CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

A GAY LIBERATION HISTORY WEBSITE: DECREASING THE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE

BEHAVIOR OF GAY IDENTIFIED MEN BY INCREASING SELF-ESTEEM

A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the degree of Master of Science in Counseling,

Marriage and Family Therapy

By

Ramon Solache

May 2018

The graduate project of Ramon Solache is approved:

______

Alejandra Trujillo, LMFT Date

______

Bruce Burnam, Ph.D Date

______

Shari-Tarver Behring, Ph.D Date

______

Stan Charnofsky, Ed.D, Chair Date

California State University, Northridge

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Dedication

My project is dedicated to all the same-sex loving men from our past and those yet to come who seek out a better understanding of gay love. To all those same-sex loving who suffer and struggle in isolation or silence un-aware of the immense contribution same-sex loving men have had in our society and will have in the future. To Harry Hay, who in my youth told me that we are not a skewed version of heterosexuality and are nothing like heterosexuals, which is a beautiful thing. This project is particularly dedicated to Mitch Walker who today continues to write scholarly works about the psychological importance of Gay love and the Gay subjective experience.

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful and appreciate all the support I received from everyone that helped this project come to fruition. The list by no means encompasses of all those who deserve my grateful appreciation:

To my partner, James Mclendon: Thank you for having such a supportive attitude and allowing me to take over our home with the bombardment of books and printed journals.

To my Mother, Silvia Perez, who has supported any endeavor I have sought out; and there have been many.

To the Institute for Uranian Psychoanalysis (IUP), who’s trainees and member’s like Christopher

Kilbourne, Douglas Sadownick, Roger Kaufman, and Dustin Kerrone continue to question, explore, and inspire the mysteries of Gay spirit and Gay love. Special love to Mitch Walker, a founding member of the Institute, who’s scholarly body of work is not only inspirational but in my opinion is leaps and bounds beyond anyone else’s psychological understanding of gay spirit.

To my academic supporters, Bruce Burnam and Stanley Charnofsky who continued to support and guide me through this elongated process, which at times, thought I would never complete. I would particularly like to thank Alejandra Trujillo who has always expressed her belief in my abilities and agreed to help by joining my committee after losing one of my members at the very last moment. I could not have completed this stage of my journey without this support.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Signature page ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgements iv

Abstract vi

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Chapter 2: Review of the Literature 7

Chapter 3: Project Audience and Implementation of Factors 31

Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations 36

References 41

Appendix 46

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ABSTRACT

A GAY LIBERATION HISTORY WEBSITE: DECREASING THE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE

BEHAVIOR OF GAY IDENTIFIED MEN BY INCREASING SELF-ESTEEM

By

Ramon Solache

Master of Science in Counseling

Marriage and Family Therapy

In modern times, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community has gained increasing political power and continues to foster safety for people living as homosexual or bisexual. Despite significant advances in civil rights, gay men and especially gay men of color continue to be at the highest risk of suicide, drug abuse, and exposure to HIV/AIDS.

The modern gay movement has shifted from a focus on gay liberationist ideas to that of civil rights, which does little for fostering self-esteem. Although the internet offers other websites concerning gay history, the website proposed by this project differs in that it will focus less on civil rights and more on historical movements that have led gay people through millennia to contemporary times, honoring the experience of same-sex love. This connection to the historical gay past will decrease self-destructive behaviors.

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Chapter I

Introduction

Although considerable accomplishments in recent years have advanced the LGBT civil rights movement, this project discusses a gay liberation movement with a different concentration and the importance of such ideas in saving and fulfilling gay lives. This project by no means seeks to disparage the great strides made by the civil rights movement’s efforts to seek a more egalitarian society. This movement is an essential external struggle, but an external focus tends to sacrifice internal psychological experiences. Dr. Mitch Walker (2009), a modern gay liberation leader, proposes that implicit homophobic societal messages homosexual children receive during development, which reinforce self-destructive behaviors later in life, often taint their internal experiences. These implicitly homophobic messages begin at an early age as definitions of male and female. Heterosexual patriarchal societies use these descriptions to categorize people into a binary male/female system (Neill, 2009). A movement that focuses exclusively on civil rights disseminates implicit messages that a heterosexual construct is the only or most desirable system available. Gay liberational leader Mitch Walker (2009) describes:

…the strategic reign of gay assimilationist ideologies, in gaining their very sociopolitical

successes, can also be promoting to that validational extent a paradoxical negation of

what makes being gay gay for members of the concerned community otherwise

benefitted, thereby fostering a discordant contradiction thus so sympathetic or helpful to

the ugly forces of heterosexist hatred still working their nasty will on us, most acutely

and dangerously as the Trojan Horse within, as persistent or deep-seated “internalized

homophobia (p.7).

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The idea that awareness and appreciation of the fundamental experience of being gay are necessary for a gay person’s healthy development has faced challenges in contemporary academia. History often excludes same-sex-loving people and events and minimizes the homosexuality of pivotal historical figures, leading to an assumption that such characters were heterosexual. Liberational leaders such as Harry Hay and Mitch Walker believe that gay identity, rights, and freedoms connect with a long historical lineage. Over millennia, and even in the face of danger, people have cultivated the idea that homosexuals are a unique people with their own experiences, spirituality, and history.

Walker (2009) evokes the dedicated work of past generations as an essential link to the critical development of the modern gay liberation movement:

…homosexuals have gradually evolved a name and an identity for ourselves that nurture

and inform the humanization of being a same-sex-loving person of dignity, value, and

contributive creative potential. We have by the way of many generations, gone through a

long journey of gradual self-awakening and discovery, from initial musings about who

we are, to a variety of alternate understandings and terminologies, to today’s proud and

self-respecting lesbian- and Gay-identified peoples (p.32).

Statement of the Problem

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2017), young gay and bisexual males are at disproportionately elevated risk for HIV and other STDs. Schools and other youth organizations can help reduce sexual risk behaviors by teaching young males lifelong attitudes that promote and support their health. However, while sexual education alone can help reduce risk, it does little to deter risky behaviors resulting from low self-esteem.

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Young homosexuals often develop poor self-esteem and are left feeling empty and alienated by failing to meet implicit expectations of their heterosexual families. Connecting homosexual youth to their historical past has proven to increase self-esteem and therefore decrease self-destructive behaviors (Baim, 2011).

Purpose of Project

The goal of this project is to develop a website focusing on the expansion of gay liberation as an essential tool for cultivating and fostering healthier self-esteem and thereby reducing self-destructive behaviors.

The website will promote exploration of gay liberational history and leaders who have facilitated a fecund development of gay spirit and myth of meaning. It will make this information accessible to many youths and adults who live in remote parts of the country, have difficulty connecting with such information, or are too afraid to seek information outside of the privacy of their own homes. The website’s intent is not to isolate gay, homosexual, or same-sex-loving males from the dominant heterosexual society, but instead to build self-esteem through historical knowledge by developing a homosexual myth that decreases the tendency to isolate, fall apart, endure distress, or disappear when functioning in a primarily heterosexual society. This electronic link to the past can increase self-esteem and motivate readers to strengthen an appreciation of psychology on their path to gay liberation and individuation.

Terminology

This project uses the following terms, described by the following definitions.

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Coming Out: According to belongto.org (2017), a national organization for LGBT young people,

“coming out is the process through which an LGBT person accept their sexual orientation or gender identity as part of their overall identity. It not only refers to the process of self-acceptance but also to the act of sharing [one’s] identity with others.” (2017, para.4).

Gay: “The terms gay male and lesbian refer primarily to identities and to the modern culture and communities that have developed among people who share those identities. They should be distinguished from sexual behavior” (apa.org, 2017, para.9).

Gay liberation: “a political and social movement to combat legal and social discrimination against homosexuals” (Dictionary.com, 2017, para.1).

Heteronormative: “of, relating to, or based on the attitude that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality” (merriam-webster.com, 2017, para.1).

Homophobia: “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals” (merriam-webster.com, 2017, para.1).

Homosexual: According to Neill (2009), Journalist Károly Mária Kertbeny coined the word in the late 19th century by combining the Latin prefix homo (same) with sexualis. Activist Karl

Ulrichs first used the term to identify a separate and unique people, designating who they are rather than merely what they do (Neill, 2009).

Internalized homophobia: Kantor (2007) references a definition of internalized homophobia that describes “gays’ and lesbians’ homophobia toward themselves and toward other gays and lesbians.” Kantor believes this definition to be “incomplete” and adds “the ego’s (or self’s)

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unfavorable attitude toward itself and its own sexual and homosexual desires and behaviors”

(Kantor, 2007, p. 31).

Same-sex-loving: Those who engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex but do not necessarily identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. The term also identifies those who shared the experience of loving the same sex before the words “homosexual”, “gay”, or “lesbian” had evolved.

Self-esteem: “The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it” (Smith; Mackey, 2007, p. 107).

Youth: Young people aged 13 to 24 (CDC, 2017).

Summary

Minority stress theory proposes that socially stigmatized minorities experience unique levels of chronic stigma and stress that can result in adverse physical and mental health outcomes. As an internal experience, these stressors derive from individual’s perceptions of prejudice associated with being gay or lesbian, developing a resulting expectation of rejection and, ultimately, an internalization of homophobic messages that can persist throughout one’s lifetime as diminished self-esteem. These stressors lead to a higher proclivity for self-destructive behavior and mental illness (Meyer, 2003).

Gay and lesbian activist Tracy Baim (2011) attributes damaged self-esteem to a sense of isolation in developing gay youth and promotes the amelioratory potency of gay history awareness. She advocates that one major affliction of the modern gay community is a “lack of connection” and that damage to self-esteem is inevitable when “you think you are alone.”

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“This is why we have so many other troubles facing us: substance abuse, risky behavior, suicide, etc. Low self-esteem, a lack of feeling empowered by your own history and place in the world, exacts a high toll on our community. We need this sense of history, and if the schools won't provide it, we have to find a way to transfer this knowledge through own our courses, and our own online efforts. Our community-wide self-esteem depends on it” (Baim, 2011, par. 12).

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Chapter II

Literature Review

Throughout history, cultures and civilizations have existed that have not only revered same-sex-loving people as societally valuable but treated such people as equals who deserve equal civil rights. In civilizations like ancient Greece, Hardman (1993) asserts that male-male love was revered by many as being heavenly and as the motivation for the internal creation of thought and philosophy. In contrast with the Greeks, western civilization has spent millennia developing negative attitudes toward same-sex love to support a heterosexist patriarchal societal myth that views homosexuals as deviant outliers (Hardman, 1993).

According to Neill (2009), patriarchal societies inherently foster a heterosexist attitude and myth which devalues women as weak and subservient to men while elevating men as superiorly strong. Masculinity in men is not only desired but also expected. Consequently, males who skew from the imposed expectations of masculinity are considered aberrations because of their positioning toward the feminine end of a femininity/masculinity spectrum. Negative attitudes toward same-sex-loving males have decreased in recent times, but opposition still exists, especially outside of non-orthodox metropolitan areas. The leaders of many cultures, religions, and political groups continue to believe and endorse compelling arguments designed to question whether same-sex-loving people, who do not fit the corresponding patriarchal narrative, deserve to exist. Such leaders advocate for the rejection and, in worse cases, destruction of same- sex-loving people. These homophobic messages, both implicit and explicit, can be deleterious to a developing same-sex-loving person’s self-esteem (Neill, 2009). Among men who engage in

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sexual activities with men, diminished self-esteem has been associated with high-risk behaviors including unsafe sexual practices, drug addictions, and suicide (CDC, 2017).

Nevertheless, Walker (2009) posits that many historical leaders have fought for and honored the unique experience of being a same-sex-loving person, even while risking the loss of their livelihoods and even death. The work of these same-sex-loving heroes has created an indelible historical lineage of valuation which has amounted to the modern gay liberation movement. As society advances towards more egalitarian values in the form of civil rights, gay- liberational leaders believe negative implicit messages continue to have damaging effects on self-esteem (Walker, 2009). Academia, for example, is marred by a long and continuing history of omitting crucial homosexual history. These exclusions generate feelings of isolation, which the CDC (2017) has identified as a major factor for low self-esteem. Tracy Baim (2011), a lesbian leader in the LGBT community, advocates that gay and lesbian youth must become connected to their history to decrease feelings of isolation and increase self-esteem, thereby reducing self-harming behaviors.

The CDC (2017) has identified a correlation between LGBT community members who have seroconverted (become “HIV positive”) and engagement in sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. A study also identified that gay men are more likely to make sexual choices that put them at risk for HIV and STD infection when they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs (CDC, 2017).

Research

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2016) is a governmental agency that

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collects and analyzes copious quantities of data to facilitate our nation’s protection from serious health threats.

HIV and STD Statistics

According to the CDC (2017), 1.1 million people in the United States are living with

HIV, and one in seven is not aware of his or her status. The infection rate continues to be disproportionate for men who have sex with men, compared with men who only have sex with the opposite gender. Among new HIV infections in 2014, the CDC reports that 70% were associated with gay and bisexual men, contrasted with 23% among heterosexuals. Although infection rates decreased overall from 2010 to 2014, they disproportionately increased 14% among Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men. Within that same timespan, infection rates increased 23% among gay and bisexual men aged 25 to 34 but declined 23% among their heterosexual counterparts. In 2015, 26,376 gay and bisexual men received new HIV diagnoses, which is approximately 67% of all new diagnoses. Out of those 26,376 gay or bisexual men,

10,315 were African American, 7,570 were white, and 7,013 were Hispanic/Latino. Throughout

2015, HIV diagnoses continued to disproportionately affect African American and Latino men who have sex with men. Also, men who have sex with men constituted 75% of Syphilis cases reported 2012 (CDC, 2017).

Alcohol and Drug Use

The CDC (2017) reports that LGBT people have higher rates of substance abuse and continue heavy drinking into their later lives. Gay and bisexual men exhibit higher rates of bingeing on alcohol than heterosexual men, and heavy drug use often accompanies those binges.

Gay and bisexual men increase their chances of contracting HIV and other STDs when

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combining alcohol or illegal drugs with sexual activity; mind-altering substances decrease self- agency to engage in safer sex practices, and needle sharing or sharing other injection equipment increase chances of transmitting HIV. Gay men who binge or are struggling with addiction often present mental illness and are self-medicating with alcohol or drugs. Issues with mental health and physical problems can be linked to distress from discrimination, stigma, and violence that gay and bisexual men experience due to their sexual orientation (CDC, 2017).

Suicidality

The CDC (2017) reported 41,149 suicides in the United States in 2013, equal to 113 a day or one every 13 minutes. In 2010, state agencies reported that 34% of suicide decedents tested positive for alcohol, 23.8% for antidepressants, and 20% for opiates. Suicide was the third leading cause of death for youth aged 10-14, second among those 15-34 years old, and fourth among those 35-44 years old. In 2011, middle-aged people (45-65 years old) accounted for the largest number of suicides, at 56%, and this rate grew 30% from 1999 to 2010. Hispanic students in grades 9-12 had consistently higher rates of attempted suicide that required medical attention than white and black students (CDC, 2017).

The CDC (2017) mentions that men who have sex with men were at higher risk for attempting suicide, especially before the age of 25. Homosexual youth in grades 7-12 were twice as likely at attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. One prominent risk factor associated with the increase in attempted suicide is the mental health effect of being gay or bisexual in a hostile environment (CDC, 2017).

According to Espelage, Aragon, Birkett and Koenig (2008), a heightened level of homophobic victimization occurs when gay and lesbian youth are without a healthy support

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system; those without a support system experience a higher risk of suicidal ideation, depression, and isolation. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth exhibit higher levels of suicide ideation than their heterosexual peers, with 20 – 53% of LGB youths attempting suicide at least once (Espelage et al., 2008). Predictors include hopelessness and depression, with the most reliable predictor being a previous history of attempted suicide (Mustanski & Liu, 2013).

Homophobia and Stigma

The CDC (2017) has identified a correlation between risky health behaviors and low self-esteem resulting from homophobia and stigma among men who have sex with men. Kantor

(2009) identifies six categories to distinguish unique homophobic paradigms:

1) The homophobic medical model: gays and lesbians are sick, that is, too unhealthy to

be permitted to raise children or even to be allowed to move freely through society and

they may even need to be quarantined or, better still, exiled (Kantor, 2009).

Until 1973, the DSM’s medical community identified homosexuals as mentally ill

(American Journal of Psychiatry, 1981). Then, according to Kantor (2009),these practitioners found them to be unhealthy and unfit for society, advocating for their quarantine or exile.

Homosexuals were viewed as sick because, as with addiction, they refuse to “simply stop” their chosen behavior. Many treatments aimed to cure homosexuals of their presumed behavioral addictions by using shock therapy, drugs, removal of parts of the brain, and chemical or physical castration. Changes to the DSM in 1973 helped evolve the medical community’s approach to treatment, and revisions involved developing support for individuals’ difficulties in coming to terms with their same-sex attractions and health concerns rather than treating or preventing homosexual behaviors (Kantor, 2009).

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Many positive changes have reshaped the homophobic medical model, yet views of homosexuality as an illness are still ingrained in societal models and, today in the United States, religious beliefs actively drive advocation of shock therapy and other treatments designed to cure homosexuals of their behavior.

2) The religious model: gays and lesbians are sinners and ought to do penance for their

sins (Kantor, 2009)

Today, most treatments to cure homosexual tendencies are voluntary, chosen by individuals influenced by religious organizations (Human Rights Campaign, 2017). Kantor

(2009) contends that the homophobic religious model can be the most destructive, as religious dogma is widespread and firmly ingrained in our country’s society. These beliefs not only damage the self-esteem of same-sex-loving people by vilifying homosexuality but also encourage homophobic attacks by those who believe the Bible justifies violence against homosexuals (Kantor, 2009).

Unlike the homophobic medical model, the religious model has changed very little in its attitudes towards homosexuals. Although several biblical passages have been interpreted as anti- homosexual, the most commonly referenced is Leviticus 18:22, which states: “Thou shalt not lie with Mankind as with Womankind; it is abomination. (p. 251). The homophobic medical and religious models have implanted an image of the homosexual as a mentally ill sinner, which fuels the homophobic criminal model (Kantor, 2009).

3) The criminal model: gays and lesbians do things that are illegal; for example, they are

pedophiles and ought to be jailed (Kantor, 2009)

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Kantor (2009) points out that until a Supreme Court ruling in 2003, many states upheld anti- sodomy laws. However, the win in Lawrence vs. Texas struck down such laws, thereby removing the stigma of homosexual acts as a crime and exposing the circular reasoning that

“being homosexual is a crime because it is against the law, and being homosexual is against the law because it is a crime,” (2009, p. 21). However, many religious and political leaders continue to advocate for the illegalization of homosexual acts and wield fear and homophobia for their political gains (Kantor, 2009).

4) The political model: gays and lesbians make good common-cause enemies for those

who want to get ahead personally and professionally, for example, to get out the

conservative vote (Kantor, 2009)

Kantor (2009) indicates that homophobia in politics is geared toward polarizing society to win elections. Claims that voting for a homophobic politician will help eliminate a perceived homosexual threat amplifies rhetoric that intensifies fear of homosexuals. Homophobic politicians pander to the electorate’s fears by speaking negatively about homosexuals, further outlying homosexuals and fostering a myth that the electorates are insiders, thereby generating votes. Many of the messages used by homophobic politicians cater to the belief and fear that homosexuals will destroy both heterosexual marriage and legitimate families. This form of fear- pandering fuels the homophobic sociocultural model of homosexuality (Kantor, 2009).

5) The sociocultural model: gays and lesbians and their homosexual lives are dangerously

subversive and poised to disrupt the world order and keep us all from having lasting

peace (Kantor, 2009)

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Under the sociocultural model, according to Kantor (2009), homophobia manifests as a belief that homosexuals will undermine the fabric of society by destroying traditional marriage; damaging future generations by adopting children and raising them poorly; and being generally antisocial by making a conscious effort to live outside mainstream society and its admirable boundaries. The belief holds that homosexuals are universally untraditional, an idea fueled by the homophobic biological model of homosexuality, which asserts that homosexuality is not found in nature (Kantor, 2009).

6) The biological model: individuals justify gay bashing as necessary to “protect

philosophical, moral, and even genetic purity from contamination by outsiders” (Kantor,

2009, p.23)

Kantor (2009) draws an analogy to survival in the plant kingdom, describing how the homosexual minority threatens the “famous nuclear family.” Homophobes seek to protect their hierarchical position by “killing off what they view as the runts” so that they can more effectively “photosynthesize” and survive, retaining power over those they have relegated to inferior positions (Kantor, 2009).

Kantor (2009) indicates that these models describe how homophobia can engender insufficient coping skills and poor mental health, resulting in higher risk of substance abuse, unhealthy sexual behavior, and attempted suicide among the homosexual minority. For youth, according to the CDC (2017), stigma and discrimination can increase chances of exposure to violence at school, including bullying, teasing, harassment, physical assault, and suicide-related behaviors. A family’s rejection of a young adult’s sexuality can also increase chances of homelessness. LGBT youth account for 40% of all homeless youth and those who experience

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strong family rejection risk being eight times more likely to commit suicide, six times more likely to report depression, three times more likely to use drugs, and three times more likely to engage in risky sex. Homophobia and stigma also negatively affect employment rates and income levels, which reduces the ability to acquire and keep healthcare insurance (CDC, 2017).

Gay men are forced to live with resulting depression and to accept discriminatory attacks as a cost or side effect of being homosexual (Kantor, 2009). These homophobic discriminations and stigmas stem from the general population’s acceptance of the heterosexual myth.

Heterosexual Myth and Rationalizations of Homophobia

Neill (2009), applies three Random House definitions of “myth” to his discussion of the heterosexual myth:

Myth. 3. An invented story, idea or concept. 4. An imaginary or fictitious thing or person.

5. An unproved or false collective belief that is used to justify a social institution (Neill,

2009).

The heterosexual myth is a product of western civilization driven by the belief that the heterosexual construct of normality is not only correct but supported by religion and nature itself.

According to Neill (2009), most people learn about sex from their families, churches, television and movies, and friends. Today, many people also learn from the internet, which is widely accessible in homes, schools, libraries, and on phones.

Gay and homosexual activists surmise that the heterosexual myth and culture has, by and large, defined what it means to be homosexual (Downing, 1989) Neill (2009) contends that this has constructed stigmas against homosexuals. Many messages propagate the belief that sex

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should be between a man and a woman, with sexual reproduction serving as a definition of nature’s ultimate sexual intention.

Kantor (2009) identifies seven rationalizations for homophobia:

1) Human nature – Homophobia is natural and ingrained in all people because gays and

lesbians are outsiders to what is considered normal, and therefore are naturally suspicious

to heterosexuals. Homophobic individuals might also argue against anal penetration, that

it must be rejected to assure healthy reproduction of the human species by reducing

STDs, which can cause genetic and psychological disorders.

2) Culture – The claim that “everyone is homophobic” serves as homophobic justification

that no normal person would tolerate sexual deviance like homosexuality.

3) Religion – Homophobia is frequently justified by the idea that both the Bible and

religious ministers oppose homosexuality. It can be considered, however, that

homophobia is not sourced merely from a few Bible passages, but instead, that scripture

is applied toward the justification of existing homophobic beliefs. Homophobic

justification involves the belief that, since some passages negatively describe

homosexuals as sinners, one is choosing moralist over immoralist or saints over sinners.

4) Preferences – Homophobic justification is attempted by the belief that homophobes

just happen to like heterosexual people more than gays or lesbians. These homophobes

believe it is their free will, but many times have difficulty distinguishing free will from

determinism.

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5) Freedom of speech and thought – In a free country, people have the right to dislike

anyone. However, expressing dislikes in a hurtful way can limit the freedom of gay and

lesbian people to be treated well.

6) Unimpeachable logic – Prejudice is admitted, but accompanied by a denial that

prejudice leads to discrimination, thereby rendering prejudice harmless.

7) Reality – This homophobic justification asserts that aspects of what constitutes gay life

are downright disgusting. Although some of these aspects can be unsavory and even

dangerous, the homophobe focuses on homosexual activities while disregarding or

ignoring negative aspects of heterosexuals, even when also unsavory and dangerous

(Kanto, 2009).

The prevalent heterosexual myth, which describes what is normal, fundamentally exists in every justification for the legitimacy of homophobia. At best, it dictates that homosexuals do not fit in the construct of the myth and, at worst, that they deserve destruction (Kantor, 2009;

Neill, 2009).

According to Neill (2009), these messages are so wide spread that they become ingrained in families, society, and academia; the hetero-family construct becomes a goal for perceived happiness and future security. The impression of homosexuality conflicting with the heterosexually constructed myth can create internal homophobia. This internal homophobia is fueled by implicit negative messages that the homosexual begins to adapt to avoid feelings of isolation and of being an outsider to society and, more importantly, the heteronuclear family construct. These implicit messages lower self-esteem because a developing homosexual feels different and never perfectly fits in. Homosexuals learn to hate aspects that make themselves

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unique, including their homosexuality itself (Neill, 2009). Additionally, some men can perpetrate homophobic violence because of repression, denial, and reaction formation intended to protect them from their homosexual impulses (West, 1977).

Implicit Messages and Internalized Homophobia

Adams (1996) at the University of Georgia performed a study that recruited only males who self-identified as exclusively heterosexual and who had not engaged in a sexual act with another male. The study used a Kinsey seven-point scale, ranging from exclusively homosexual to exclusively heterosexual. To differentiate homophobic from non-homophobic men, an inventory known as the IHP assessed participants’ comfort when in close quarters with homosexual men. An aggression questionnaire consisting of twenty-nine questions, developed by

Bass and Perry in 1992, was used to identify aggression according to four factors: anger, verbal, hostility, and physical. Participants in Adam’s study were individually placed in a comfortable recliner and fitted with a penile strain gauge. Participants played three four-minute movies on a computer. The study categorized the movies as heterosexual, homosexual, and lesbian. Each movie depicted sexual acts including kissing, oral-genital contact, and intercourse (tribadism for lesbian films). After each movie, researchers measured penile tumescence, and the penis was allowed to return to its relaxed state before the next movie. A tumescence of 0-6mm was considered insignificant, modest tumescence measured 6-12mm, and definite tumescence measured above 12mm (Adams, 1996).

Adams (1996) found that men with the highest levels of homophobia and hostility toward homosexuals also experienced the highest increase in tumescence while watching the homosexual movie, compared with those who were not homophobic. Men who had higher levels

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of hostility also had the highest arousal response. Among the homophobic group, 20% of participants showed no significant tumescence while 26% showed moderate tumescence. More than half (54%) of the homophobic participants exhibited definite tumescence, contrasted with their non-homophobic counterparts in which 66% showed no significant tumescence, 10% exhibited moderate tumescence, and only 24% exhibited definite tumescence when exposed to homosexual films. The study concludes that an association exists between homophobia and homosexual arousal. Homophobic participants either were unaware of or denied homosexual arousal (Adams, 1996).

Kantor (2009) postulates:

Many people, scientists included, with reason define emotional health in terms of

commonality (‘everyone is that way’) and in contrast define emotional sickness in terms

of individual deviation, so that there is some validity to the bold-faced suggestion that

homophobes would be emotionally ill if they did not go along with their homophobic

society.

The theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) states that individuals have a compelling desire to function in the externalized world by striving for consistency. Kantor

(2009) notes that cognitive dissonance occurs when an individual becomes psychologically distressed and uncomfortable from internal inconsistencies. The individual then strives to reduce psychological distress by avoiding situations, individuals, or information that increase their level of cognitive dissonance. The individual will also justify behaviors to decrease the magnitude of stress experienced by those behaviors (Kantor, 2009).

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When people’s beliefs or value systems conflict with their characteristics, they seek to defend their conscious mind from the aspects they dislike. The mind creates a reaction formation to save energy required by defenses, assuming the opposite trait to defuse stress created by confronting the “unacceptable trait” (Neill, 2009).

Kantor (2009) explains that the self-destructive behavior resulting from internalized homophobia can materialize as suicide, overt suicidal-like behavior such as symbolic cutting, or covert suicidal behavior such as having unprotected sex. Kantor also suggests that internalized homophobia can present itself not only as unconscious suicidal behaviors but also as unconscious homicidal behavior when the homosexual individual is in a relationship.

Unconscious homicidal behaviors can harm a partner by sharing a newly caught disease or by spitefully and angrily leaving the partner by killing oneself (Kantor, 2009).

Diversity

According to Meyer (2003), minority stress theory describes that individuals belonging to a stigmatized minority group will develop higher rates of poor mental and physical health due to chronic stress. Interpersonal prejudice, discrimination, poverty, and lack of social support systems are some factors that elevate stress. In sexual minorities such as gay and bisexual men, factors for stress can include experiences of internalized homophobia, hiding, prejudice, and expectations of rejection. These theories posit that such stressors are unique to sexual minorities and are not experienced by heterosexuals. Meyer describes that being a minority increases the stressors causing an internalized mental distress. Belonging to a sexual minority and to a second minority (different ethnicity, poverty, religion, location) compounds stressors (Meyer, 2003).

This compounding of stressors, as described by minority stress theory, can help explain why the

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CDC (2017) reports homosexual men of color as disproportionate abusers of alcohol and drugs, as the most diagnosed with new STDs, and as prone to engage in risky sexual behaviors. Black youth were less comfortable with homosexuality and not as likely to engage in gay or lesbian activities (Rosario, Hunter, Maguen, Gwadz, & Smith, 2001).

These stressors, internalized during adolescence, are psychologically destructive because families struggle to understand and teach coping skills (McDougal, 1998); their experience and understanding reflect that of the heterosexual myth. During adolescent development, the family serves as the primary influence over whether a child will be capable or incapable of coping with stressors (Rosario, 2001).

Development

Middle and high school encapsulate formative years, as adolescents begin to integrate their sexual identities into their personal identities (Erikson, 1968). This period is crucial for the homosexual adolescent; it affects one’s self-esteem and shapes one’s future relationships with others as well as with oneself (Goldfried & Goldfried, 2001). During this time, Rosario et al.

(2001) indicate that LGBT youth commonly begin to “come out,” a process in which one begins to establish adequate acceptance of one’s homosexuality and shares that information with others.

Some factors affect the coming out process in a positive way, such as access to gay and lesbian community resources that counter the stigma against homosexuality and the level of enjoyment these resources bring, while other factors affect the process negatively, such as an anti-gay community. During the coming out process, an awareness of societal stigmatization against homosexuals may emerge. Many youths will feel like outliers, having absorbed and ingrained the

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heterosexual myth. The process of coming out can create a sense of isolation, especially in the initial stages, which are particularly challenging given that an individual may not have access to a sufficiently supportive family or community. Feelings of isolation, combined with an internalization of society’s stigmas, can decrease self-esteem and increase both psychological distress and the likelihood of unprotected sex (Rosario et al., 2001). Young gay and bisexual males often face additional challenges, such as meeting analogous peers, gaining acceptance from others, and avoiding violent situations perpetrated by homophobic people. However, ability to cope with these challenges allows self-esteem to flourish during the coming out process

(Hershberger & D'Augelli, 1995).

The CDC (2017) postulates that feelings of isolation and lack of support can increase the likelihood of high school homosexuals and bisexuals engaging in substance abuse and risky sexual behavior, as well as that of experiencing violence or bullying to a greater extent than their heterosexual counterparts. Without support, the violence can lead to mental distress, which includes diminished self-esteem leading to self-harming behaviors.

In 2015, according to the CDC (2017), 34% of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths reported being bullied, as opposed to just 25% of the total student population. Increased violence can also manifest as teasing, harassment, physical assault, and suicide-related behaviors.

In her study, Szymanski (2009) gauged the effect of heterosexist influence on GLB self- esteem. Szymanski found that the frequency of heterosexist events was low among the participants and that the highest level of heterosexism came from family. As a result, GLB participants used avoidant coping strategies to deal with stress, including denial, mental disengagement, and behavioral disengagement (Symanski, 2009).

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Family support and self-acceptance can buffer the adverse mental effects resulting from violent victimization. Victimization is most efficiently buffered when family support is high and victimization low (Hershberger & D'Augelli, 1995).

Family

Difficulty finding adequate family support exacerbates risks of suicidality, bullying, and unhealthy relationships for gay and lesbian adolescents (Espelageer al, 2008). A 1995 study found that homosexual men with unstable or low self-esteem engaged in sexual behavior that introduced higher risk for contracting HIV (Martin & Knox, 1995).

CDC (2017) points out that statistics have repeatedly shown that LGBT youth, those under the age of 24, have a higher rate of suicide than their heterosexual counterparts. According to the CDC, the LGBT community is more likely to use drugs and alcohol, have higher rates of substance abuse, not abstain from alcohol and drug use, and continue heavy drinking into later life (CDC, 2017).

There are many biases against, and some for, a child struggling with developing a gay identity. However, if parents actively seek information, they are on some level searching for a deeper understanding of their child. At this point, McDougal (1998) contends that it can be important for the parent to understand that his/her child’s homosexuality is a growing experience for both parent/s and child and to allow the child to be himself/herself. Heightened emotions experienced directly after a child comes out can pressure parents to come out to the rest of family or others on behalf of the child, but it is important to remember that it should be the child’s choice to whom they come out (McDougal, 1998).

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Marcus (2007) indicates that parental and family reactions to children and siblings coming out can vary from understanding and love to confusion, sadness, denial, guilt, embarrassment, anger, and rejection. Parental reactions usually reflect worry that they have done something wrong, concern about AIDS, dejection that their child kept it a secret, and hope that their child’s homosexuality is just a phase or that they are too young to decide (Marcus, 2007).

However distraught a family can become, it is vital that they understand how their reaction to their homosexual adolescent and their level of support have a powerful impact on their child’s self-esteem and overall mental health (McDougal, 1998).

Academia

Adolescents spend many of their social hours at school. Since many adolescent children tend to engage more at school than with family, implicit negative messages are even more influential in academic settings. Negative internalized messages and parental misunderstandings, combined with a lack of historical role models, can leave young homosexuals feeling isolated

(Baim, 2011). While many historical homosexual figures have shaped homosexual history, these figures’ sexualities are often omitted from academic history or not discussed at school (Neill,

2009). Knowledge of past heroes and heroines can provide positive role models for young homosexuals who feel empty and alienated by contemporary media figures who may prioritize celebrityhood and become caricatures of homosexuality or, at best, become assimilated enough to make heterosexuals comfortable.

According to Neill (2009), many teachers, sometimes under societal and parental pressures, find it challenging to discuss topics relating to same-sex-loving people. This difficulty

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leads to the omission of heroes and ideas that would help increase positive myths about homosexuality and, in the process, boost self-esteem.

An absence of homosexual heroes decreases self-esteem during development. According to Neill (2009), scientists as late as the 1970’s believed that it was improper to discuss homosexuality, which they categorized as an aspect of social decay. Only fields such as criminology and psychology were exempt from the taboo of research into homosexuality.

Historians and other academics risked their careers by devoting sufficient attention to homosexual topics (Neill, 2009).

Lack of role-models and knowledge regarding same-sex-loving history combined with the implicit training of the heterosexual myth can contribute to lowered self-esteem and create internalized homophobia, which leads to excessive, brutal, and masochistic self-destructiveness

(Kantor, 2009).

Development of Liberational Movement and Uranian Approach to Healthy Self-

Development

In the mid-19th century, Karl Ulrichs argued and discussed ideas of homosexuality as the essence of a distinct people rather than, as the belief of his time dictated, merely deviant sinful acts of morbidity or depravity (Lauritsen & Thorstad, 1974; Walker, 2009).

Less than a century later, according to Hay and Roscoe (2001), Harry Hay, whom many identify as the father of the modern gay and lesbian movement, developed ideas of gay spirituality after living with native people of New Mexico. These natives taught Hay about the historical significance of the dual-spirit, embodied by people who often hold shamanistic positions within native tribes. These dual-spirited individuals are homosexual and possess a

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capacity for the spirits of both the archetypal feminine and masculine, as opposed to the limitation inherent in single-spirited heterosexual counterparts. Contrary to the general historical view of western civilization, dual-spirited people have been admired by their communities for their unique gifts, rather than being labeled as a threat to or deviance from the larger heterosexual community (Hay & Roscoe, 2001).

Hay (2001) envisioned a community that could develop a modern take on gay spirituality and foster the idea that homosexuals are not like heterosexuals and are spiritually unique, rather than existing as a mere negative deviation from heterosexuality. Hay created the first modern gay movement and community, the Mattachine Society, which went on to develop the first gay magazine. This new early stage of the gay liberation movement was created to reframe pervasive negative beliefs of an internalized heterosexual myth and develop gay spirit: a healthy incorporation of a homosexual myth (Hay & Roscoe, 2001).

Walker (2009) recalls that, in the late 1970’s, he and activists Harry Hay and Don

Kilhefner established gatherings of the Radical Faeries, which initially attracted hundreds of men from around the country. The Radical Fairies, chapters of which still exist today, initially sought to explore and enjoy homosexual free love and the gay-spirited energy that ran through their gatherings. Mitch Walker noticed that, even though the group attempted to engage the beauty of gay love and egalitarian ideology, an unchallenged “shadowy” behavior pervaded the movement.

The gatherings would not acknowledge the power mongering of leaders, older men’s exploitation of younger men for sexual gratification, and other passive-aggressive violence toward members. Walker attempted to engage leaders in psychological exploration with the aim of confronting these hidden agendas, but Hay refused and called Walker a homophobe, claiming

Walker’s psychological focus diluted the power of gay love. Walker and Kilhefner eventually

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separated from the Radical Fairies because Hay refused to acknowledge that engaging in more profound levels of relating and taking psychological responsibility could become a new revolution of gay love. Walker continued to believe that true liberation could only reach fruition by incorporating psychology into the liberational movement, to not only liberate our outer world and experiences but also develop a fecund internal growth as gay. Eventually, Kilhefner also found it challenging to engage dark feelings inside himself and separated to create a less psychological movement. Walker explains that the psychological work he endorses can be difficult to practice, as it challenges one to explore all aspects of oneself, even those that are troublesome to acknowledge, in order to become internally psychologically integrated (Walker,

1999).

Reimagining the Future of the Gay Liberation Movement

Gay men today have begun to unconsciously adopt and assimilate into societal constructs conceptualized by heterosexist ideology rather than embracing an exploration of what it means to be gay. Through no fault of their own, and because many suffer a homophobic upbringing, gay men often adopt a lifestyle that imitates heterosexuals: getting married, raising children, and assuming disgust for anything askew from the heterosexist norm.

Neill (2009) indicates that in the gay community, comments such as “I want to get married and be happy” and “I want to have children” imply that these the only goals to which any homosexual can aspire. Further exploration of these comments is not intended to instruct anyone on how they should live their lives, but instead to explore the possibility that such comments are destructive to the idea of gay spirit. They can negate the possibility of a world outside heterosexist societal norms by propagating the belief that gay people are no different

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from heterosexuals and have only deviated from the sexual norm, a concept that defeats millennia of continual effort by same-sex-loving leaders to identify themselves as a unique people. Homosexuals throughout history, such as Plato and Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, embody these efforts. Ulrichs coined the term “Uranian” as a name to differentiate same-sex-loving people;

Plato described a same-sex-love that births children of the mind, rather than literal biological children, as experienced through the arts, philosophy, music and, in the same spirit purpose, gay psychology (Neill, 2009).

“What is there after achieving a secure homosexual identity? After gaining the right to gay marriage? After all gay laws have been adequately legally corrected?” (Walker, 2009, p.59).

In this passage from “Gay Liberation at a Psychological Crossroads”, Walker (2009) summarizes the need for gay men to incorporate psychology into gay identity development, thereby generating a revolutionary new way of thinking and being. From a gay-centered lens, this new method differs from modern pressures to conform to a heteronormative society aiming to mold homosexuals in an image with which heterosexuals are comfortable. Instead, it nurtures an image based on the essence and experience of what it means to be homosexual, embracing a vision in which one could become increasingly gay. Walker states:

I believe that the Gay Liberation Movement today faces a signature theoretical and

practical challenge due to accruing assimilationist success combined with the persistence

momentum of internalized homophobic bigotry, what momentously amounts to a fateful

choice for current homosexual ideology, to either continue as is and increasingly

creatively stagnate, or instead take up a serious psychological attitude toward fuller

liberational completion of valuable gay personhood (Walker, 2009, p. 101).

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Walker’s (2009) vision describes how a gay movement grounded in psychology can facilitate liberation from oppressive thought and expectation of what is right, as defined by people who are not homosexual. The idea that incorporating psychology into same-sex-loving men’s lives can access a treasurable gay potential breathes new hope into the future of gay liberation.

Walker and other founding members have originated the Institute for Uranian

Psychoanalysis, which encourages a theory and practice of engaging with what Carl Jung called the Shadow (Jung, 1969). According to Walker (2009), participants in the program work to become more differentiated and connected to the “whole self” and to realize a higher gay potential and sense of gay love, often obscured by the Shadow. The practice of these concepts facilitates increasing differentiation of inner from outer experiences, as a method of furthering self-empowerment (Walker, 2009).

Walker (1977) was able to conceive such powerful and radical ideas partly because of his study of history’s great men and philosophers who had described the beauty and alchemical potential of homosexual men:

… our basic moral laws and ethics were originally propounded by men who practiced

homosexuality in their youth-such as Solon, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Our ideal of

beauty in architecture and sculpture were delineated by men like Phidias, whose love for

a handsome youth was carved in marble for everyone to see. The forms of dramatic

writing employed today were first used by Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes-all of

whom had homosexual attachments at one time or another (Walker, 1977, p.21).

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Many homosexuals today know very little of their history before the Stonewall riots, or events which led to today’s freedoms. A website that focuses on homosexual history beyond the civil rights movement would improve self-esteem by showcasing those who worked on developing the gay psychological and spiritual experience through a homosexual lens rather than from a defensive, assimilationist, heteronormative lens. This website would be accessible via the internet, making its information accessible to mass populations.

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CHAPTER III

Project Audience and Implementation Factors

The project consists of creating a website that decreases self-destructive behaviors amongst same-sex loving men by increasing self-esteem. Self-destructive behaviors include excessive drug and alcohol use, risky sexual behavior, and suicide (CDC, 2017). The website will increase self-esteem by connecting same-sex-loving individuals to historical heroes and figures who developed ideas about the fecundity of gay love. The website will also connect individuals to LGBT community resources and activities. The website will have a five-step program that will not only document self-esteem but also help the person foster a healthier self- esteem. The five-step program also help the individual navigate the abundance of information on the website through a developed homosexual lens.

Development of Project

The concept for website to educate homosexuals about their rich history originated in response to the continual disproportionate numbers of suicide, excessive drug and alcohol use, and STD infection. This website will start as a grass-roots effort, built through volunteered time, expertise, and information.

Donor contributions and online advertisements for services and resources related to the project may initially fund domain registration and hosting services. Ideally, grants and donations from progressive non-profit scientific and educational sources will eventually fund the project’s continued development and operations. The project may acquire supplemental funds and content from affiliations with homosexually oriented libraries, museums, institutes, and community centers whose services directly relate to and effectively augment the project’s goals. Such

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institutions might include the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the American Library

Association GLBT Round Table, the GBLT Historical Society, the One Archives Foundation, and the Institute for Uranian Psychoanalysis.

Project staff, either volunteers or employees, will generate, compile, organize, and publish content, with additional contributions from partners at other allied institutions and approved contributors. The website will include a private administration portal designed to facilitate a network of interested writers, researchers, and editors from whom project staff will accept contributions for publication. Other affiliate programs could utilize the global contributive nature of the internet to grow an online nexus of similarly supportive websites and resources.

Intended Audience

This website is intended for those interested in the history of same sex-loving men and looking to increase knowledge of historical figures who wrote about the same-sex loving experience. It will establish a lens through which licensed marriage and family therapists

(MFTs), trainees and interns, teachers, community members, and other interested adults can develop a deeper understanding of the homosexual myth. The website will include ideas and theories to help deconstruct homophobic aspects of the heterosexual myth which produce stressors and decrease self-esteem while developing and nurturing a homosexual myth rich in subjectivity.

Due to the erotic component of homosexual love, a youth portal could help accommodate a younger audience, offering valuable resources as well as protections from content that, while not intended to be pornographic, may be of an overtly sexual nature.

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The website also encourages any audience who wish to scrutinize, check facts, and develop content to communicate through the open forum to increase accuracy and continual development of the website.

Personal Qualifications

The educational text and the website’s exhibition of gay art and creative writing will be open to everyone desiring the information about gay developed content. No special qualifications are needed to access the information. However, great care should be taken when a different

(heterosexual) lens is used to interpret the content presented to other individuals.

Environment and Equipment

The website and associated content database will be developed primarily under a LAMP stack architecture and hosted on a Linux server. In the absence of exclusive hosting, a third-party hosting service will provide server storage space, connectivity, and bandwidth with administrative access achieved through proprietary content management software designed specifically for the project. Other third-party cloud or content delivery networks may facilitate backup services and edge connectivity as such technologies become necessary. No other physical space is necessary, as the project exists online. However, the project may eventually establish physical staff offices as they become useful.

The project will be available to end-users on a variety of devices, including personal computers, laptops, tablets, phones, and other entities belonging to the Internet of Things.

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Formulation Evaluation

Project managers will consult with web developers, graphic designers, information technologists, and other appropriate professionals to create the website’s framework. Although the website will initially start as a grassroots community effort, the eventual goal is to incorporate the expertise of grant specialists and fundraisers to help fund future research and expansion. Both peer-reviewers and software solutions will ensure that information is properly sourced and verified as accurate and relevant.

The project managers also reach out to the Institute for Uranian Psychoanalysis to review both the content and five-step program.

The website will offer an open forum for individuals to provide input and critique of its information. This evaluation will help ensure the continual scrutiny and analysis of content to offer the latest and most supportive information possible.

Project Outline

The website will include such content areas as:

1) The Website will develop a five-step program which will help the participants navigate

their gay development and construct a homosexual lens

2) A global geographic map pinpointing the locations of salient events, people, and places

that historically furthered the development of gay liberation and homosexual myth.

3) A visual timeline of historical gay activists and leaders as well as critical events

contributive to gay liberation movements;

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4) A repository of homosexual literature, past and present, specifically pertaining to the

experience of being gay, gay-centered psychology, the history of gay liberation, the

progressive future of gay movements, and the awareness and contributions of the

contemporary homosexual community;

5) Artwork for, about, and by homosexuals;

6) A forum of subjective experiences relating to improved self-esteem and individual as a

result of increased awareness of homosexual history;

7) Links and references to gay-affirmative events, seminars, programs, support, and other

resources relating to gay psychology, history, and liberation.

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CHAPTER IV

Conclusion

Summary

This project focuses on creating a website will attempt, through the education of history, the following aspects of homosexual psychology and gay identity development: gay liberation; psychological individuation as gay; gay minority education; biases of heteronormative structures and systems and the lingering trauma therefrom; and the impact that historical awareness and a sense of belonging to an extensive and enduring homosexual lineage has on the self-esteem of gay youth. As a result of the extensive research efforts by the author to determine the best strategies for supporting and developing self-esteem in homosexuals, most publications reviewed in this project focus on gay liberation movements and the education of those movements’ historical progression. The literature reviewed indicates that modern homosexuals, particularly gay youth and minorities, lack a historical foundation supportive of self-esteem and gay personhood. Because of this research, it is more than reasonable to assert that more comprehensive education on homosexual liberational history and gay-centered psychology correlates with an increase in the self-esteem of gay-identified peoples. An increase in positive self-esteem will decrease self-destructive behavior.

Recommendations for Implementation

This website has been designed to increase the availability of information relating to historical homosexual liberation movements, progressive homosexual leaders, and the advent of psychological study specific to homosexuals. Contributors can be licensed MFT’s, trainees, and interns who focus on homosexually centered psychology as well as gay liberation leaders

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and activists from various demographic backgrounds. The author recommends that a team of homosexually oriented mental health professionals, psychologists, historians, activists, and licensed professional counselors facilitate the project.

Recommendations for Future Website Development

While there is adequate research on the effectiveness of the internet providing global access to information, future research should explore how best to connect people with the website, especially effective methods for disadvantaged individuals and youth. Although extensive research exists showing that the lack of awareness and education relating to homosexual history is problematic, academic programs rarely adequately acknowledge or education students on such topics. Further development might include expanding an online network of related resources and integrating these resources with academic institutions and programs.

The project’s development will never be complete because same-sex loving individuals continue to develop art, music, literature, and history.

Limitations

The project’s development is in the United States. As a result, information on the website has the potential to privilege and bias western civilization’s history because of the location the content is produced. There will be a continued effort to reach out to other cultures, religious, and academic institutions to deter the bias. The project is going to function primarily with the efforts volunteers. The lack of money in the early stages of the project might make it challenging to motivate outside entities to create content.

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Conclusion

Currently, many studies continue to conclude that lowered self-esteems increase self- injurious behaviors, in the form of suicide, excessive use of alcohol or illegal drugs, and risky sexual behaviors. These lowered self-esteems are mostly a result of stressors and internal distress caused by factions of the heterosexual myth’s implicit and explicit messages which become internalized by a same-sex-loving person as a clashing truth.

Therapists who work with LGBT clients and the LGBT community itself face many challenges in attempting to help same-sex-loving men. Their attempts are limited because many times they take an interpersonal approach when working on intrapersonal issues. These attempts, as noble as they can be, are limited as they also work in the confines of and construct of the heterosexual myth. Walker (2009) states:

On the level of ideology, we can see by the relative sterility and stagnation of

assimilationist-oriented gay liberation theory and practice in not being able to more

powerfully address subjective homosexual growth after securely coming out as a crucial

manumissional factor in our Movement’s greatest-possible future success, that a much

more serious level of comprehension is needed of adult homosexual personhood, its

origins, composition, possibilities, oppression and freedom, in terms of a more-complete

gay liberation (Walker, 2009, p.7).

An effort must be made to internally differentiate the heterosexual myth and foster the creation of a homosexual myth. This differentiation will give new meaning to same-sex loving people who will decrease their negative imposed implicit meaning of what it means to be gay and create a new myth that foremost honors the experience of being gay also known as gay spirit.

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When I was a teenager I remember feeling like I did not fit into the heterosexual world and that I was an abomination for, as I implicitly believed, having developed homosexual libido.

I had internalized a belief that there had to be a way in which I can maybe think myself into heterosexual normality. However, there was so much homosexual Eros that I would later learn through the teachings of Mitch Walker, Plato, and Harry Hay, is empowering rather than shaming. It is a powerful force which was important to honor.

I had the opportunity to meet Harry Hay, who many consider to be the father of the modern gay liberation movement. I can remember asking him in an almost angry tone, “Why does everything have to be so gay when we are just like straight people except that we just happen to sleep with people of the same sex?” He very tenderly responded, “We are nothing like straight people and that is a beautiful thing.” Harry Hay continued to share the history of same- sex loving people and the cultures who revered homosexuals as special entities because we were special and not simply male or female. He gave examples of dual spirit people identified by the native people of New Mexico. I felt a light turn on in me and excited to research more.

Fortunately, for me the Internet was developing at this time which made the research easier. I researched civilizations that embraced same-sex loving people. I also realized that there were same-sex loving people who had written about same-sex love even in the face of adverse reactions from their immediate surrounding environments. I realized shared unique experiences with same-sex loving people throughout history. I was able to connect to a past which has been important to my healthy development as a same-sex-loving person. The Internet has made it available to access infinite amounts of information. Even with all this access to information, I have found that, when engaging with youth during my work at the Gay and Lesbian center, more and more younger generations are not aware of even the most recent gay history. I believe that

39

this stems from a culture that embraces a heterosexual myth by minimizing important gay events and the minimization or exclusion of the great same-sex-loving historical and literary figures.

The evolution that allows for their freedoms today comes from a long history of struggles that young people today are unaware of and to which they embrace homophobic theories or ideas that seek to devalue that history by making such statements as, “gay is a modern construct and homosexuals could not have existed in the past.” This fails to acknowledge the fact that today’s gay is an evolution of the past. Most history familiar to younger generations generally only involves modern civil right successes. They hardly touch on history involving the experience of being same-sex-loving or the people and ideas who fought to identify the term gay for people with their own unique experiences, history, and culture. Although many historical same-sex loving individuals did not have the terms we are familiar with today, they did have familiar experiences which will be shared throughout history and expressed on this website.

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events and gay and bisexual men’s psychological distress. Journal of Counseling

Psychology, 56(1), 142-151. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.56.1.142

Timmons, S. (2012). The trouble with Harry Hay: founder of the modern gay movement.

Brooklyn, NY: White Crane Books.

Walker, Mitch (1977). Men Loving Men: A Gay Sex Guide and Consciousness Book, San

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Francisco, CA: Gay Sunshine Press.

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essays, Retrieved on March 2, 2018 from http://uranianpsych.org/pages/Gay-

Centered.pdf.

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Press.

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Appendix

The following is an outline of steps which will help navigate the website, develop a gay lens and improve self-esteem by challenging negative implicit homophobic messages.

Stage 1

Objective

In this introductory stage, the individual will be introduced to the program. The individual will be encouraged to assess and address the baseline of their current feelings and beliefs about being gay or about homosexuality itself. Psychoeducation will serve as a tool in navigating the distinct stages and objectives. Homework will be assigned, which will challenge and explore what does it mean to be gay.

Outline

Introduction

I. Assessment and evaluation of the participant's current emotional state, beliefs, and

II. What is the problem?

a. The downside of avoiding subjectivity

III. Overview of self-help

a. How will this program help?

IV. Historical development of the program

V. Homework

a. What does it mean to be gay?

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Stage 2

Objective

The user will review the homework and build a stronger understand of who they are.

Psychoeducation will explore belief systems and how they develop. The program will help explain how one develops a heterosexual lens and how the homosexual myth negatively impacts our internal experience. The user will be encouraged to differentiate between experiencing the world through gay lens rather than that of a heterosexual lens. A historical exploration of cultures and people who worked on developing the gay myth will help connect the user to a long lineage of homosexual thought.

Outline

Who are you?

I. Identify current self-image

a. Generalizations and archetypes

i. What is a myth?

ii. Explore the meaning of what it is the heterosexual myth

iii. Explore the meaning of what is the homosexual myth

II. How self-images develop

a. Experiences molding development

i. Object relations

b. Elements of the heterosexual myth

i. Dominant patriarchal structure

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ii. Family and society images (TV, media, etc.)

III. Challenging the dominant myth

a. Creating a new gay myth

b. Historical development of gay myth

IV. Homework

a. Identify negative implicit messages from the heterosexual myth

b. replace with new meaning using your lens of the homosexual myth

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Stage 3

Objective

This section will be careful to discuss and warn the user about internal backlash that can occur when exploring internalized homophobia. Cognitive dissonance will be challenged by using active imagination to help differentiate internalized negative messages and help achieve a fuller gay potential. The program will help explain and differentiate between healthy shame and toxic shame. Homework will help the user explore negative reactions to otherwise positive events.

Outline

Internal backlash to internal progress (warnings of feelings)

I. Cognitive dissonance

a. Reaction formation – the attempt to reduce stressors

II. Shaeden Freude

a. Homosexuals’ homophobia

b. Happiness

i. What is it? The pursuit of disassociation from the negative.

III. The inner attacker

a. The Shadow (Carl Jung)

b. Self-destructive behavior

IV. Differentiation of the Shadow and inner attacker

a. Messages (feelings, negative messages)

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b. Reminder that these are beliefs constructed by others

c. Healthy shame vs. toxic shame

V. Homework

a. Contemplation of events, activities, or experiences which should produce positive

feelings but have instead developed into negative messages by the inner attacker.

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Step 4

Objective

The program will help the user develop a connection to gay spirit. This internal force can be used to challenge difficult beliefs forged in one’s internalized experience. Exploration of historical heroes and events may archetypically empower gay individuals. The program will educate the user in cognitive behavioral techniques to help modify the obsession of listening to inner attacking voices and instead orient them toward listening to the voices emanating from gay spirit. Active imagination can personify this force as the perfect holding mother, Aphrodite

Urania, or the perfect male lover (the double) who can help one challenge internalized negative constructs.

Outline

Sustaining gay spirit

I. What is gay spirit (Eros)

a. The historical theory and development

i. Plato’s Symposium

ii. Harry Hay

iii. Mitch Walker

b. The internal force which gives strength to come out even when goes against

the societal expectation

i. Viewing coming out as a first step rather than as a completion of your

gay self.

II. Active imagination

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a. Cognitive behavioral

i. Approaches to modifying the reaction formation

ii. Dialoguing with the inner attacker

iii. Cognitive reconstruction – listening to gay spirit instead of the inner

attacker.

III. Develop a greater appreciation of gay love

a. Holding on to gay spirit (Eros)

i. The force that guided through the coming out process is strong and can

be used to navigate through the shadow and work with the inner

attacker.

ii. Understanding Aphrodite Urania – they ever holding gay mother

iii. Mitch Walker’s concept of the double

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Step 5

Objective

The final stage will help the user understand the circular motion of development. Every step forward will create a backlash from the inner attacker. However, the continual trajectory forward will help change the negative homeostasis of self-esteem. This section will focus on helping the user identify community resources which can aid in locating external support, reducing feelings of isolation, and increasing self-esteem.

Outline

Maintenance: The circular cycle of the developing gay spirit

I. Reminder: that every progressive step creates a backlash from the inner attacker

who wants to maintain homeostasis of the current self-esteem

a. Create a dialogue with the personification of gay spirit as the double (the

internal image of beauty and perfection)

b. Use cognitive reconstruction to reduce addiction to the negative messages

II. Fostering a fecund stronger and healthier self-esteem

a. Learning from past

i. Historical gay literature, artwork, philosophy, and music

b. Creating a journal and artwork about the participant’s gay development

c. Community resources

i. Workshops, groups, and therapy

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