Roger-Luc Chayer (Image : AI / Gay Globe)
Hatred.
Because this is what we are talking about when we say we want to fight and denounce homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and all fears or phobias of others—of those who are different, of those who are not exactly like us, even if we are not the freshest melon in the box.
Living with these fears of others on a daily basis is awful. For homophobes, it is an unbearable suffering that guides their lives and decisions.
And to survive, homophobes, whoever they may be, obviously develop defense mechanisms. They look around them, in society, for those responsible for their miserable lives spent hating others, and this is where homophobia spreads. I experienced this firsthand a few years ago. As the editor of a LGBT media group, I am of course regularly in contact with advertising agencies. One day, I sent an email to a series of agencies inviting them to consider Gay Globe Magazine in the development of their clients’ business and advertising strategies.
Since the beginning of my journalistic career, I had never been confronted with homophobia from advertising agencies. I therefore did not expect the response I received from a manager of an agency in Eastern Quebec, who said: “I will never buy advertising in a homosexual magazine and I will never recommend my clients to do so.”
I did not know this person or his agency. He did not know me either, and I had never done anything to him. His hatred was sent straight in my face, and simply by being the editor of a media outlet aimed at LGBT communities, I learned that I would be deprived of potential revenue for life and that many companies would never hear about us because of one man’s hatred. What power!
In Quebec, we are fortunate to have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms which, in section 10, prohibits any discrimination based on several criteria, including sexual orientation. I therefore filed a complaint with the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse in a case of discrimination.
The owner of the advertising agency, after having certain realities of life explained to him by an officer of the Commission, quickly sent me a small cheque of $500 meant as compensation. However, he never followed up on the case or recommended the magazine to his clients afterward.
Homophobia, this hatred of homosexuals, is insidious.
I experienced another rather unusual homophobic incident about 20 years ago, again in the context of the magazine. We had an advertising contract with a beauty salon owned by a very religious person.
One day, upon the release of an issue, I received a voicemail on the Gay Globe answering machine from this client, using extremely vulgar and violent language toward me. According to her, I was nothing less than the spit of a dead jackal, the vomit of a dead camel, and I deserved to be buried alive for what I had done.
What had I done, you may ask? By chance, I had placed her business card on a page discussing HIV/AIDS and advances in medical research. She mistakenly believed I had intentionally associated her with sexual practices leading to HIV. That is what she claimed, and she terminated her contract.
It is violent, isn’t it?
Yet this is what homophobia is: being hated and despised not for what you do, but for what you are. I did not know the client of that salon. I had never spoken to her or met her, since a Gay Globe advertising representative was handling her file. And yet…
Personally, on a daily basis, I am not really confronted with homophobia, but this is what I know of it, because many decisions can be made—homophobic and hateful—without me even being aware of them.
And that is why we must fight against homophobia. It is war, after all! Because suffering it causes indescribable pain, and making others suffer from it is just as destructive.
Today, May 17, is the International Day Against Homophobia. These present times are worse than ever, with certain world leaders and states legislating to make homophobia legal and, even worse, to punish not those who commit it, but those who suffer from it.
And it is also for these reasons that we must thank and appreciate our allies, who treat us with dignity, who consider us ordinary people, in the best sense of the term. I take this opportunity to thank the entire ecosystem surrounding the Gay Globe group, my team, and our partners.
ADVERTISING
READ ALSO