On June 16, 2015, the Supreme Court voted to legalize same-sex marriage in all fifty states. The fight to get to that point had begun in the 1960s and 1970s, when LGBTQ people finally began fighting for their rights, like during the 1969 Stonewall riots, which was one of the first known instances of LGBTQ people fighting for their rights. The Supreme Court’s decision seemed like the battle had been won, homophobia had been defeated, and there were no longer any problems for gay people. However, the epidemic of casual and underground homophobia continues.

According to a study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, “antigay bias declined at a steep rate” following the legalization of gay marriage. On all graphs and charts, homophobia has been on the decline for the last several years. However, there are some glaring outliers, such as the rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ people internationally, and religious outcry after the same-sex marriage ban. Still, generally speaking, LGBTQ people are not as hated as they once were.

However, another kind of bigotry has replaced flat out homophobia, something known as casual homophobia. Some examples of this type of underlying prejudice would be wanting a “gay best friend”, the continued use of gay slurs in sporting environments, and the outing(coming out is the process of one telling people that they are gay, bisexual, transgender, etc.) of LGBTQ people against their wills. Also, another issue is the “othering” of LGBTQ people, which is when someone is not explicitly homophobic but would rather not have gay people around them or their family, especially if they “act” gay.  Essentially, they are okay with gay people as long as those gay people do not act like their true selves around them.

According to Out on The Fields, a study conducted on homophobia in sports in 2016, 84 percent of Americans surveyed witnessed or experienced homophobia in sporting environments, and 78 percent believe sports are not as safe of an environment for queer youth compared to non-queer youth.

Though homophobia has diminished significantly in other popular environments like schools and workplaces, homophobia in sports remains all too common. Even though you can find many out and proud LGBTQ athletes in professional sports today, such as Michael Sam, Gus Kenworthy, and Megan Rapinoe, homophobia remains one of the areas where homophobia is not hard to find.

“I have heard people say they would not be comfortable with a gay person in the locker room,” said Triton junior Joshua Plummer.

Some might say that it’s perfectly reasonable to not want to share a locker room space with a gay person because it makes them uncomfortable. However, they fail to realize that the gay person likely feels far more uncomfortable being in an environment full of straight people knowing that they are not wanted, and would much rather just avoid the situation entirely by not playing sports. Some people just want to play sports, it has nothing to do with sexual or romantic attraction.

Though leaps and bounds have been made for LGBTQ people in the United States in the last decade, and it is important to acknowledge how far we have come, it is also important to acknowledge how much further we have to go.

Works Cited

Dunlevy, Leah. “Does Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Decrease Homophobia?” Pacific Standard, 13 June 2019, psmag.com/news/does-legalizing-same-sex-marriage-decrease-homophobia.

“Eliminating Casual Homophobia in Sports.” Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights, 25 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonblade.com/2017/08/25/eliminating-casual-homophobia-sports/.

Marsh, Sarah, et al. “Homophobic and Transphobic Hate Crimes Surge in England and Wales.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 June 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/homophobic-and-transphobic-hate-crimes-surge-in-england-and-wales.

Woodward, Will, et al. “Homophobia Hits Home: Readers Expose Ugly Side of Same-Sex Marriage Campaign.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 Sept. 2017, www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/13/homophobia-hits-home-readers-expose-ugly-side-of-same-sex-marriage-campaign.