Solving a Problem with Mythology: Homophobia

An estimation of 9 million (about 3.8%) of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender as of 2011. There is a large issue and controversy over homosexuality right now. The LGBT community is fighting for their, in my opinion, much deserved rights and it’s no longer abnormal for someone to identify themselves as part of the LGBT community. However, the controversy of LGBT leads to much verbal and physical abuse to these members. They suffer much harassment both in school, judgement in public, and of course, unacceptance. 90% of LGBT students hear anti-LGBT comments in school. This is a problem that’s very prevalent in modern day society and should be solved.

Anti-LGBT have their opposing opinions due to how abnormal the idea of homosexuality is to them. Up until recently, homosexuality was not something that could easily be declared. But as more and more homosexuals declare their sexuality, the shock in change to society has affected people. Humans are people of routine, and don’t like changes unless it benefits themselves. There has never been any model people they grew up with that were homosexual, therefore it’s difficult for people to accept such a different concept in their own “species”. Homosexuality is something that could directly affect any individual, which only makes the situation more threatening. However if they knew of some important figure that is homosexual, they could be more understanding and accepting due to that model.

There are actually a handful of cases where mythology referred to LGBT themes. A specific example is Apollo and Hyacinth. In the myth, Hyacinth was a beautiful youth and lover of the god Apollo; he was also admired by West Wind, Zephyr. In this myth, there was even a “love triangle”. Zephyr was jealous of Hyacinth’s love and relationship with Apollo, so he threw the discus off course. Another example is of Achilles and Patroclus. Although there’s no direct reference to a LGBT theme in the myth, modern interpretations of their relationship show that Achilles could have been heterosexual due to his relationship with Patroclus. So plays that recreated the Iliad actually depicted their relationship as lovers and even included sexual relationships. Even the king of gods, Zeus, had a same sex relationship before. Ganymede was considered the most beautiful of the mortals. Zeus abducted Ganymede in the form of an eagle and had him serve as a cup-bearer and his lover.

Mythology to a culture is similar to a religion. There are gods and goddesses people look up to and worship. Although homosexuality isn’t blatantly obvious in greek mythology, it can be found in many cases. This could solve homophobia because if there are examples of gods and goddesses who have homosexual themes, people will think it’s more okay because the people they worship and look up to are modeling the homosexual behavior as okay. Therefore, homosexuality will seem more acceptable.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_mythology