|
An
October 2007 article in Science Daily quoted a researcher as saying that
one-third of American high school football players had been sexual with
another male.
The sample size was small enough (only 47 men) that his
findings are questionable, but sociologist Eric Anderson concluded “The
evidence supports my assertion that homophobia is on the rapid decline
among male teamsport athletes in North America at all levels of play.”
What gives? Is Anderson right
that homophobia is on the run in American high schools?
There’s no question that
attitudes are changing – though the pace of change can seem glacial for
those still bearing the brunt of discrimination. Survey after survey
shows changing attitudes toward same sex marriage, civil unions and
non-discrimination laws.
While the Employment Nondiscrimination Act
remains stalled in Congress and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell makes coming out in
the U.S. military an risky proposition, it is worth considering that as
recently as 1980 there were no lesbian or gay characters on American
television and Californians were being asked to vote on whether gay
teachers should be banned from the state’s school system.
Researchers consistently find
more accepting attitudes towards gay people among younger people. As
recently as the 1970s, homosexuality was taboo in the popular
entertainment and news of importance to the gay community was scarce and
often poorly reported. But 30 years ago this year, Anita Bryant
energized the GLBT community with her campaigns to legalize
discrimination. Only a few years later AIDS became a tragedy of such
proportion that society could no longer the gay people in its midst.
Those under 25 have grown up in
a time of near universal gay activism. Indeed, the movement for GLBT
rights is what most comes to mind when many young people think of the
contemporary struggle for civil rights. Activism compelled more and more
gay men and women to come out, creating an environment in which it became
ever-safer to come out, often at an ever-younger age. Some young gay
women and men have never come out in the way their older brothers and
sisters did, because there was never a time when they were not
out. I remember a niece of mine being teased by her mother for spending
a lot of time with a boy in her high school class. “Oh, Mom,” my niece
replied. “He’s gay.” She reported the same matter-of-factness as
if announcing him to be Presbyterian.
If same-sex attraction is
increasingly accepted as a matter of fact and no great importance, it
makes sense that teenagers who are exploring their sexuality will be less
freaked out by the possibility of same-sex experimentation. Some
colleges have reported that “gay until graduation” has become the way
some students identify themselves. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many
young men and women are more fluid in their self-identification.
Ironically, one of the results of the modern push to come out seems to be
that fewer young people are applying labels like gay or
straight to themselves.
Of course, this isn’t
universal. Young gay men and lesbians can still find themselves the
victims of discrimination or violence, especially in conservative
regions. And religious fundamentalism remains a force for marginalizing
those who belong to a sexual minority.
What
about the future? The tide of history seems clear: recognition and
protection of GLBT people is the latest manifestation of a slow process
that has transformed the way society understands women, people of
different races and physical abilities. We’re not going back. But our
community has often claimed an identity based on our experience of
inequity and what we are not. If discrimination ends, will we still
understand ourselves in the same way? Will we still see ourselves as a
people with a unique identity?
| 
