Few Thoughts On The Suffix "Phobia"

Phobia simply refers to the fear of something and an aggravated form of that would be doing everything you can to keep it away. There are variations of phobia including : agoraphobia, claustrophobia etc. and these are all in relation to objects and inanimate stuff.

Then, you have other ones like: Homophobia, Transphobia, Islamophobia and xenophobia. These ones deal with fear of a particular group of human beings so much so that you are driven to hurt them or do everything you can to keep them away and/or ostracize them.

In this piece, I’ll be talking about homophobia and the extent of the word. Let me start by mentioning that homophobia is a real thing! I have listened to people narrate freaking horror stories about everything they go through because they seem to be attracted to people of the same sex and they can’t help it. Even more so, in my native country, “homosexual acts” have been criminalized and a violation of that attracts a jail term of 14 years. Any sign of homosexuality makes you a target; in fact, I recently watched an horrible video and in it, a man was being beaten to pulp for being gay. You gotta admit; that’s a rough way to live.

Religion fuels the intense hatred for homosexuals in my country as the two major religions are believed to be firmly against it. It is an abomination of some sort and contrary to what the liberal community says, it is seen as a willful indulgence rather than a natural thing. Which is it? I am not gonna answer that but maybe we should all think about it.

Human laws without a doubt, find their source in religious laws like the Ten Commandments etc. However, not everything forbidden by religious laws is forbidden by the laws of a country. For instance, stealing is a sin and it’s also categorized as an offence in the laws of every country because it actually hurts another human being. However, backbiting and fornication are also sins but they are not criminalized by human laws because:

1.The actions in themselves do not hurt anyone

2. Not everyone adheres to religion, this is with respect to a “secular” country.

Basically, offences in human laws are only offences when they can actually hurt or inflict pain on other people. But, there seems to be a disconnect in my country. Consensual homosexuality just like consensual fornication actually hurts no one. 

Like I mentioned earlier, most of my countrymen believe homosexuality is a sinful indulgence just as fornication is. The question is why is homosexuality an offence if fornication is not? A lot of youths on social media openly brag about their sexual escapades and an overwhelming majority of people in the comment section just laugh it off. Ironically, most of these people are adherents of one of the major religions. 

The way I see it, I guess most religious people think it's sort of an unforgivable sin unlike other sins. It is why if someone tweets a picture with his gay partner, most of my countrymen turn on their religious switch and start sending death threats and proclaiming doom. You ask them why and they go like “It is a sin”. “Really bro? Fornication is a sin too but I saw you in a catfish comment section bragging about the size of your phallus, what’s up?”

Basically, being homosexual or practicing homosexuality is not safe in Nigeria and that’s because a great number of my country men are “homophobes”. 

Now to the point of this article, what really is homophobia? I feel like the word gets thrown around a lot and honestly, it confuses me some times. Atheists do not believe in God and they basically think every religious person is under a strong delusion, yet they have religious friends. For instance, an atheist could come up and say “ Christianity na scam” and nobody would tag them “Christianophobic”. That’s because even though he doesn’t think the Christian way of life is normal, he is not calling for a genocide against Christians and he is not seeking to  hurt them because of their faith. That is clear right? I am going somewhere with this.

I would have assumed that homophobia means strong hate, intolerance and violence against homosexuals but certain “liberals” seem to think it is much more. I have seen people who say they believe homosexuality is an abnormality being tagged “homophobes” and it shocks me. How is that an atheist or any other person, can sit all day and write about the senselessness of Islam and everybody just calls them “atheists and irreligious people” not “islamophobes”, yet someone can be tagged an homophobe not because they spread hate or incite violence against any group but because they think a certain way of life is abnormal?

Is this a case of false equivalence? Are things more complex than I just posited in this article? I really don’t know. I am just a Christian guy who believes in the right to disagree with anyone’s philosophy, culture or way of life. I also strongly object to intolerance, violence and meanness(legal or illegal) towards any group or demographic. Human rights are human rights!