Why Gay Hate Isn’t Hard To Do

Ain’t it grand to be gay in the enlightened, forward-thinking, tolerance-tastic 21st century? Gone are the old repressed days when being a gay man meant a hidden half-life in the closet with the only access to other like-minded fellas coming care of the nearest cottage. As for lesbians, they just had to make do with the sexless spinster-of-the-parish option.

Now, though, times have a-changed. We have our own dedicated gay scenes. We have cultural clout. We can adopt. We can get civil partnered up. We’re no longer labelled the freaks on the fringes. Hell, we’re so widely embraced that a couple of same-sexers strolling down the street holding hands or – heaven forefend – snogging even won’t have people reaching for the smelling salts as it once did. Yes, finally, after years in the wilderness, we’ve arrived. We’ve finally got something approaching true acceptance.

Yeah, right. If you believe that then you probably think sexism and racism have been consigned to the rubbish bin of the past, too. Even someone with the sunniest of dispositions has to admit homophobia is still as rife as ever. It’s endemic. Ingrained. Hardwired into the collective psyche. And I’m not just talking about casual, everyday, throwaway gay unfriendliness.

You only have to look at the latest crime figures released last week. According to the Metropolitan Police, gay hate crime committed in the capital has soared in the past year by 13.5 per cent with reported incidents rising from 1,123 between June 2008 up until the end of last month compared with 989 in the same period the previous year, providing hard-copy proof – if proof were really needed – we’re still pretty high on the hit-list when it comes to out-and-out hatred. Most worryingly of all, if that’s what got reported to the police, then imagine the amount of incidents that people didn’t report. And it’s not just here, either, globally homophobic violence is on the increase.

But why? Why has there been such a spike in homophobia-motivated crime in the past 12 months? To be honest, you don’t have to be Stephen Hawking to work out that increased antagonism towards the LGBT community may possibly have something to do with the times we are living through at the moment. We all might not agree on a lot of things, but one thing we’re all agreed on is that times are more than a tad troubled.

What happens when we’re all going through a tough patch is the underdogs of this world get a good kicking. It stands to reason, actually, because it’s simply the Darwinian law of survival of the fittest set into motion. The dominant powers-that-be have to put any group that hasn’t got the same slice of the power pie in their place. Let’s face it, we’re hierarchical animals. We need to be alpha tops otherwise where do we stand in society? The homophobes are spooked because, as they see it, we’re nicking too much of their territory so therefore need a slap to remind us of our second-class status.

But why do we expect anything different? Do we seriously believe we have gained equality? Essentially, despite the baby steps towards a sort of pseudo parity, we’re still the politically-correct group that it’s OK to prod and poke like a chained dancing bear. It’s fine to demean, dismiss and degrade us because we’re deemed easy targets plum for the pummelling. Whereas although racism undeniably still exists it’s gone underground due – rightly – to the groundswell of popular opinion that having a pop at people with different coloured skin isn’t such a great move, gay hatred not only survives but thrives. We’ve become the whipping gay girls and boys who channel everyone else’s discontentment and disempowerment.

If you think about it, though, if the anti-gayers are getting so rattled that they have to turn to violence – the final, fatigued refuge of the terminally prejudiced – means we’ve really got them on the ropes. After all, rats only attack when they’re cornered. All the silverback posturing just speaks of chronic insecurity, a desperate lurching to maintain their place as the numero unos. That doesn’t mean we should put up and shut up and turn the other cheek just to get it punched. It means we need to take homophobic violence seriously and realise we haven’t come such a long way, baby. Which is phenomenally depressing when you think about it.

Gay life grand? It’s still stuck in the primordial mud no matter what we’d like to believe.