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Societal attitudes towards homosexuality have varied over the centuries, ranging from admiration to homophobia.

Culture

In some cultures, such as Ancient Greece and pre-modern Japan, homosexual practices were the foundation of religion, education, philosophy and military culture. The Bedamini people of New Guinea believe that homosexual activities promote growth throughout nature, while excessive heterosexual activities lead to decay in nature.

In others cultures, specifically those dominated by Christian or Muslim dogma, they were repressed by means of torture and death.

In the east, attitudes have changed radically in the past hundred and fifty years, swinging from complete openness to an antagonism mimicking Victorian attitudes, which now is slowly relaxing back towards a more balanced view.

The Chinese Psychiatrists’ Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses in April 2001. However, as scriptwriter and teacher Cui Zi’en, one of the few openly gay intellectuals in today's China, points out, it’s still seen as a psychological disorder. "In the West, it’s frowned on to criticize homosexuals and even more to make them feel different," says Cui Zi’en, contrasting it with Chinese society which, "is changing, but there’ll always be people who’ll feel disgust."

Law

In most developed countries, same-sex relationships are accepted, and are accorded legal protection. Many governments have established formal structures for confirming legal relationships (either as marriage or partnership) between people of the same sex.

In some cultures influenced by anti-gay religious dogma, homosexuality is still considered un-natural, a perversion and has been outlawed (see sodomy law, consensual crime). In some Muslim nations it remains a capital crime.

Religion and morality

Many religious establishments welcome queer individuals, either on a footing of equality with non-queers (such as the Unitarian Universalist congregation or the Anglican congregation in North America) or even according them special status as possessing enhanced spiritual abilities (as many Native religions do).

At the same time, some moralists and religious groups view homosexuality to be a sin. John Boswell argued that church stance has varied over time, and that during several periods in European Christian history homosexuality was not repressed or even celebrated, as with heterosexuality. See the article on Religion and homosexuality for a discussion of how homosexuality is viewed in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and in neo-pagan religions.

Also see Homosexuality and morality.

Repression

Violence against homosexuals remains common; the experience of gays during the Holocaust is an egregious case.

Rhetoric

• Gay bashing
• Anti-gay slogans

History in the West

McCarthyism

In the 1950s in the United States, homosexuality was taboo. Senator Joseph McCarthy used accusations of homosexuality as a smear tactic in his anti-Communist crusade.

LGBT civil rights movement

Beginning in the 20th century, Gay rights movements, as part of the broader civil rights movements, have led to changes in social acceptance and in the media portrayal of homosexuality. The legalization of same-sex marriage and non-gender-specific civil unions is one of the major goals of gay rights activism. (See Category:LGBT civil rights.)

Attitudes of Western societies regarding homosexuality have led to a greater accpetance of gay men and women into both secular and religious institutions starting in the latter part of the 20th Century.

Psychology and modification of sexual orientation

Some religious movements and other advocates believe that they can heal or cure homosexuality through "reparative therapy." However, all mainstream Western health and mental health professional organizations have concluded this therapy is ineffective, unnecessary, and potentially harmful. The mainstream medical and scientific communities of the West regard sexual orientation un-changeable. In 1973, the (US) American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from mental disorders. However, in some other parts of the non-Western world it is still considered to be a mental disorder and illness, although there is no consensus on what causes it or whether it is inborn.

Attitudes of Western societies regarding homosexuality have led to a greater accpetance of gay men and women into both secular and religious institutions starting in the latter part of the 20th Century.

Stereotypes

In Western culture, gay men are often stereotyped as effeminate or sometimes as hypermasculinized (see homomasculinity). Lesbians are often stereotyped as being overly masculine or butch. Bisexuals are often stereotyped as promiscuous.

Blame for plagues and disasters

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as takes place in the Bible is often attributed to homosexuality, but this is disputed.

Since the middle ages, sodomites were blamed for "bringing down the wrath of God" upon the land, and their pleasures blamed for the periodic epidemics of disease which decimated the population. This "pollution" was thought to be cleansed by fire, as a result of which countless individuals were burned at the stake or run through with white-hot iron rods.

Since the end of the 1980's similar accusations have been made, inspired by the AIDS epidemic. In the years since, the epidemic has spread and now has many more heterosexual vicitms than homosexual. Much more is also known about the source of the syndrome (HIV) and its means of transmission, which does tend to reduce finger-pointing.

Other modern American examples (Statistically, damage from natural disasters in the modern United States is not correlated well with homosexual population, but it does correlate with Protestantism. Of course there is no consensus over whether this fact is of any significance):

• Baptist Minister Fred Phelps blames homosexuals for September 11th.
• His church blames the Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004 on American and Swedish sodomites and fornicators in Thailand
• Jerry Falwell made remarks interpreted as blaming "pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way" for the September 11th attacks, but later apologized for his remarks. (Pat Robertson was also participating in the broadcast.)

Association with child abuse and pedophilia

The association of homosexuality with child abuse among the public dates back to at least antiquity; see Lucian's Erotes.

In the contemporary United States, some people fear exposing their children to homosexuals in unsupervised settings, lest they be molested, raped, or recruited to be homosexuals themselves. The publicity surrounding the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, which included many cases of same-sex child abuse, has heighted these concerns.

Statistically, most homosexuals are not child molesters; like most heterosexuals, they prefer consensual sex with their peers. Most child sexual abuse occurs between an adult and a member of the opposite sex, but of course this is related to the difference in size between the homosexually and hetersexually inclined portions of the general population.

The association of child sexual abuse and pedophilia with homosexuality is considered by many to be an offensive and unwarranted stereotype.

The question of whether or not it is possible to "recruit" children into a homosexual orientation is a matter of sharp debate; see Environment, choice, and sexual orientation.

• Sexual orientation and society
• Sociology
• Social philosophy