Perhaps. I’ve never attended a meeting (not being homosexual) so I don’t know what they discuss. But they find the group supportive in the homophobic cultures in which they live.
The really tired and inaccurate charge of “homophobia” is just getting old. I live in one of the most gay-affirmng corners of the world with multiple “gayborhoods” gay bars, night clubs and two bathhouses (I am not sure how it can be legal to have a mens only gym where orgies occur, protest to the city didn’t keep the second one from opening…)
With likely a much higher and more visible presense in the population, most straight folks accept and are either supportive or indifferent to it. That has not stopped the rampant spread of new HIV cases (approx 2200 per year) as well as the outrageous meth addiction rates reported in the gay community…
The “homophobic culture” that has idealized gay style sensibilities (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy), made Will & Grace a hit, and was the backdrop of one of the most critically celebrated films a couples years back (Brokeback Mountain) just does not seem as menancing as it used to. Are there any critically acclaimed TV dramas, comedies or even reality shows that don’t have a gay character?
Everywhere you look you see signs of inroads on domestic partnership, mainline protestant denominations caving (er, adopting!) and media presentations in a positive light.
The American outlook on sexuality (getting off how and when and where you can) and marriage (until boredom, difficulty, or disinterest do us part) for the most part means your average American who is all for pre-marital, sterile sex and marriage that is temporary is in no real position to worry about how the next guy is “getting his”. Said one straight co-worker who likes to womanize and cheat on his girlfriend about a gay co-worker who bodybuilds: “I am glad he is going after dudes, I don’t want to compete with him for chics!”
I grant there are always going to be people who don’t accept it. That mostly speaks to their inability to ignore aversions which seem more inborn than anything. The very mechanics of the common for of sex for men who have sex with men (anal sex) is distasteful for most people who have not aquired a taste for it. And it is only natural we would have an aversion for biological reasons. Given the function of the anus, that practice even after hygenic precautions is latently risky. Before HIV, there were still great health risks and STD issues in the community of men who have sex with men. This was a known quantity and people were not suprised that such unnatural acts created such unnatural problems.
Now that everyone is getting in the “unnatural act” business, this is bound to be less concerning to many… But vestigal remnants of the revulsion of this act that helps inform people’s innate bilogical imperatives (stay healthy & propogate the species) will always be around. Really, getting rid of that instinct is impossible… But so long as it manifests itself in any fashion, it will always make good fuel for the “anti-homophobia” propaganda machine that plays on people’s fear that someone else would think them cruel, mean or insenstitive.
The use of the “newspeak” term “homophobia” with all that it implies has made it as meaningless as it is useless.
I don’t mind too much. It seems most of the bases pertinent to the topic were covered pretty thoroughly in the first 10 or 20 posts. The rest is a bonus! 