Social Seperation

In life many different types of solitudes exist within the same reality, whether they be cultural, religious or ethnic. In Drew Hayden Taylor's essay "Summer of Our Discontent Revisited" he points out this same observation, but fails to include any more than one other solitude that he believes exists. Hayden Taylor neglects to address the issues surrounding the gay and lesbian communities around the world. Gay and lesbian peoples experience of solitude can effect them in alarming ways, each day they have to face such things as public discrimination and the loss of their basic human rights. Many of those who are gay have their hopes and dreams denied because of their sexuality, and are treated as a lesser class of people who "might as well live on another planet" (Kantor 1). In this essay i will address these issues facing gay's and lesbians and show that they also experience another type of solitude.

The dictionary defines solitude as the state of being alone or the disconnection from human activity. It emphasizes the quality of being or feeling lonely and deserted by fellow human beings. Many gay and lesbian individuals can relate to such a definition as they live their lives within it. Living mentally, emotionally and socially isolated can have many impacts on the mental health of a human being, such as depression, or in severe cases suicide. A study done on gay men in 3 different US cities shows clearly the damaging effects of this disconnection from society that many gay and lesbian people feel. This study examined the sociological and psychological effects of social discrimination on these men and came up with a rather disturbing conclusion, that the mental health difficulties among these men are all directly related to the oppression which they experience daily because of their sexuality. This study did an ethnography of a random sample of 912 gay men and the results concluded that "80% of the men had experienced feelings of sadness and depression at least once or twice during the past 6 months before the test and 61% experienced sleep problems atlas once or twice during the past 6 months" (Diaz, Ayala, Bein, Henne and Marin 929) These results are alarming because they show that social separation can lead to mental disorders, and the fact that such high percentages of gay men experience this points to instances of sexuality based discrimination remaining quite high despite changing times and ethics. This bigotry effects gay and lesbians heavily and clearly shows that there is a degree of social solitude experienced between heterosexuals and homosexuals because of such issues as homophobia and simply being closed minded and discriminatory.

Homophobia is a destructive force of which many gay and lesbian people come face to face with each day. "All homophobes recycle the same 3 mantras, the first of which is correct but meaningless (that gay marriage is non-traditional) and the other two, that gay marriage is immoral and... goes against religious teachings" (Kantor 3). The fight to be treated as an equal without discrimination is a very arduous uphill battle for gays and lesbians as they have so many opposing forces. Religion is a very strong and persuasive argument for most people as to what should be considered right and wrong, and holds a very strong position in the solitude of homosexuals. For example the "Methodist book of discipline... prohibits the use of religious structures for ceremonies such as same-sex unions" (Kantor 4). This stance on homosexuals is not unique to Methodists, but is actually a quite common position taken by religions around the world who do not support homosexuality. Another disabling key factor related to homophobia and discrimination is that because of their sexual orientation there will not be as many job opportunities or life opportunities. It is a well known fact to gays and lesbians that they "can never be as successful professionally as the vast majority of heterosexuals" (Kantor 2). Many jobs worry frequently about the image that they present to the world and to the businesses that they trade with, and having a gay executive could set the wrong representation of the company. Yet another attitude about gays and lesbians is that it is "not procreative and therefore is immoral" (Eskridge 236) which is adopted by many even without the aid of religion. This type of thought process can lead to violence and hate crimes which in fact happens more often than not. Across cultures it can be dangerous for gays and lesbians to even walk alone in the streets without being in danger of some sort of attack, because "on a regular basis, gays and lesbians are hunted down and beaten up or killed" (Kantor 1). This type of discrimination is the most obvious and most dangerous form of solitude that gays and lesbians experience because it does not only effect their mental health but also their physical safety, which leads to a loss of personal rights and freedoms.

Gays and lesbians human rights in many places in the world do not allow them