The Dictionary of Homophobia (103 page)
In fact, between the religious groups and the Republican Party, neither economic issues, nor the state of the union, nor racial issues could generate a unified dynamic. Even more, these three issues were, and remain, important factors of disagreement within the conservative clan. The question of morality, then, focused on the sacredness of the American “family” and became the point of convergence that allowed for the realignment of the American electorate, resulting in the 1980 election of President Ronald Reagan. During the campaign, three central issues emerged: the legalization of abortion, aid to single mothers, and rights for gays and lesbians. These issues, to one which might add gun control and the death penalty, make up the basis of the religious-conservative right that kept the Republican Party in power for twelve years between 1980 and 1992. As such, the question of gay rights remained part of the ongoing American political debate, exacerbated through the decade of the 80s by the
AIDS
epidemic which, amid a slew of archaic and outrageous characterizations—at best, the expected result of sexual disorders; at worst, divine retribution—intensified and entrenched various political positions on the subject, and reinforced the institutionalization of homophobia. The vehemence of the debates regarding gay rights during this period was also evident in other gay-related issues, such as the 1986 Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of state anti-sodomy laws (which the Supreme Court would rule as unconstitutional in 2003); legal recognition of same-sex partnerships; and gays and lesbians in the
armed forces
. One notable consequence was the increasing radicalization of the gay and lesbian movement, spearheaded by queer political groups such as ACT UP, Queer Nation, and the Lesbian Avengers.
The Democrats’ return to power in 1993 under President Bill Clinton seemed to soothe tensions surrounding the question of gay rights. The Clinton administration’s decisions were timid and ambiguous at times (particularly the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regarding gays and lesbians in the armed forces), but the spread of AIDS to heterosexual communities, and the emergence of a conservative gay lobby within the Republican Party, have also helped to defuse the virulence of the debates on the issue. An example of the growing contingency of those who support to the rights of gays and lesbians was the enormous public outrage, extending beyond the gay and lesbian community, in response to the barbaric murder of Matthew
Shepard
, a twenty-one-year-old man who was tortured and killed in Wyoming in 1998 because he was gay. The somewhat ambiguous position on homosexuality taken by George W. Bush during his first presidential campaign in 2000, despite attempts to the contrary by the Republican Party’s right-wing as well as ultra-conservative candidate Pat
Buchanan
, may have also given the impression that a new page, composed of appeasement and normalization, was being written in the United States for gays and lesbians.
Nevertheless, the issue of homosexuality still provokes particularly strong opposition in the American political sphere. It is in this sense that, in the strictest of terms, homophobia in the United States is political. Conversely, the experience of gays and lesbians in Canada is closer to the European experience, despite the close proximity and decisive influence of its powerful neighbor to the south.
Canada
The history of homophobia in Canada is neatly summarized by gay Vancouver activist Doug Sanders: “The problem in Canada is not one of persecution, but rather of the dominant opinion that gays do not exist.” Despite a history that one could assume was similar to that of the United States, different factors have, in fact contributed to the experience of homophobia in Canada.
The religious factor is one difference. Unlike the US, the number of Evangelical Protestants in Canada has always remained low. As of 2005, it represented only six percent of the population, versus twenty-two percent in the United States. Despite the importance of the Anglican and Catholic religions—reinforced by the historically difficult coexistence between English and French Canada—there is no obsessive desire to create a morally pure society, free of all sin, as is the case with Puritans.
Secondly, Canadian social policy, similar to the European standard (which features state intervention in the economy and the workplace), has not created inequalities among ethnic communities on the same scale as the United States. A major historical ethnic conflict, that between English and French Canada, did not have an impact on the issue of homosexuality.
Finally, Canada’s low profile on the international political stage has meant that homosexuals have never been considered a threat to Canada’s political stability or social fabric, as they have in the United States.
All these conditions have led to a relatively smooth history for gays and lesbians in Canada, despite the fact that homosexuality was criminalized until 1969, just as it was in the United Kingdom (1967). In the era preceding its legalization, the 1950s was the only decade that could be characterized as particularly homophobic, in part due to the influence of McCarthyism to the south. In 1952, the Immigration Act was adopted, forbidding homosexuals from entering the country; further, a special unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was created to compile a list of all known homosexuals, particularly those working in the Canadian civil service in Ottawa. The official response to homosexuality softened in the years to come; the Klippert Affair (in which George Klippert became the last person in Canada to be arrested, charged, and imprisoned for homosexual acts) revealed that a strict application of Canadian laws could result in life imprisonment, leading ultimately to decriminalization in 1969, despite the disapproval of the Opposition, the Conservative Party.
The history of homosexuality and gay rights in Canada coincides with gay and lesbian liberation experienced elsewhere; Canada has also taken a leading role in certain issues affecting gays, such as
suicide
prevention among young gays and lesbians. However, as an example of its susceptibility to American and British influence, Canada saw its conservative right wing rise up in the wake of its American counterparts led by President Ronald Reagan in 1980, followed closely by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. Earlier, in the 1970s, Canada’s religious conservatives were buoyed by Anita
Bryant
, who decided to extend her anti-gay crusade beyond the American border, finding support not only in Canada’s evangelical communities but also in the Catholic Church, which has always been particularly powerful in French-language Quebec. During the 1976 Montreal Olympics, this religious-conservative attitude toward homosexuals took the form of a police operation called
ville propre
(clean city), in which police raided gay bars and bathhouses in both Montreal and Ottawa, leading to the arrest of dozens and the seizure of bathhouse membership lists. This “war against bathhouses” remained one of the most popular methods used by Canadian authorities to fight homosexuality (based on the illegality of public sex) throughout the 70s; at the same time, the Parti Québécois, which held power in the province of Quebec, added sexual orientation to the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in 1977.
Meanwhile, English-speaking Canada, more conservative and more sensitive to the sirens of the new American right, pursued its administrative harassment of gays and lesbians by searching the offices of
The Body Politic
, a militant gay newspaper based in Toronto, and by attempting to forbid the paper’s distribution, under the pretense that it incited
pedophilia.
These operations had the opposite effect, however: it only strengthened the gay and lesbian movement, which had been in a period of relative lethargy since the early 70s.
Whatever the attraction English-speaking Canada may have had for Reagan-era religious conservatism, the experience of French-speaking Canada (Quebec) and its fierce protectionist policies, which resulted in referendums on its potential separation from the rest of Canada, probably precluded the entrenchment of a serious English-Canadian right wing along the lines of that in the United States. Thus, these influences remained superficial, without any deep ideological foundations, and as a result, institutionalized homophobia did not take root in Canada as it did south of the border. Conversely, the new right’s rhetoric acted as a foil of sorts for the French-Canadian community, who saw it, not without reason, as a form of Anglo-Saxon imperialism; as a result, this allowed for the establishment of a relatively pro-gay policy in a province with strong historical ties to Catholicism. Still today, the Montreal gay and lesbian community, centered around Ste-Catherine Street, is probably one of the most active and best-integrated communities in North America.
On June 7, 2002, Quebec approved a law which recognized same-sex couples and their right to
adopt
. Remarkably, the law was passed unanimously. When the legislation was first introduced, however, more conservative members of parliament had been strongly opposed to the idea; however, after meeting with various gays and lesbians, including families and parents, they were convinced otherwise. Certainly, the Catholic Church remained opposed to the legislation until it was passed, but as Quebec Justice Minister Paul Bégin said, “What was at the center of the debate was love; and the priests never spoke of love.”
—Pierre-Olivier de Busscher
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American Sexual Politics: Sex, Gender, and Race Since the Civil War
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—Armed Forces; Bryant, Anita; Buchanan, Pat; Ex-Gay; Hoover, J. Edgar; McCarthy, Joseph; Protestantism; Shepard, Matthew; Stonewall.
OCEANIA
The Largest Sexual Laboratory in the World
Oceania stretches across much of the southern Pacific Ocean, from the Malaysian archipelago in the west to Polynesia in the east, and from Micronesia in the north to Australia in the south. The region is characterized by a notable cultural, religious, and racial diversity.
The most important element of Oceania is its geography, which is without a doubt the source of this diversity. The region contains thousands of islands spread over the entire area; the distance between them, as well as numerous mountains or maritime barriers between neighboring tribes, explains how various cultures in the region evolved in different manners. For example, on the main island of New Guinea, one-quarter of the all languages in the world are spoken here, including some that are used by a single village. And even though Indonesia is now the largest Muslim country in the world and despite the lasting influence of Christian missionaries in the South Pacific in general, its earliest form of religion consisted of a myriad of local cults and animist traditions. Further, Oceania is, without a doubt, the largest sexual laboratory in the world. For centuries, anthropologists have been attracted to this region, so rich and so “exotic,” particularly with regard to sexual practices and the construction of gender. Literature on sexuality in Oceania is plentiful; however, references to homophobia or to any similar taboo are strangely rare. Does this mean that homophobia as it is conceived in the West does not exist in the region? Or is it that this is a blind spot particularly revealing of anthropological research? Both of these two explanations may be valuable. Anthropological literature reveals evidence of homosexual practices in the region. For example, homosexual rites are practiced in the region of Melanesia, which stretches over 3,100 miles, from the east coast of Indonesia to the Fiji islands. However, while widespread, these rites are not present everywhere in Melanesia; they are practiced mainly in the lowlands, on the coasts, and in inland communities. These practices are also present in numerous Australian tribes.
Traditional Cultures
Despite important differences among rites that are practiced, it is possible to identify certain general commonalities. In the communities where these rites occur, sperm is considered as the main source of male power, and the insemination of young men is a mandatory rite of passage for all men without exception; it is considered the main means by which boys can become powerful men, and as such, has a high social and ritualistic value. As noted by anthropologist Gilbert Herdt, ritual homosexuality is mainly practiced among the most warlike clans and those that have a headhunting past.