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Homosexual is a term referring to people who are sexually oriented towards the same sex. Homosexuals face a lot of indifference and discrimination which is known as homophobia. There are several mental and physical health issues faced by these individuals which have led to internalized homophobia. Internalized homophobia is when an individual is afraid of accepting their sexual identity due to intolerance and stigma. In this review of literature, we can see that there is still room for improvement and change despite various rules and regulations imposed. The government needs to impose rules and regulations that will protect their identity.
Keywords: LGBQ, homosexual, homophobia, internalised homophobia, mental health
Sexual orientation is a term that relates to the degree to which men or women are sexually attracted to one another. Heterosexuality refers to sexual attraction toward members of the opposing sex, homosexuality to members of the same sex, and bisexuality to both sexes. Sexual orientation is a part of individual identity that includes "a person's sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction" (APA, 2015a, p. 862).
Because not everyone will openly identify their sexual orientation, most prevalence figures are likely to be an under-representation of the genuine figure. According to a British poll performed in 2000, 2.6 percent of males and 2.6 percent of women reported having gay partners in the previous five years (Johnson et al., 2001). However, this statistic may overlook many homosexual individuals who have not had a partner of the same sex in the last five years. Furthermore, as previously noted, sexual orientation is not as clear cut. There are debates on whether sexual orientation is categorical, in which you are either homosexual or heterosexual, or on a dimensional scale, in which an individual can be entirely heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. According to studies on the subject, male sexual orientation has a bimodal distribution, with the majority being either exclusively homosexual or exclusively heterosexual, with very few being bisexual. Women, on the other hand, exhibit the same bimodality, but to a lesser level, with higher rates of bisexuality emerging (Wilson & Rahman, 2005). Homosexuality appears to remain continuous throughout history and society (Wilson & Rahman, 2005).
Meyer (2003) performed...