Running head: BENCHMARK PAPER

Benchmark Paper
Crystal A. McMillon
Wayne State University
SW 3710
October 15, 2013

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Abstract

Within this paper I briefly describe the historical and personal forms of discrimination against the
LBGTQ community. Homophobia culturally has been a monolithic social issue. This issue
impacts the LGBTQ community and the society as a whole. The LGBTQ population is effected
by hate crimes, homelessness, employment discrimination, mental illness, and low education
rates that all stem from homophobia. In addition, I will explain policies and laws that help
alleviate the problem and how social stigma impact the policies all together. Concluding my
research I will describe personal beliefs of homophobia and how this issue relates to the values
and ethics of the social work profession.

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Benchmark Paper

There is a saying that we all may have heard: never judge a book by its cover On the
contrary, I say never cover yourself up because of judgment. Discrimination is gargantuan social
issue in the world today. It is the prejudgment of people based on their race, religion, gender,
age, sexual orientation, and social status to name a few. Throughout history the LGBTQ
community has been a main target of discrimination: family, religion, school, employment,
media, government, etc.
Imagine living in a world where youre not socially accepted for who you are or who you
love. Imagine your own family disowning you because of your sexual orientation. Imagine the
fear of feeling as though you cant safely participate in the activities of daily living because of
the community that you belong too. These are some of the challenges that the LGBTQ
community face daily because theyre living outside the box of societal norms.
Homophobia has been a monolithic issue culturally. This issue impacts the LGBTQ
community and the society as a whole. The demographics of the LGBTQ population are very
challenging to gather and pin down because a lot of people don't identify themselves as LGBTQ
and could still be in the closet. According to a Gallup surveys conducted from June-September
of 2012, approximately 3.4% of the nation identifies themselves as LGBT (Gates, 2012).
Homosexuality is practiced in all societies throughout history, and homophobia is the
central problem of homosexuality in the LGBTQ community. The term homophobia was
coined by a clinical psychologist named George Weinberg in the late 1960s: label heterosexuals'
dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals as well as homosexuals' self-loathing (Herek,

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1997-2012). The Webster's Dictionary defines homophobia as, an extreme and irrational
aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people (Merriam-Websters online dictionary, n.d.).
LGBTQ communities are affected by homophobia throughout the world. The effects of
homophobia can be severe within cases like: family disapproval, lost of education, homelessness,
unemployment, and mental illness.
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 20% of the LGBTQ population is
homeless (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2013, para. 1). When youth come out to
their homophobic parents or guardians they often face the risk of being ejected from their
households and forced to live and survive on their own. Homelessness is difficult on any
population, but its effect on the LGBTQ is more severe. The difference in homelessness in
heterosexual youth/people, and LGBTQ homeless youth are the chances of survival. When your
average homophobic person sees a homeless person their initial thoughts might be this person is
homeless due to any struggle outside of sexuality. This person might have lost their job, had a
house fire, lost their parents, or is just suffering from any struggle that falls under the umbrella of
hard times. In this case the homeless person might be empathized with, receive the assistance
of money, or even encouraging words. The rate of empathy for a homeless LGBTQ youth Im
sure is slightly lower, while the chances of these youth being victimized on the streets are
extremely higher.
When a homophobic person sees a homeless person perceived to be apart of the LGBTQ
community, chances are they correlate this homelessness to their sexuality. They are less inclined
to help, and more inclined to place blame on their sexuality being the reason for their present
struggles. In this case homophobia trumps basic human decency, the change that could be given

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is not, the encouraging words are left unspoken, and the struggle appears to be an agreeable
punishment for some type of crime committed.
As with most crimes, hate crimes more commonly occur at night, this fact makes
homeless LGBTQ youth more at risk of being victimized on the streets. If there is no sense of
urgency to help retrieve LGBTQ youth off of the streets, there is a greater chance that before
finding shelter one will suffer physical abuse or become the victim of a hate crime before finding
consistent shelter. Homelessness is not safe for anyone, but when your sexuality already gives
people a reason to torture, one being without a home makes the possibility of this torture
occurring is a lot higher.
Employment discrimination by employers is derived from ones ethnicity, sex, religion,
national origin, physical disability, and age. The LGBTQ community faces a widespread of
discrimination within the workplace. Between 15% to 43% of lesbian, gay, bisexual or
transgender workers have experienced being fired, denied promotions or harassed, according to
the Williams Institute (Sears & Mallory, 2011). There are several reasons to lose your job: lack
of performance skills, the economy, injuries, and many other unfortunate circumstances; on top
of all these reasons members of the LGBTQ community also have to worry about losing
employment due to their sexuality. People bring their own views and personalities to the
workplace, and in so many cases bosses and supervisors bring homophobia into workplaces. It is
much harder to excel at work if the person at the top of the chain has created a block that you can
not conquer because that block has nothing to do with your performance skills, and everything to
do with their personal and/or religious views.

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Not only do LGBTQ workers have to worry about being discriminated against and losing
their employment due to their sexuality, they also face harassment by supervisors and coworkers. This harassment whether it be physical, or verbal can lead to the person becoming
ineffective at work, failing at responsibilities, not being as present physically, or emotionally, all
of these things can also lead to termination. In some cases, to avoid discrimination, and
harassment on the job LGBTQ employers make the decision to hide their sexuality. This
decision to hide their sexuality can have several negative effects on the person; one of those
effects is depression. This depression much like every other problem that weve addressed
relating to discrimination in the workplace can also lead to a termination. Unemployment
contributes to poverty, which is not the problem of one person or family, it is the problem of
every person in every society.
Precise dropout rates among LGBTQ students are difficult to pin down, but the
American Psychological Association has estimated that almost a third of LGBTQ students drop
out of high school, more than triple the national rate, as stated by the Jasmyn Organization
(Jasmyn, 2013, para. 2). More important than the acceptance of family we all have this desire to
be accepted by our peers, without that acceptance and approval from our peers most of us start to
feel like we dont belong. Majority start to crave this acceptance somewhere between elementary
and high school, this is around the time when we all embark on the journey of finding ourselves:
Who me meet, who accepts us, and who we call friends is very important during this growing
period of our lives. On February 12th, 2008 15-year-old Lawrence King residing in Oxnard,
California was shot to death, in school, by his classmate Brandon McInerney for being openly
gay and flamboyant. This is not an isolated incident, almost daily you can turn on any local
news station and hear about a case involving bullying at an elementary, middle, or high

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school. All cases do not lead to death but all are capable of leading to struggles such as severe
depression, self-esteem issues, self-loathing, inadequacy, and in many cases suicide.
Whether it is in school, or at work, no person wants to willingly attend a place where they
are being bullied. When talking to students and parents is not enough, lots of students being
bullied decide to drop out of school. Even if students that are being bullied toughs it out and
remains in school, a certain type of aloofness becomes present in their presence. Both results
lead to these youth being uneducated, or undereducated and not properly equipped with the
educational tools needed to succeed in their lives.
In Ancient Greece homosexuality was very prevalent and accepted. I once read that it
was viewed as an act of good because the people believed it was great for population
control. Fast-forward to the 21st century, and homosexuality is not fully accepted and is viewed
by religious homophobes as a population killer due to the fact that same sex couples cannot
naturally procreate. You would think that in the 21stcentury where people are so evolved, where
we are all so connected to each other by technology, by transportation, and by Gods, that we
would be more evolved in our thinking and views on homosexuality, but we are not. There are
several types of homophobia; two that have been the most consistent are government-sponsored
homophobia and religious homophobia. Homophobic religious leaders, and homophobic leaders
in politics do not want homosexuals to infringe upon their rights, their traditional values of
family, and their ideas of what the laws shall remain. Homophobia, and homosexuality, change
hands, they both exist in every era, and every so often there are policies put into place with the
intention of protecting or destroying both.

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Workplace protection is well needed in societies throughout the nation. Different states
have different laws and policies that alleviate discrimination in the work setting. Stated by The
Human Right Campaign, ENDA is a legislation that ensures the equality and fair treatment of
individuals regardless of ones sexual preferences or identity. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, is the primary law alleviating employment discrimination. This law prohibits employment
discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Human Rights Campaign,
2013, para. 1-4). The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces all
of these laws. EEOC also provides oversight and coordination of all federal equal employment
opportunity regulations, practices, and policies ("Federal laws prohibiting," 2009).
Bullying Laws promote students safety, reduce drop out rates, truancy rates, and reduce
self-loathing among a list of other things. According to Jared Polis Anti Bullying laws requires
schools to undergo training for handling bullying cases and to create policies to alleviate the
problem. Students may face suspension or for extreme cases explosion from school. Non
discrimination act establishes a comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination in public
schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and provides victims
with meaningful and effective remedies, modeled after Title IX (Polis).
Although there are shelters to service the LGBTQ youth there still isnt enough shelters
to control the problem of homeless within this population. According to the National Alliance to
End Homelessness, " federal funding is inadequate to reach the majority of LGBTQ homeless
youth. The majority of LGBTQ homeless youth never receive access to supportive services or
housing opportunities, and most community-based providers serving this population cite lack of
bed capacity as their primary concern (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2013, para. 3).

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Another law put into place to protect the LGBTQ community as a result of violent hate
crimes is the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This is a policy
to protect individuals against hate crimes based off of their race, sexual orientation, gender,
religion, etc.
Most companies do not implement policies to protect LGBTQ workers because they feel
like by acting against the problem it will in some ways give off the perception that they are allies
of the community. Naturally, people do not want to be viewed as being supportive of
things/lifestyles that they disagree with. There are not just social stigmas associated with
homosexuality, but with homophobia as well. Homophobia and Homosexuality are two groups
that might have equal disapproval from different sides of society. They are both viewed as
harmful, they are both viewed as necessary, and they are both frowned upon globally.
"We have a slightly different culture," Barilla said, per a Huffington Post translation of
the interview. "For us, the 'sacral family' remains one of the companys core values. Our family is
a traditional family. If gays like our pasta and our advertisings, they will eat our pasta; if they
dont like that, they will eat someone elses pasta. You cant always please everyone not to
displease anyone. I would not do a commercial with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect
toward homosexuals who have the right to do whatever they want without disturbing others
but because I dont agree with them, and I think we want to talk to traditional families. The
women are crucial in this"(Sieczkowski, 2013). In recent years different companies around the
world have come under fire for making comments that disassociates their business from
supporting LGBTQ employees.

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To conclude, I believe that the only way to properly fight hate is with love, so I refrain from
trying to fight homophobia with a closed fist. Homophobia is not just the problem of
homosexuals; I would like to believe that we all suffer from the existence of it. Large numbers of
people argue that homosexuality is not an issue of civil rights, but to me it is. Homophobia
infringes upon the civil liberties of innocent people who should be able to live and love as they
choose. There is no one answer that explains the cause of homophobia, it can come from several
places; mental illnesses, religious views, learned behavior, entertainment, lack of education,
entertainment, or even a lack of empathy. Although we might not always be able to find the soil
that homophobia is rooted in, I still believe that we can fight, and win the fight against it. A quote
that I carry in the pocket of my own heart to fight the fight against the homophobia is one from
the late Martin Luther king Jr: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I believe
that if we could all take the time to educate, and remind ourselves that injustice is a causes a
domino effect that touches the lives of us all, wed win the fight sooner rather than later. The
perfect example of how the treatment of homophobia can be related to social work values and
ethics would be the NASW. A social workers job is to provide improvement of the life of
individuals facing social problems such as homophobia by researching, assisting with policies,
etc. A social worker would value the social justice of mankind, dignity and worth of a person
which all go against any acts of discrimination such as homophobia.

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Reference:

Gates, G. (2012, October 18). Gallup politics. Retrieved from

http://www.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-adults-identify-lgbt.aspx

Herek, G. (1997-2012). Definitions: homophobia, heterosexism, and sexual prejudice. Retrieved

from http://www.psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/prej_defn.html

Polis, J. (n.d.). H.r. 998 - the student non-discrimination act. Retrieved from
http://www.polis.house.gov/

Federal laws prohibiting job discrimination questions and answers fact sheet. (2009, November

21). Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html

Homophobia. (n.d.). In Merriam-Websters online dictionary. Retrieved October 15, 2013, from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homophobia

Human Rights Campaign. (2013, Oct 15) H.R. 988- The Student Non-Discrimination Act.
Retrieved October 15, 2013, from http://www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federallegislation/employment-non-discrimination-act

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JASMYN. (2013, Oct. 15). Releases Survey Results on Safety in Schools for LGBT Students.
Retrieved October 15, 2013, from http://jasmyn.org/2011/12/07/jasmyn-releases-survey-resultson-safety-in-schools-for-lgbt-students/

National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2013, Oct. 15). LGBTQ Youth. Retrieved October 15,
2013, from http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/lgbtq-youth

Sears, B., & Mallory, C. (2011, July). Documented evidence of employment discrimination & its
effects on lgbt people. Retrieved from http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wpcontent/uploads/Sears-Mallory-Discrimination-July-20111.pdf
Sieczkowski, C. (2013, September 26). The Huffington post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/26/barilla-pasta-anti-gay_n_3995679.html