I was looking at the Archives of Sexual Behavior and saw this review by Grace Epstein of the strikingly titled, “God Hates Fags: The Rhetorics of Religious Violence.” Epstein writes,

Cobb believes a similar climate of embattled religious values in contemporary America contributes to the social and moral isolation of LGBT people: ‘‘Strong religious words about uncomfortable queer sexuality not only unite sexually conservative people across economic classes, ethnicities, and race, but are part of a tradition of collective rhetorical expressions about what it means to be an American’’ (p. 6). In this way, the current American jeremiad, focused on opposition to same sex orientation, serves as a rallying call upon which so many disparate groups can unite, especially in times of national divisiveness.

I’d really have to read Cobb’s book to be sure, but I don’t know that I buy this analysis. At least, I’ll say this: when my friends and I were teenagers, there was a sort of low-level default homophobia in the air. There was no hatred at all, just a general prejudice, and certainly no connection with religion. Things might be different now, but it might make sense to distinguish prejudice about gays to actual “opposition.” Even if religious leaders are active in the opposition, that doesn’t necessarily mean that general anti-gay attitudes are connected to religion.