In a world of intersectionality, of representation and pride, I have always wondered why so few discuss the unique experiences of gay men. Because the way society sees and responds to gay men, is different to how it treats lesbian Society and its sexist views of women see them as less competent, weak and without agency, meaning we see women as innocently gay – to be trivialised and leered over, and just ‘a phase’ to grow out of. But society’s sexist views of men, are different. Society sees men as inherently guilty, as dangerous, and as instigators. And this takes them down a different road of homophobia. Not a phase at all, but ‘an abomination’ and an ‘outrage of decency’. That’s right. Men are not innocent, but ‘guilty’ of being gay, and I mean that quite literally. Few people know that most of the laws that criminalised homosexual relationships, including those in the U.K., specifically criminalised gay male relationships only. And whilst society did not condone lesbian women, it didn’t persecute them in the same way, or to the same degree. So the uniquely tragic and endlessly painful experiences of history’s gay men are forgotten, rolled into the ‘LGBT’ monolith, and overlooked. Worse, many gay men in LGBT communities are now being seen as as ‘the white men of LGBT’, increasingly unwelcome and somehow made to feel like the most privileged letter in the acronym. But history continues, and today the experiences of gay men are still not the same. They are less accepted in every country than lesbian women, more uncomfortable walking the streets with their partner, and experience hate crimes at several times the rate of lesbian women. Why is that? Is there any room to talk about how homophobia and anti male bigotry intersect? Is there no space for conversation about the uniquely devastating experiences of gay men? ~ Sources FBI Hate Crimes (2019) Lesbian women more accepted Images by Ha Nguy, Gradienta, Tiago Barleta, Codioiful, Ray Zhou, #gayrights #gaypride #lgbt #gaymenofinstagram

2023-05-22