Liberal homophobia

Acceptance of homosexuality that is homophobic in nature

Liberal homophobia is the acceptance of homosexuality as long as it remains hidden.^[1]^[2]^[3] It is a type of homophobia in which, despite acceptance of sexual diversity, prejudices and stereotypes that marginalize or underestimate LGBT people are perpetuated.^[4]

Definition

Liberal homophobia is a practice that is based on understanding relationships and sexuality as private issues and, therefore, accepting individual freedom over them as long as they do not emerge in the public sphere.^[5]^[6] However, members of the LGBT movement maintain that sexual orientation is an inherently public issue because heterosexuals are not constrained to hide their relationships in public as gay people are.^[6]

Liberal homophobia is expressed in many areas where homosexuality is made public, such as the LGBT pride parades, awareness campaigns in schools, at work, being out of the closet, or having gender non-conforming mannerisms or dress, without taking into account the discrimination that LGBT people face.^[6]

Authors such as Alberto Mira and Daniel Borrillo consider that this is a type of homophobia that is characterized by the "yes, but...". Homosexuality is tolerated, provided it is silenced and heterocentric normality is accepted. Any transgression of that norm is rejected as victimist, ghettoed, activist or proselytizer.^[1]^[2] In the words of Mira:

It's extraordinarily simple: "yes, but...". In this syntactic structure, any type of statement is inserted: "homosexuals are wonderful and very good friends of mine, but they must abandon the flamboyance; homosexuals are people like everyone but the exhibitionism that they manifest is out of place." There is a limit that still has to be overcome: that of positive images or vindication.

Es extraordinariamente simple: «sí, pero…». En esta estructura sintáctica se inserta cualquier tipo de enunciado: «los homosexuales son maravillosos y muy amigos míos pero deben abandonar la pluma; los homosexuales son personas como todos pero el exhibicionismo que manifiestan está fuera de lugar». Hay un límite que todavía cuesta superar: el de las imágenes positivas o la reivindicación.

— Alberto Mira, De Sodoma a Chueca^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b Borrillo, Daniel [in French] (2000). L'Homophobie (in French). Presses Universitaires de France. ISBN 9782130507185.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mira, Alberto [in Spanish] (2004). De Sodoma a Chueca: una historia cultural de la homosexualidad en España en el siglo XX (in Spanish). Egales. ISBN 9788495346650.
^
Definition:
- Gimeno, Beatriz (26 September 2003). "Homofobia liberal". El País (in Spanish).
- Ebert, Roger (7 March 2006). "Celibacy 'Liberal Homophobia'". Rogerebert.com.
- Alonso, Margarita (2012). Best Inclusion Practices: LGBT Diversity. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137033932.^{[permanent dead link]}
- Gross, Aeyal (2015). "The Politics of LGBT Rights in Israel and Beyond: Nationality, Normativity, and Queer Politics" (PDF). Columbia Human Rights Law Review. S2CID 51854991. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-02-24.
- Welzer-Lang, Daniel (2012). "Epistemology of Critical Studies on Men and Masculinity: Perspective of a Boy from France, After 25 Years of Research on These Topics". In Tremblay Gilles; Bernard François-Olivier (eds.). Future perspectives for intervention, policy and research on men and masculinities: an international forum. Men’s Studies Press. pp. 134–143.
^ "Liberal Homophobia in the Age of Trump". Progressive Army. 10 May 2017.
^ "El respeto a la diversidad sexual entre jóvenes y adolescentes. Una aproximación cualitativa" (PDF) (in Spanish). INJUVE.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gross, Aeyal (24 June 2013). "Israel's liberal homophobia". ILGA.