| I never noticed I was heterosexist or homophobic until I started uncovering some of the deep roots of those very feelings. This past semester I made a marked effort to get rid of the homophobic and heterosexist parts of myself and have found it surprisingly easy to do.
If you're interested, wikipedia has a great "LGBT portal" that has a very complete history of homophobia. You can also google "history of homophobia" and I think the first or second option is very complete. Also, glsen.org, pflag.org, and hrc.org talk extensively about LGBTQ issues and how to work with homophobia and heterosexism in day-to-day dealings. If you're looking for DVDs, The Laramie Project is a great one about a violent hate crime against Matthew Shepard in Wyoming with many reflections about ending homophobia. Boys Don't Cry is another great movie about Brandon Teena, a transgender male (meaning he was born female but identifies as a guy) and the brutal hate crime committed against him. For the Bible Tells Me So is about the Christian Church's take on homosexuality at the current moment and highlights a lot of homophobia that originated in decades past. If you're looking for more personal/psychological roots to homophobia and heterosexism, Scared Straight by Dr. Minor is an excellent resource that will really cause you to question the roots of your beliefs.
All are available at a big library or a university library. I'd HIGHLY recommend everything I just suggested if you want to learn a lot about homophobia, heterosexism, and current issues facing the LGBTQ community.
(In case you're wondering, I recently finished a massive project for my leadership class about challenging homophobia and heterosexism through education aimed at straight college kids and through anti-bullying advocacy in all levels of school) |