Doth Protest Too Much

Trey Smith

If you are one of those people who becomes sick or enraged any time you think about the issue of homosexuality -- you are what is called a homophobe -- a recent article in Scientific American might really shake you up! It seems that science may have validated a common opinion about you.

Homophobes should consider a little self-reflection, suggests a new study finding those individuals who are most hostile toward gays and hold strong anti-gay views may themselves have same-sex desires, albeit undercover ones.

The prejudice of homophobia may also stem from authoritarian parents, particularly those with homophobic views as well, the researchers added.

"This study shows that if you are feeling that kind of visceral reaction to an out-group, ask yourself, 'Why?'" co-author Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, said in a statement. "Those intense emotions should serve as a call to self-reflection."

In all candor, this has been my assumption all along: The people who are most vociferously anti-gay are the sorts of people who privately look in the mirror and scream the word faggot at the reflection in the mirror! They are uncomfortable with who they are and so they take out their animus on other people.

By punishing others for their own feelings about themselves, they believe they can keep their own sexual proclivities at bay. Unfortunately, as many scandals of anti-gay public figures have shown, it rarely works. These public figures rail against homosexuality during the day, while they are true to who they really are at night.

This self-imposed split personality must be hell. Think of all the stress these individuals heap upon themselves. Life can be enough of a challenge as it is and yet these folks -- along with fundamentalist religious institutions -- fill up the landscape with more landmines than any one person can keep track of. As a result, ANY misstep may be the one to blow up the individual's personal image of self.

How much less stressful their lives could be if only they could be who they truly are without feeling the need to wear a mask to hide the real person from society...and themselves!