ABSTRACT
One of the aims of the gay liberation movement is to enable gays and lesbians to be happy, healthy, contributing members of a society that recognizes and accepts differences in sexual orientation among its members. This requires educating or “raising the consciousness” not only of gay people but of their heterosexual or “straight” neighbors and coworkers as well. In the following essay, the philosopher John Corvino (1969–) confronts and confutes two mainstays of anti-gay attitudes: the assertions that homosexuality is unnatural and harmful. Like other advocates of gay liberation, Corvino believes that confronting their own homophobia—that is, their fear of homosexuals and homosexuality—can lead “gays” and “straights” alike to overcome homophobia’s stunting and stifling effects.
