Roger-Luc Chayer
HOMOPHOBIA: Female name. Rejection of homosexuality,
systematic hostility towards homosexuals.
You do not find that to sum up homophobia thus does a little in the simplistic, in the denial of the various presentations of this evil that sometimes gnaw our societies insidiously, not to mention the consequences in the very definition of the word? Let’s talk about it … Every year, in most Western countries, we celebrate World Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 17th. The Fondation Émergence presents the event on its website « a unifying event and a moment of convergence of the fight against homophobia and transphobia. » What’s that?
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Homophobia comes in a host of forms, most of the time insidiously and those who are victims can hardly prove the homophobic intent, which adds to the drama.
Homophobia is above all denying our existence, so our rights. It’s the refusal to see us, to talk to each other or to hear each other. Homophobia is the denial of our contribution as human beings to our communities. So, inevitably, in homophobic reasoning, if we do not exist, there is no harm, no consequences. On the contrary, it’s time to talk about it, the consequences of homophobia. First of all, to deny the existence of affection for two people should never be judged or criticized. These feelings of love only belong to those who share them.
In other words, you who do not approve, it’s not your business! Same thing with denying services to LGBT people. It happened to me as the publisher of this magazine. An advertising agency in the Quebec City region sent me an email to tell me that it would never do business with fives. Of course, the Human Rights Commission intervened to condemn the agency to a fairly fine fine.
Homophobia is also found in writings that are disguised as « opinions ». Take the example of an article by Hilary White, published on the site Riposte-catholique.fr, discovered at the time of writing these lines. Rather than speaking of homosexuality, she disguises her homophobic remarks by speaking of « homosexualism » and in these terms: « It is this political ideology, readily called the » queer theory « by its supporters in the academic world, which is promoted, now quite openly, by the movement for « gay rights ». It aims to rewrite the founding concepts of our entire society. How did we all of a sudden come to the point where two men can be « married », where a woman can be called « husband » and a man, « wife »? Peter Tatchell is a homosexual, which means that he feels a sexual attraction to other men, a condition whose origin is still debated among doctors, psychiatrists and geneticists. « That’s it is homophobia in 2018. The eternal theory of the global conspiracy to convert humanity into homos, nothing less! There is still a lot of work to be done, but we will get there, it advances because we are, by far, better than homophobes by celebrating our diversity and especially our rejection of any judgment. We must continue!