The relevant question is not what makes homosexuals, or what to do with them, but rather, what makes society persecute them.

For too long homosexuality has been thought of as the central problem of gay men and lesbians. The real issue is not homosexuality but homophobia, society's fear and persecution of us.

Homophobia is a pervasive, irrational fear of homosexuality.

Homophobia includes the fear heterosexuals have of any homosexual feelings within themselves, any overt mannerisms or actions that would suggest homosexuality, and the resulting desire to suppress or stamp out homosexuality. And it also includes the self-hatred and self-denial of homosexuals who know what they are but have been taught all their lives by a heterosexual society that people like themselves are sick, sinful and criminal."

Gay people have often been too apologetic in trying to establish the legitimacy of our sexuality, legitimacy on other people's terms. In fact homosexuality is as valid a lifestyle as any other. We see no reason to apologise for ourselves and reject the condescending pathological approach implicit in the usual questions asked about homosexuality, questions like:

• What are the causes of homosexuality?
• How can you tell if you are a homosexual?
• Can homosexuality be cured?

The questions that really need to be asked are:

• What are the causes of homophobia?
• How can you tell if you are a homophobe?
• Can homophobia be cured?
• What are the causes of homophobia?

Homosexuality has been practised in all societies throughout history and has been openly accepted in many cultures. The taboo on homosexuality in Western civilization is of recent origin and is not supported by the Scriptures.

Today the repression of gay sexuality is enforced through the life patterns and institutions which make up our society: family, educational system, church, government, business, media, legal, medical and psychiatric professions. All effectively combine to enforce the heterosexual model with its rigid role structures. Male supremacy, sexism, and homophobia are society's reaction to those women and men whose lifestyles challenge its confining aggressive male/passive female sex roles.

Gay women challenge male supremacy in our society:

By choosing to love and devote most of their energy to other women, lesbians are refusing to feed into a system where power and prestige are based on gender, and where a women takes her status from the man she is attached to. Similarly, gay men through their disdain for the usual requirements of manhood and through their integration of attributes like warmth and emotionality that have traditionally been considered 'female' characteristics, belie the importance of 'masculine identity' others struggle so hard to achieve.

How can you tell if you are a homophobic?

Homophobia, like other kinds of prejudice such as racism and sexism, manifests itself in many ways. Historically the routing out and murder of homosexuals during the Inquisition and in Nazi Germany have been among the most extreme forms of anti-homosexual oppression. Today there is a whole gamut of homophobic reactions; outright queer-bashing, psychiatry's attempt to 'cure' the homosexual, discriminatory laws and employment practices, inability on the part of social service agencies to deal with the homosexual, the media's demeaning and stereotypical images of the gay men and lesbians, pseudo-liberalism's tolerance of the homosexual so long as she or he remains invisible. These are all reactions from a combination of ignorance and fear.

In the face of these pervasive homophobic pressures, a gay person experiences a split between his or her natural sexual preference and what is socially acceptable. And all too often, gay men and lesbians, conditioned to think of themselves as inferior, have internalized this homophobia to the point where self-acceptance is difficult. They accept the stigma attached by others to them without realizing they are oppressed and often see society as justified in keeping them down.

This is borne out by the great numbers of gay people who carefully conceal their identity and by the many others who actively seek psychiatric help to be cured of their homosexuality. In turn psychiatrists largely reinforce this shame by treating each gay person as neurotic rather then as a victim of an impossible social structure.