What is it about Rumors? - Emily Martinez 2/8

Suzanne Pharr’s Homophobia was the reading that really caught my eye this week. I learned a lot about Lesbian baiting and how it damages essentially everyone that falls into its grasp, regardless of gender or orientation. It made me think back to the subtitle of this passage describing homophobia as “ A Weapon of Sexism”. A weapon, something with which one can use to harm another. Lesbian baiting, regardless of the person’s gender and presence of truth in the statement, is in and of itself an act of violence.This concept takes people’s orientation, their romantic and physical attraction to another person and one of the most instinctive emotions human beings possess, and turns it into a weapon against them. It is taking what should be a private aspect of the person’s life (ie: none of anyone’s business, save if they are a friend) and publicizing it with the intention that it will lead the person to harm.  It’s saying “You stepped out of line so I’m going to tell everyone that you identify with a group that many people violently oppose. There’s no way you can prove or disprove it, and someone will always believe me. Good luck with the discrimination!”. Despite ever-changing policies and general opinions on the LGBT+ community, the queer stigma is still very prominent nowadays. There’s no defence against this kind of homophobia, for anyone. Gay, straight, if they are called out then they are left vulnerable to the world. They can choose to stand strong and stand by who they are against the onslaught that will inevitably happen, or they can shrink into the sidelines like the person calling them out wants. Either way, there will be discrimination, ugly looks, gossip, varying levels of violence, isolation. There will also be acceptance. As much hatred as there is towards a group, there will always be as much love. If a person is baited, then one can only hope that they will have a group of people who matter to accept them for their orientation (if they are gay) or to help them clear the air of rumors (if they are not). It’s like that old saying: “Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind”. I’m going to end with a question to mull over: How does lesbian baiting make it so easy to erase the credibility of a person? Enough so that a simple ‘it’s not true’ would not disparage the rumors immediately?