and empirical evidence, activist and sex columnist Dan Savage is on the money when he asks: “Have we reached a tipping point yet? Shouldn’t homophobic politicians and anti-gay bullies be presumed to be gay until they get caught up in a straight sex scandal?”
My opinion is not mere speculation, but comes from my own behavior while living in the closet. During my freshman year in high school, I confronted a fellow student in my debate class with an anti-gay epithet. He looked me in the eyes and presciently replied, “Those who call other people fags are usually the real homosexuals.”
A similar situation happened in Puerto Rico when Sen. Arango once gay-baited a political opponent and even used a rubber duck to convey that this man was gay. (Apparently, the word for duck is an anti-gay slur in Puerto Rico) The difference was that I was 13 and trying to grapple with my sexual orientation and Arango never grew up and progressed to passing anti-gay laws.
The teenage homophobia that I employed took two distinct forms. The first was deflecting suspicion by laughing at anti-gay jokes. The second was actually telling the jokes to gauge my social group’s reaction, hoping I could find someone who was also a closeted homosexual. The ideal situation for such individuals is to find fellow closet cases that create safe conditions to maintain the heterosexual façade while enjoying the sexual benefits of someone who is open and honest about their sexual orientation.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that the majority of people with anti-gay attitudes are actually gay. Most hostility still comes from heterosexuals brought up in families where religion-based bigotry is preached. But, I strongly believe that those who are most visibly animated and unusually motivated by homosexuality probably have a strong desire to enter that arena. If every anti-gay activist and politician came out today it would not end opposition to LGBT equality, but it would take the heart out of this insidious movement.
We have to stop laughing (not completely) at these sex scandals and start learning more about the psychological dynamics that drive closet cases into conservative politics and anti-gay activism. It is an underdeveloped field of study that deserves scholarly attention from the top research institutions and universities in America.
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Excellent article. Also, “Outrage” is an excellent documentary by Kirby Dick. It’s as good as his “This Film is not Yet Rated” and exposes the media’s complicity in covering up closeted anti-gay elected officials. I think it is time for Mr. Dick to do an update on “Outrage.” Since the film was produced, there have been several newly elected officials that could use some investigation.
Amazing article! Really Enough is Enough
“Society needs to stop being squeamish…”
It’s hard to stop being squeamish when looking at Arango’s ‘presentation’ in the photo above.
I’m from Puerto Rico, and I know about the Arango case. Eduardo Bhatia, Arango’s rival at some point, had been rumored to be closeted for years. The rubber duck thing is because here in PR “pato” (“duck”) and “patito de hule” (“rubber ducky”) are terms for gays. I think Arango himself started the rumor that when Bhatia got married to Deborah Carthy-Deu (Miss Universe 1985, also from PR) it was all a cover up (the marriage didn’t last long).
Interestingly enough: Arango was a fund collector for George W’s campaign.
The Univ. of Georgia study you refer to occurred in 1996, not 1986.
Using a “peter meter” to measure sexual arousal, the study found that 80% of admittedly homophobic male students had some measure of arousal (26% moderate, 54% definite) while watching gay porn, compared with 34% (10% moderate, 24% definite) of non-homophobic male students.
Maybe he just wants his constituents to know that he uses Charmin Ultra.
William — the study occurred in 1986. I included it in my book “Anything But Straight” which was published in 1993.
You are likely referring to a follow-up.
Thanks Wayne, for your honesty. I, too, was in that ugly, suffocating closet and behaved just like you described. I am so glad (Thank God) that I finally opened my eyes, and came out, proudly!
[...] Let’s Face it – Homophobia is so Gay by Wayne Besen (weekly column), August 31, 2011 [...]
Adrian:
I think most of us behaved that way. The closet is such a horrible place that it leads to all sorts of unhealthy behavior.
Timely posting. This article was published today in Jamaica:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110831/lead/lead93.html
Rev on a mission makes her mark in Grants Pen
The REVEREND Michelle Smith, who swapped a lifestyle of homosexuality to one of grace, took her testimony of deliverance to the community of Grants Pen, St Andrew, telling residents that the Gospel is powerful enough to change any lifestyle.
Smith, who delivered the morning ceremony at the Shalom Missionary Church in the community on Sunday, blatantly denounced the lifestyle she dabbled in for over 26 – more than half her lifetime.
“(Homosexuality) is wrong and I am not ‘putting water in my mouth’ and say it. God delivered me from (this lifestyle), and when you come to grace anything can happen,” she bellowed over the microphone to her audience.
The 43-year-old Smith, a Jamaican living in Trinidad, also poured cold water on the argument that homosexuality is innate, adding that a change in thought and divine intervention is a sufficient remedy to rescue those caught up in the lifestyle.
“I was one of them who use to say I was born this way; that is a lie from the pit of hell. What you need to do is change your way of thinking, change your atmosphere,” she said.
In turning her attention to churches on a whole, she called on the institutions to stop making the issue a taboo, and start speaking out against it, adding that these are real life situations that exist even inside most churches.
Using her own life as an example, Smith also urged the congregation not to be quick to judge persons when they decide to take the step from sin to grace.
“It is not your job to judge others. You don’t know what people are going through; how afraid they are, and how frustrated they are. How they try everything and they stopped and say ‘no there’s got to be a better way’. Let us examine ourselves,” she said.
Reverend Smith has authored her testimony of transformation in her book titled, From Lesbianism to Grace. Smith, who said she was also unable to read for the most part of her life, has embarked on writing her second book.
William — I just fact checked and you are actually correct. It was 1996.
I tend to write from memory — which can be hazardous now that I am over 40! :)
Some homophobes have refuted that study and said that when those guys who got sexually aroused when looking at gay porn, it wasnt because they were aroused, but because it was their “defense” mechanisms kicking in (or something crazy like that).
Thats nonsense, seriously lol, but anyway, yes this article is so true. I remember when I graduated high school a few years back, and some of the homophobes who bullied me in high school, hit me up on facebook like a year later, telling me that they’re gay and that now that they’re in college and away from their parents and old friends, they want to start a new life but this time, living honestly.
I do believe that many homophobes are closeted gay people. Because I’ve seen it and heard it so many times.
[...] Let’s Face It—Homophobia is so Gay. Read more [...]
Wayne, Would you please consider updating your book and reissuing it?
Go easy with this idea; remember some of the most virulent homophobes were running Germany in the 1930′s. I was very happy to see Besen’s article posted to National Review this morning.
Michael, you’re obviously trying to make some sort of point–why don’t you just spell it out and stop inferring.