Homophobia: The issue of the era

The aftermath of the Prop 8 failures is still driving the discussion about equal rights in the country. The Coloradoan posits that homophobia could be the issue of our era:

Fifty years ago the Civil Rights movement was the issue of the era. Martin Luther King and several others fought to make blacks an equal part of this country, and his life was sacrificed for this cause. Now, we as a country can proudly say that we are past that sort of thing. I mean we have a black president now for Pete's sake. Two women were prominent figures in the presidential race. Discrimination against race and sex is a thing of the past, right? That's certainly cause for celebration, but there is still another hurdle or two for us to leap over before we can safely say that America is the land of equality.

Today there's a new battle being fought in the war against discrimination, and it is that of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) rights. Bigotry in this country has, for the most part, left behind the racist and sexist themes but that of homophobia is still around and as strong as ever. There are many definitions and ideas of the word homophobia, but what does it really mean? Merriam-Webster defines it in the following manner:
Homophobia (n.) [hoh-muh-foh-bee-uh] - The irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals; From the Greek words homs (one and the same) and phbos (fear, phobia).

To me, homophobia is that and a little more. Every true homophobe I've ever encountered has been repulsed by the very mention of homosexuality. Every one of these same people has probably never known a homosexual person, much less befriended them, much less tried to open their mind and understand the nature of homosexuality. It is, in many minds, a black-and-white matter. You choose to be gay or you choose not to be; if you so happen to choose to be gay, then you are so choosing a life of discrimination and intolerance. That is just how it is. Ok so perhaps that is a bit of an extreme outlook on the matter, but it's actually how a lot of people think, which is a scary concept. This is America, the land of the free; where people are welcome to be what they are and believe what they want, right? Wait, I said welcome. I should have said free, because while I have the legal right to be gay, I am not necessarily welcome to be gay wherever I want to be. If you looked at a fancy statistics map that gave different colors for different areas of the country where gays were accepted and tolerated, sure you'd see splotches here and there around the country where it's acceptable, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

You can read more after the jump...