Disadvantages Of Homophobia

Schools are crucial developmental spaces, tasked with educating individuals in a realm that operates as more than just an academic sphere. Educational settings function as incubators for socialization and the molding of other interpersonal skills between young, impressionable students. As such, there are often conversations and interactions over sensitive topics that students are grappling with for the first times. One such topic is homosexuality, leading to instances of homophobia, defined as an irrational hatred and fear of nonheterosexuals (Banks 2012). From a young age, students become prime targets of homophobic bullying and victimization as sexual minority youth (Varjas 2008). One key aspect of homophobia that is worth addressing is whether

The United States public education system – through failures of the federal, state and local governments – has failed to provide students with express protection from discrimination (Human Rights Watch, 2001). Few states offer laws that prohibit harassment of gay and lesbian students, standing in stark comparison to race-based discrimination that is banned across the board (Human Rights Watch, 2001). The dearth of institutional protections ultimately leaves LGBTQ persons fending for themselves in a country that has a great deal of antigay sentiment. And this is not an issue confined to only the United States. Bhana (2012) writes of homophobia within secondary schools in the South African educational system, finding that there are great strides that must be made in addressing the problem of homophobic attacks. Teachers – strong allies in developing a student’s ability to interrupt inequalities – play an important role in this fight, and their intervention is necessary (Bhana 2012). Meyer (2009) writes that scholars and educators often use vague terms like “bullying” and “name-calling” when they look at the struggles of LGBTQ students in the classroom, which ignore underlying power dynamics. What is more important to address, she writes, is the fact that educational policies and don’t address systemic power differences. A focus on bullying alone is damaging, normalizing the invisible social power structures that have haunted LGBTQ