Homosexuality

I

Introduction

Homosexuality, sexual orientation toward people of the same sex. Homosexuality contrasts with heterosexuality, sexual orientation toward people of the opposite sex. People with a sexual orientation toward members of both sexes are called bisexuals (see Bisexuality). Female homosexuals are frequently called lesbians. In recent years, the term gay has been applied to both homosexual men and women.

Homosexuality appears in virtually all social contexts—within different community settings, socioeconomic levels, and ethnic and religious groups. The number of homosexuals in the population is difficult to determine, and reliable data do not exist. However, current estimates suggest that the term homosexual may apply to 2 to 4 percent of men. Estimates for lesbians are lower. Not all people who engage in homosexual activity necessarily identify themselves as homosexual.

II

Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Attitudes toward homosexual behavior have varied with time and place. In ancient Greece, homosexual relations were accepted and, in some cases, expected activity in certain segments of society. Later attitudes toward homosexuality in the Western world were determined largely by prevailing Judeo-Christian moral codes, which treat homosexuality as immoral or sinful. But like many other sins, homosexual relations were seen as expressions of the weakness inherent in all human beings, and not as a mental disorder or as the behavior of a specific type of person. This latter view, which regarded homosexuality as a pathology, developed in the late 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, psychoanalysts viewed homosexuals as the victims of faulty development. Austrian physician Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, considered homosexuality a deviant condition. More recently, scientists have searched for a biological explanation of sexual orientation. A study published in 1993 sought to identify a genetic marker for sexual orientation. The research, which did not include a cross section of the population, was inconclusive.

During the first half of the 20th century, attitudes toward homosexuality were overwhelmingly negative. Homosexual activities were hidden and spoken of only in whispers, and homosexual behavior, even among consenting adults, was a criminal offense in most of the United States. Homosexuals were subject to stereotypes and prejudice. Gay men were viewed as effeminate, lesbians were portrayed as mannish, and both were seen as being obsessed with sex, with little self-control or morality. Homosexuals frequently were thought to be potential child molesters. In the 1930s and during World War II (1939-1945), homosexuals were targets of persecution in Nazi Germany.

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Prejudices against homosexuals in Western societies have only recently begun to change. The first major shift followed the publication of two famous reports, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1952), by American biologist Alfred Charles Kinsey. Although these works contained inflated estimates of the homosexual population and the incidence of behavior, they provided a more realistic picture of homosexuality and helped demystify it. Unlike earlier studies which focused on homosexuals who had sought medical or psychological help, the Kinsey reports described homosexuals outside of clinical settings. Kinsey found homosexuals in all walks of life, growing up in all kinds of families, practicing many different religions. As a result of the ensuing scientific discussion, the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 eliminated homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses and, in 1980, dropped it from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

III

Gay Rights Activism

In recent years, people who support homosexual rights have worked and demonstrated to increase those rights. In the United States, the watershed event for homosexual activism was the Stonewall riot, which protested a police raid on a gay bar in New York City in 1969. It was the first public protest by homosexuals against harassment by police. Since then, homosexual communities in the United States have organized to work for gay rights. Such groups include the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a civil rights organization that promotes equality and freedom from prejudice and discrimination for gays and lesbians; Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which provides legal representation for gays and lesbians; and the Human Rights Campaign Fund, which lobbies state and national legislators. In Canada, Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (EGALE) has worked to secure equal rights for gays and lesbians and to influence federal legislation on gay rights. Canadian gay rights groups helped bring about the amendment in 1996 of the Canadian Human Rights Act to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Other countries that have specifically outlawed discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals include the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

One of the greatest challenges to face the homosexual community was the outbreak of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the early 1980s. In the United States, the disease first became prevalent among gay men and spread with devastating effect. When little was known about the disease and how it was spread, AIDS patients and homosexuals experienced an increase in discrimination in housing and health insurance. Many people protested against agencies of the U.S. government—including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—claiming they were slow to study the disease and search for treatment. More organizations were formed to help educate people about the disease and to help AIDS patients get proper care.

IV

Same-Sex Unions and Gay Marriage

In the 1990s and 2000s homosexual rights groups addressed a number of other issues, including the rights of gay and lesbian families. In 2001 the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages, giving same-sex couples the same rights that heterosexual couples have in areas such as inheritance, taxes, divorce, and pension benefits. Belgium legalized same-sex marriages in 2003. Spain and Canada followed suit in 2005. Canada became the fourth nation to legalize same-sex marriage and the first outside of Europe. Several other European countries recognize homosexual unions, although these unions are generally called civil unions or registered partnerships rather than marriages. The United Kingdom, for example, permitted civil partnerships beginning in December 2005. The same month the Constitutional Court of South Africa struck down the country’s Marriage Act as unconstitutional because it did not permit same-sex marriage. The court stayed its ruling for one year to allow parliament to amend the act, but it stipulated that the ruling would go into effect regardless by December 2006. In December 2006 South Africa became the fifth country to legalize gay marriage. In June 2008 Norway became the sixth country to legalize same-sex marriage. The federal district of Mexico City allowed civil unions for same-sex couples in late 2006, and voters in Ecuador approved a new constitution in 2008 that allows for same-sex civil unions.

In the United States, more than 40 states have passed laws forbidding same-sex marriages and denying recognition of same-sex marriages obtained elsewhere. In 2004, 13 states—most of which already prohibited such marriages by law—enacted constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages, joining four other states that had previously done so. Same-sex couples can legally marry in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Vermont. New Hampshire and New Jersey permit civil unions, which extend the same legal rights of marriage to same-sex couples that heterosexual couples have under state law. Vermont legalized civil unions in 2000, Connecticut did so in 2005, New Jersey in 2006, and New Hampshire in 2007.

In November 2003 the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the state’s highest court, ruled that gay couples have the right to marry under the state’s constitution. In February 2004 the court clarified its ruling, saying that civil unions were not sufficient and that only marriage met its criteria for equal rights for gays. The court ruled that “the history of our nation has demonstrated that separate is seldom, if ever, equal,” in affirming that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights of marriage as heterosexuals. On May 17, 2004, same-sex marriages became legal in Massachusetts, and authorities there began to marry gay couples. State legislators pledged to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage but allow civil unions. Such an amendment would require voter approval.

In May 2008 the California Supreme Court struck down a ban on same-sex marriage, ruling that it violated the state’s constitution. The court thereby enabled gay marriages to take place. In October 2008 the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down the state’s civil union law and permitted same-sex marriage, ruling that the civil union law violated the state constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. Same-sex couples who choose to enter into civil unions will have the same legal rights as married couples in Connecticut.

In November 2008 California voters passed a ballot measure known as Proposition 8, which overturned the California Supreme Court’s earlier ruling legalizing gay marriage. Proposition 8 would amend the state constitution by defining marriage as a union between a woman and a man. Following the election, various civil rights groups and cities filed lawsuits challenging the legality of Proposition 8. The California Supreme Court agreed to review arguments against the measure but gay marriages would not be allowed prior to the court’s ruling. Also in November, similar amendments banning same-sex marriage were approved in Arizona and Florida.

On April 3, 2009, the Supreme Court of Iowa legalized gay marriage. The unanimous ruling declared the state’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, upholding a 2007 Iowa District Court ruling. Less than a week later, on April 7, 2009, the Legislature of Vermont voted to legalize gay marriage. Vermont became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through legislative action rather than a court ruling.

Several states—including California, Oregon, Washington, and Maine—permit domestic partnerships, which are similar to civil unions but vary widely in the rights and responsibilities that are extended. A growing number of local governments and private corporations have also implemented domestic partnership laws or policies. Generally, however, homosexual couples in long-term relationships do not have the same legal protection as people in heterosexual marriages. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, for example, many federal marriage benefits, such as tax breaks and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid provisions, are denied to gay couples. Adopting children is also problematic for homosexuals. One state, Florida, had a law that explicitly prohibited homosexuals from adopting children until a judge ruled the law unconstitutional in November 2008. Other states, such as Utah, have administrative rules that prohibit adoptions by unmarried couples, which would preclude gays. Other states allow a same-sex partner to adopt the biological child of the other partner. The vast majority of states do not explicitly prohibit gay couples from adopting. New Hampshire is one of the few states that explicitly allow gay couples to adopt.