Alone and Unobserved

NBA star Tim Hardaway’s recent homophobic outburst has generated quite a few gay-friendly consequences, not the least being the decisive reaction of the league to remove him as a representative, as well as several statements from other, less bigoted players. Unfortunately, the wingnuts had to weigh in as well. Michael Medved, one of those who whined the loudest about Brokeback Mountain’s purported anti-family “agenda,” claims that Hardaway has a valid point insofar as homophobia is a natural, innate quality, and that the idea that it can be unlearned is mere homosexual propoganda. In this sense, he argues, it is wrongheaded to demand that these squeamish straight males (whether basketball players or military personnel) be forced into close contact with “announced homosexuals.” (You can read his article here.)

What Medved ignores is that there are already gay people in the NBA, playing on the court and changing in the locker rooms; there are already gay people serving in the military, showering in the showers and bunking in the barracks. There is no reasonable way to prevent this, since homosexuality (unlike ethnicity or gender) is only visible through a person’s actions. At the moment, all the tension and discomfort is on the shoulders of the homosexual, to hide his or her sexual orientation at all costs and never to be caught in a fatal slip. This fear and tension will remain with this person for as long as he or she plays on the team or serves in the armed forces—there is no evidence that it can be unlearned. On the other hand, it seems clear that this generation of athletes and servicepeople is less homophobic than previous generations. How is this possible if homophobia is not a learned behavior?

Other highlights of Medved’s article include the part where he dismisses comparisons of homophobia with racism, remarking that “there is no rational basis for discomfort at playing with athletes of another race.” Certainly. The point is that there is no rational basis for homophobia either; unfortunately, bias is notorious for not being rational. Medved then makes the following astounding analogy:

Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn’t welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they’d welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women. . . . The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction. She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she’s grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her.

Unfortunately for Medved, like the rest of his logic, this is completely false. Everyone has to deal with the possibility of being desired by someone unattractive. If this discomfort is really all that homophobia is about, how does Medved explain the viciousness, the violence, the rage and the revulsion that homosexuality provokes? No, in the end, the root of homophobia is the same as that of any other blind prejudice: fear, mistrust and hate of the Other; it is learned the same way: from parents, friends, movies, music, politicians and a thousand other sources; and it must be fought in the same way: everywhere it appears.