Criminalisation of Homosexuality - Essay Example

? Criminalisation of Homosexuality Lecturer Criminalisation of homosexuality Introduction Firstly can I please have thiscase study in UK English, not American English please - to clarify, we spell it recognise, us spell it recognize yes? What is 'gender homosexuality' it is not just homosexuality! I am still on the first paragraph for the second time and have seen problems! I wanted you to consider 'criminalisation of male AND female homosexuals' is there a law against female homosexuality, lesbians? If not, a reason for it.... you know? I gave you a complete outline of what was required and that it was criminalisation of homosexuality not male homosexuals alone. I wanted to show a definite difference in how males and females were treated by the criminal justice system, and possible reasons for that difference and as stated in the notes, some possible theories to explain or at least help gain an understanding of the situation. Did you note for example that female homosexuality years ago was looked at as simply nit happening because it was far too dirty a thing and women would not do that!... The area under discussion in this paper is gays and lesbians acts because it is one of the topics that have gained popularity over the decades. In most religious and media settings, homosexuality is under scrutiny because these groups of individuals have spoken out against the discriminations they are facing. They want to be recognised and embraced as part of the normal society, and protecting their human rights. In addition, they want the society to accept their way of living and appreciate that they have morals and standards that need to be respected. In relation to gender, crime & justice module, this area is relevant because it brings out the laws governing such acts and addresses the criminal activities associated with the group of individuals. The module talks about different issues affecting the society and thus, by looking at the topic of discussion, society members will have a different view of how to treat the bisexuals in society.  These groups of individuals have been mocked and looked down upon, but in essence, they are a group that needs to be motivated in order to raise their self-esteem. This will culminate to the raising of their standards in society and hence, will contribute in acts of nation building through engaging in activities. Current developments undermining binary oppositions of woman and man are issues that religious, and legal systems are trying so hard to cope with including the definitions of their cultural and sexual identities. The current data on criminalisation of homosexuality explains how the concrete England and Wales, Scottish societies and Legislation have managed to deal with the allegation of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals (LGBT). The data is also used in explaining the stigma of homosexuality and trends with regard to historical perspectives. Thus, the society will be aware of the growth rate, which spills down to it being a useful tool of measurement. Hence, this creates health and saves the life of many individuals. As a result, this will give researchers and sociologists a new angle of viewing things and; hence, they will be able to understand the existing relation between homosexuality and the rise of HIV/AIDS.   Section 1  In England and Scotland, legal approaches to the criminalising of homosexuality includes less direct approaches that seek to prevent the promotion of homosexuality, responds to public health concerns, and protects children. In England and Wales, homosexuality was legalised in July of 1967 by the Sexual Offences Act and thus, led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality for men (Cviklova, 2012, p.50) over 21 years. Additionally, the activity had to take place in a private room, and participation was limited to only two people. These are the interpretations of the court and were inclusive to exclude acts in a hotel or home where a third person is present. Furthermore, full equality campaigns continued to be driven by the Gay Liberation Front and Homosexual Equality. On close examination of the British legislation in respect to homosexuality category, the ambivalence is high and archaic. Until 1967, the Buggery (Sodomy) Act of 1553 was the basis for legislation (Brady, 2005, p.27). All sex acts between all male criminals were made and did not indicate any special classification of the legal reforms by the Criminal Law Amendment of 1885. This civil offence was punishable by death but later in the 1800s, imprisonment was the punishment. Later a social purity movement was formed in the 1880s that encompassed early feminists and social conservative coalition. Historically, women have never been given the opportunity to freely express or the independence to pursue their homosexual relationships as compared to men. In addition, they have not met the harsh punishments accorded to men who are homosexual in society. Lesbianism was considered harmless as compared to heterosexuals though those who tried to assert traditional male privileges were dangerous. In this context, documentation relating to female homosexuality is insufficient. As a result, the 19th century sexologists considered these women to be mentally ill because they did not adhere to gender roles ascribed to females. They managed to force lesbians to hide their private lives and accepted to be outcasts, which contributed to the creation of identities and subcultures in England and Scotland. It was during the WW2 that women formed social networks that helped them to educate one another. After this, various events took place and saw to the survival of this but, was amended, and imprisonment was replaced with death penalties and property forfeiture. This then contributed to the development of the Criminal Law Amendment Act in 1967.  Moreover, in 1980 Scotland expanded on this law, for example, hetero group sex was legal while gay or lesbian group sex was illegal. Homosexuality legislation in the last decades has undergone many changes. In both countries, the legal consent age of gay men and heterosexual couples was 21 but, in 1994, it was lowered to 18 and in 2000 it went lower to 16. In 1957, the Church of England gave support to the 13-member Committee on Prostitution and Homosexual Offences, but it took an additional ten years for the law to be realised in England and Wales. However, individuals in these States still face the daily consequences of hatred and ignorance. Certain events that have been attributed to these laws include the nail bomb of April 1999. As a result, a contributor to the existence of this law includes the Wolfenden report. In addition, the UK repealed all offences of adult male homosexuals through the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and in Scotland was known as the Sexual Offences Act 2009. In 2005, the UK introduced civil partnerships, but despite all this many still believe that equality for heterosexuals and homosexuals is yet to be attained.   The 21st century has seen the enactment of new legislation that secured full liberalisation of the homosexuality British law. Same-sex couples were allowed to apply for the adoption of children and this saw to the drop of marriage as a condition. The argument for such rejection was to provide many children a stable family environment rather than having them kept in care. Instability was raised for unmarried relationships as they would impact the adopted children’s welfare. In Scotland, similar Legislation were also adopted. In recent developments, the UK government says that, before 2015, the country will have introduced gay and lesbian marriages. It is evident that sex-psychology in 1950s was traced among British doctors who studied the concepts of male homosexual normality or pathology (Cook, 2003, p.79).  England being a super power tended to impose its legal structure in entirety to ruled areas and thus, the legal prohibitions of homosexuality as an activity extended outside England. For instance, the legal system in Scotland is separate from that of England, but the law was not changed till 1979. Scotland intends to legalise religious gay, lesbian or bisexual marriages even though a third of the populace is against this move. The difference in Scots and English/Wales law is that, in Scotland, Legislation is observed after England and Wales’s law are passed over time. Later, Scotland passes its law that tightens existing loopholes, outright mistakes made and inadequacies, which is a solution for most individuals. Therefore, Scotland leans on England to make laws, which they amend to suit their needs and removes all parameters not filled by England and Wales.  Section 2 Individuals who identify as gay, lesbians, or bisexual regularly face prejudice and discrimination and this have negative psychological effects. The law tries to remove the existing stigma associated with bisexual, lesbians, and gay orientations. Sexual orientation is defined as a person’s sense of identity based on related behaviours, attractions, and community membership of others with similar attractions. According to feminist critics, they argue that Foucault’s theories of norm rejection undermine the possibility of having a feminist emancipatory political movement. In reality, his rejections of norms combined with his truth and knowledge views are produced within the power relations network that have made many accuse his philosophy of nihilism and relativism (McLaren, 2002, pp.1-2). Foucault’s subjectivity account does not give room for the agency and resistance and thus, subjects are determined wholly by social forces. Foucault’s power definition is criticised since no existing difference is present between those dominators and dominated individuals. Power or knowledge signifies constituted power through accepted forms of truth, knowledge, and scientific understanding.  Notions of feminism and Foucault work together in fostering the understanding of power operations locally, on the body, and through practises that are particular. Therefore, this power network conception operates through beneficial practises, discourses, and institutions. In regard to this view, Foucault’s and feminists views talk of enlightenment values manifested through practises that enable and constrain, and conceptualises freedom within institutions, material, and disciplinary matrices (McLaren, 2002,p.3). Foucault’s archaeological works have been able to challenge humanistic subjects, which corresponds with those of LGBT. The laws governing LGBT discourage against discrimination and prejudice and thus, they necessitate to be promoted in order to have equality in the society, work environment, and other places of interaction.   According to the global feminism approach, it aims at including women's issues worldwide and the perspectives under analysis are structural oppressions that include gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, class, and race giving reference to historical and social colonialism and imperialism realities. The feminist movement pulls resources like positive programs and critical analysis and directs them towards political and social change (McLaren, 2002, p.13). Feminism is devoted to democracy, inclusiveness, and equity, which are also promoted by Foucault’s theory of power. In representing women, certain factors are left out, for example, ability, race, sexual orientation, and class. In addition, those who argue against political identities claim that a unified demand for women implicitly assumes the norms that excludes from the category and within the category occludes diversity (McLaren, 2002, p.117).  Foucault says that ‘power is everywhere’ and ‘comes from everywhere’, therefore, it is neither a structure nor an agency (Foucault, 1998, p.63). This brings out the challenge of power being wielded by groups or people through ‘sovereign’ or ‘episodic’ coercion or domination acts and thus, is seen instead as pervasive and dispersed. In every society, a regime of truth that is, discourse types, which accepts and makes the function as true; means by which each is sanctioned through mechanisms and instances that enable individuals distinguish false and true statements; procedure and techniques of according value in truth acquisition; and the status of those charged with saying true counts’ (Rabinow, 1991).  In reference to Foucault’s perspective, sexuality as a subject was linked inextricably to the politics of the population. As such, the citizens in England and Wales and Scotland population significance brought about entities that could be measured and described to suit the pending issues affecting the association (Foucault, 1979). This has been able to develop Durkheim’s ideologies of sociology being ‘the study of social facts’ and this led to the passing of New Poor Laws of 1834 governing social identity and decriminalised against homosexuals in society. As a result, the impact of such laws with reference to feminism and Foucault’s perspective are subject to the norm in the society. The population plays a big role in establishing the rules that govern their structures and thus, it should be investigated to formulate other measures that will not discriminate other associations from exercising their freedom in society. The perspective of Foucault and feminists has tried to remove the existing stigma linked to sexual orientation in many states, but a lot needs to be completed in order to include the feelings and needs of all people in society by exercising their rights freely.  This level of practise necessitates for activists and practitioners to use methods that analyse discourse and Foucault’s approach critiques the thinking and paradigms of development. Section 3          Ideology is a term widely used and common associations with the term include:  •        Ideology as a concept that is multidimensional and maps out all aspects relevant to the society’s subjects  •        Ideology as the other of science, which is false ideas  •        Ideology as being gestalts of systematised beliefs, that is chaotic vs. ideological ways of thinking In other words, ideology is viewed as a dimension of practises and a contradictory practise. Hence, ideological practises are social processes through which conscious subjectivity if fashioned through people’s real activities as they are engaged in social relations where experiences are later transformed to cognitive products. In developed countries, men who are not heterosexual are devalued by the dominant masculinity ideology and; thus, they form their own health-promoting and affirming masculinity sense. This enables them promote the well-being of gays, lesbians, and heterosexual groups by exploring their responses and reactions to existing dominant masculinity images. These traditional masculinity ideologies developed over time and centered on presentation balancing of the characteristics linked to masculine and feminine groups.  The gay movement ideology is an implicit homosexual campaign and literature material that is divided into several headings. First, the way the movement of homosexuals’ views homosexuality, and in contrast to other Christian counsellors and psychotherapists, the movement has little to say concerning the causes of homosexuality. Two propositions emphasised under this are: a distinction exists between gay and homosexual, and that gay is good. The second proposition endeavours to overcome the inferiority senses in the community of gay people. They claim that relationships with heterosexual are based upon the power and paternalism. Such attitudes are present in Britain’s mid-1980s videos called, ‘Framed Youth: revenge of the teenage perverts’.  Second preposition carries three arguments of what homosexuality is not and counters traditional views held by individuals in society. The first argument is that homosexuality is not an issue of selection but, rather it is fixed and innate. It is not changeable and thus, wants to be treated as a special group with equal rights in society. The third argument is that it is not an illness or mental disorder as presumed by many populace, but a lot needs to be done to divert people from this thinking pattern of gay, lesbian or bisexuals being a pathological deviance.  Third proposition is the method in which this group should relate to their condition and arguments raised include the ‘coming-out’ action, which is desirable and obligatory in some instances. Also, it has no moral implications, the response of society to homosexuality, and that homosexuality exists in large numbers. Lastly, the minority group is a legitimate association that deserves to be legally protected in accordance with human rights. This equality ideology looks into aspects of the provision of access to jobs and the exclusion of discriminatory acts. The feminist movement has succeeded in passing the equal policies bill of rights, which is extended to women. Moreover, in recent activities lesbians movement have succeeded in getting the same rights extended to them and have formed groups that represents their rights.  In respect to the above, some ideologies try to explain the difference between men and women and hence, some related ideologies give the difference with reference to sexual orientation. The homosexuality ideology becomes a threat to the thought of the legitimate autonomy since those who do not share in the same context risk the condemnation of being socially and culturally marginalised. Language is the onset of attacks for freedom thoughts. As a result, people need to resign themselves to accepting the theoretical appreciation of homosexual relations or else be charged with the ‘fear of homosexuality’. From the above descriptions, it is apparent that the role of law in terms of ideological perspective is to be able to accommodate the rights and freedom of these people without practising discriminatory acts. The law intends to use presented ideologies in formulating policies and laws that govern these associations without impinging on their human rights. The ideological role of law also contributes to the promotion and campaigning of such movements, which reduces the rates of violence and promotes peace among members of the community. School institutions also benefit with such ideologies in educating the youth on homosexuality to remove the negative perceptions ascribed to these groups of people.  Section 4 According to Jones, the question is whether human rights have fundamental characteristics of being human (Clucas, 2012, p.936). Having this perspective (foundationalist) in mind, by applying England, Wales and Scotland is a defective approach of positive laws, which have failed to apply respect to human rights. In relation to sociological perspectives of human rights, people like Marx observe claims of Universalism of human rights that do not tally with exclusion of groups and persons from the same class and are recognised as holders of human rights in various places and times (Clucas, 2012, p.938). According to Hynes at al. The sociological perspective of human rights provides a critical, fuller picture of the significance of these rights in modern societies and adds to the appreciation of power and inequality relations that are analysed by human rights practises and theory (Clucas, 2012, p. 938). In the Church of England, much debate has arisen over the controversial issue of having gay men in civil partnerships to become bishops with criticism from both traditionalists and liberals. For example, John was appointed the Bishop of Reading in 2003, and in 2010, his name was linked to the Bishop of Southwark in a controversial manner (Clucas, 2012, p.942). This issue has split the church since 2003, and the condition applied to such an agreement is for the clergy to remain celibate. Moreover, in Scotland pastors have criticised the move of the government in giving ?1.6 million to an organisation of school campaigns homosexuals. Their arguments are that by giving such huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to Equity Network further undermines Christianity and does very little in trying to end bullying activities in institutions. The association has been given money to promote their own views and suppress all other views and thus, is likely to increase bullying.  These debates have contributed to the further development of organisations and movements that promote equality of such groups. These movements move in the direction of campaigning for equal rights, and as such, they aim at developing policies that will maintain the freedom of religion. The Equality Act gives priority to religion over sexuality, and this outlines the collapse of protective legislation over homosexuality relationships. These recent legal approaches within the Church of latitude discrimination have opted to provide services to homosexuals on religious grounds beliefs. However, they were unsuccessful as evident with Hall and Preddy v Bull and Bull (2012), Ladele v London Borough of Islington (2009). The significant difference with these cases and that of appointing gay bishops are that they concern religious belief impact rather than self-regulation of religious institutions. Clearly, the operation of law is in a contradictory fashion because it prohibits sexual orientation discrimination. As such, this regulation mode is less disruptive of the existing status quo and leaves power relations undisturbed between the Church and gay priests in Schedule 9 (Clucas, 2012, p.947).  Consequently, human rights relating to sexuality and religion show the interrelation of social inequality context by yielding sociological analysis of how negotiations of the Church and law tensions between the human rights. This context relates to religion, and sexual orientation, which is driven by heteronormativity, acknowledged and not being an inevitable scripture of universal interpretation. The coincidence is that church as an institution and religion decriminalisation latitude results in heteronormativity bias. Therefore, the Human Rights Act impacted the area of homosexuality by looking into promoting equality of all individuals and thus, it encourages that parties need to investigate avenues that are consistent with current ideologies and norms of society. The debates are also promoting the recognition and criminalisation of such laws in other countries because it promotes human dignity and integrity, which recognises the fact that these individuals are also human beings with feelings.  The debates act as a guide for learning institutions on how to handle the topic of criminalisation of homosexuality and thus, it brings into light the features of such groups and tries to promote cohesive relations with other members of the society. The truth is that homosexuality is evident in modern society and sociologist and educators need to look for ways of bringing people into accepting this group without being discriminated or prejudiced. Societal norms are certain issues that also necessitate investigation in order to present a lucid image of the current homosexual situation around the globe.  Conclusion The criminalisation of homosexuality was narrowly viewed from a criminal point but, this mindset needs to change because it has been widespread. As a result, it has developed into a phenomenon of far-reaching consequences that enable a state or nation to survive. From this perspective, homosexuality should no longer be regarded from the viewpoint of it being a criminal investigation since in political realms; it has become an important issue under scrutiny. The task of the police force is to ascertain their damaging effects and trends in order to avert the dangers associated with homosexuality phenomenon. Through experience, a small number of homosexuals have a true inclination to their sexual orientation. In most communities, these individuals are active nation builders and are only inclined to their sexual orientation in order to fulfil their sexual desires. This paper portrays the ideologies related to homosexuality and is a good point for individuals to conceptualise issues relating to this phenomenon. Churches and Legislation have rubbed shoulders at some point in trying to create a balance and promote equality among its citizens. The paper tries to point out pertinent issues that affect this group and it is time for the community, state and nation to change their mindset concerning such associations. It is high time for schools and other learning institutions to accommodate these groups into their curriculum in order to teach and update the public on how to live with LGBT.          The appreciation and recognition of such groups will be helpful in rolling out strategies and plans that include the contribution of LGBT. Gay bishops are also rising from all corners of the continent and thus, churches need to embrace these individuals because religion is a freedom that should not be impinged. Discrimination is an aspect that is being discouraged among the state because it contributes to the increase of violent activities and thus, Legislation should give these people their rights to be able to have a balance in the ecosystem. The criminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales brings out certain issues that need to be incorporated in other states to minimise the chances of having increased conflicts between the church and government. Bibliography Brady, S. (2005) Masculinity and Male Homosexuality in Britain, 1861-1913, England: Palgrave Macmillan. Cook, M. (2003) London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885-1914, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cviklova, L. (2012) Advancement of human rights standards for LGBT people through the perspective of international human rights law. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 3 (2), pp. 45-60. Foucault, M. (1970) The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, Tavistock, Devon Foucault, M. (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge, Tavistock, Devon. Foucault, M. (1998) The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge, London: Penguin. Harding, R. (2010) Regulating Sexuality: Legal Consciousness in Lesbian and Gay Lives, Routledge, London Jackie J. et al. (2011) Gender, Sexualities and Law, Routledge, London McLaren, M.A. (2002) Feminism, Foucault, and embodied subjectivity, New York, SUNY Press. Rabinow, P. (editor) (1991) The Foucault Reader: An introduction to Foucault’s thought, London: Penguin. Tingle, R. (1997) The Ideology and Politics of the Gay Movement [Internet] Available from < http://trushare.com/29oct97/imptingl.txt > [Accessed 19 April, 2013]. Read More