Next year I will be conducting a professional research project regarding homosexuality, and I am brainstorming possible areas of study related to politics (such as how are gays portrayed in the media, or something along those lines). I wanted to post here to ask if anyone has ideas or questions that they feel have not been answered or that would be interesting to look at, from any viewpoint. With big Supreme Court decisions coming this summer, we should probably learn more about society's views on homosexuality and how they evolve or how they are instilled. Thoughts?
What comes after marriage equality? Will homosexuals find themselves the target of vindictive politics that seek to strip away anti-discrimination protections in the few states that have them? Will they be targets of a renewed push to recriminalize sodomy (see recent happenings in Virginia). Will they return to virtual invisibility in the media? Will overreaching protections sought for religious beliefs turn back the clock and remarginalize gay people in ways not seen in several decades? Will people assume they've already attained more than they actually have? This seems very likely. There appears to be no shortage of people who think that gay people are beneficiaries of affirmative action or plan to push for it (which those same people seemingly can't distinguish from anti-discrimination laws), that homosexuals already enjoy federal and/or state protections from discrimination nationwide, that civil unions are available to gay people everywhere, etc. etc. etc. And truly apathetic people may come to believe that same-sex couples have achieved marriage equality even if the DOMA and Prop 8 cases don't have that outcome. Some pay so little attention to such things that they'll assume all the talk equals an outcome which be be very different from the reality. Not to mention what life will be like if west coasters and east coasters abandon middle gay America once they achieve marriage equality - like what they did with anti-discrimination and other gains at the city and state levels. There's a serious disconnect between gay politics in places like San Francisco and New York, compared to small towns, rural areas, and even urban areas in the Midwest/Plains/Great Lakes states. That should give you enough to chew on for a while.
I'm going to suggest that it will go along the lines of any other group. Which is to say that it will be considered rude and wrong to voice and anti-gay opinion in polite circles, but people will still have those beliefs. Anybody pointing out that discrimination occurs is going to get accused of "pulling the gay card", and any problems will be the result of gays somehow not being as hard working or whatever. They'll probably mock whatever gay leaders come forward, much like happens with Al Sharpton and the like (PS when did minorities start electing spokespeople anyway?), and anything bad done by powerful gays is going to be used as a club. Basicly, take all the racism still going on in America and put it on gays, minus perhaps being thought of as thugs. People will way they aren't homophobic, but that's probably until they find out that junior is one, kinda like how no one worries about interracial dating until their kid decides to bring home a black guy. I'm not sure what "disconnect" you're talking about, Perq, but I'm kinda watching from the outside, so what is it?
My state doesn't have even the most basic anti-discrimination protections for gay people, but someone got the bright idea that we should pursue marriage equality in the midst of a particularly inhospitable political environment, which resulted in setting us back decades (30 state amendments as a result, with mine banning the recognition of any agreement other than one man/one woman in marriage for any purpose). And now they've taken cases to the Supreme Court, where a loss could set us back even further. ENDA (a bill to provide anti-discrimination protection at the federal level) is also probably dead as a result. Basically, opponents have taken one look at the situation and said "oh, hell no!" to providing anti-discrimination protections, on the basis that it might be used require the state to recognize same-sex marriages. So the east-coasters "got theirs", while people in Michigan and other "middle America" states are left with nothing. Don't get me wrong - I fully support marriage equality. I just wish they'd waited a bit and helped us "catch up" instead of deciding our state wasn't worth the fight and abandoning us.
Ok I see what you mean with that then. That's pretty bad, I just don't know enough to know what could change things. I mean like they could pretty much fire you if they find out you're a gay guy? I didn't even think that was possible.
More than possible. It happens, probably more often than reported since many people don't want to endure the public humiliation that inevitably results from media attention and just want to move past it to get on with their lives. The closest I've personally come was some interviewer telling me they didn't hire homosexuals. It was possibly the most bizarre interview I've ever had; I have to assume he made assumptions based on my mannerisms, age at the time and lack of a wedding ring, since I didn't divulge anything of the sort. I've never considered myself to be 'flaming' or particularly obvious; some people just have better 'gaydar' than others. That, and a job I quit after being assaulted by a co-worker wielding a pitchfork and yelling '(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)' at me while the supervisor watched and took no action whatsoever. Again, I wasn't 'out' on the job. I was apparently considered suspect when I didn't engage in banter about my sexual exploits with women. Neither incident is recent (20 - 30 years ago). While I could have pressed charges in the latter incident, I simply felt too intimidated at the time; couldn't even tell my family since I wasn't out to them yet, either. It's easy for people to sit in judgment of my actions or failure to take action after the fact, quite another when it's happening to you personally and you feel you've nowhere and no one safe to go to. I was frankly more scared of the police back then. It really wouldn't surprise me at all if similar things are still going on in my state.
I remember those days during the 80's. It was open season on us gay people. I tell people stories of trying to go to the police for death threats back then and having them laugh at me. Many people don't even believe that it happened. It most certainly did back then. It was a scary time.
I think a place to look is at our evolution on the idea of "begin gay" and a good place to start is with an episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" from the early 1980s wherein the character "Les Nesman" is accused of "being gay" and noting the differences in societal attitudes displayed in that episode compared to today's attitudes.
