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Victoria Hyland
Professor Sabia
Writing 107
10/23/14
Homophobia in America
America has a lot of issues and rights that people spend everyday fighting for. Our
society still has some major steps they need to take for achieving equality. One issue on that list
is homophobia. Homophobia, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as “the fear
or hatred of homosexuals or homosexuality.” While this definition indeed is homophobia, many
cases of homophobia do not fit into this definition. The belief that homosexuality is wrong or any
oppression of the gay community is also homophobia. Hostility towards homosexuality only
being in the definition of homophobia makes the term less all encompassing, which could hurt in
the overall fight for equality. In todays society it is agreed upon that homophobia is a term with a
negative connotation toward the disapproval of homosexuals, but the exact definition can vary
from person to person. Through examples of media, politics, gender roles and social
constructs we can understand the different forms of homophobia to help bring awareness
to the issue at hand.
Many different forms of homophobia exist in everyday life that people might not be
aware of, and we can see many of these forms through the media. The media has little
representation of the gay community. Some shows depict gay characters, but the depth or
accuracy of these characters usually falls short. How often is the comical gay best friend depicted
in the media? Damien from Mean Girls and Marc St. James from Ugly Betty are two good
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examples of the gay best friend. A lot of people may find this innocuous, but it can be
homophobic. The gay best friends never really have a true story line and are used for the purpose
of getting a laugh over their funny, stereotypically gay mannerisms.
Television programs are not the only form of media at fault today. We can see
homophobia in advertisements and commercials as well through heternormativity. It is hard to
find an advertisement that depicts a gay couple in everyday life. The overwhelming majority of
heterosexual relationships shown through these ads are promoting heterosexuality as being the
norm of our society leaving homosexuality as the outcast. If we look outside of the media at real
life we can see copious amounts of openly gay actors and actresses in Hollywood, such as Sarah
Paulson, Gillian Anderson, Matt Bomer, and Neil Patrick Harris. Hollywood and the media are
not reflective of this in the content that is made though.
