Social networks in Iran have been flooded with compromising footage featuring several known ultra-conservative officials engaging in homosexual activities. While homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran, the Iranian regime has attempted to deny the videos and cover up the scandals. We spoke to a former religious authority who says authorities are trying to “save face” by refuting the wave of videos.
Blaming homophobia on gay people is very dangerous. People in the comments, please don’t do it.
I would be happy to read on correlation between homosexuality and anti-gay politics. One may claim it’s done purely out of survival but I wonder if there’s more to it.
On 2:
We hate what we fear. Study Finds That Homophobic People Are Actually More Likely To Be Gay
There are a bunch of studies like this. I don’t know if anyone has done a systematic review to bring them all together in one read.
It’s important to note that there is no implication that every homophobe is secretly gay, just statistically more likely to be than less performatively toxic individuals. Some homophobes are insecure in their masculinity (or femininity) for other reasons and so hide behind a parody of what they think masculinity (or femininity) is.
The other important (and AFAIK, consistent) aspect of these studies is that they were taught to hate themselves:
Point 1: absolutely agree, however
There has been too many verified accounts of loud homophobes engaging in homosexual behavior to just brush off as a coincidence.
We should be able to talk about that without getting into dangerous territory. How? Not sure.