http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:16:37 PDT Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:16:37 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=84112 This site invites visitors to explore the cultural meanings and social power of homosexuality.Homosexuality is more than the ordinary, enduring fact of same-sex sexual preference. It is also a complex system of symbolic meanings elaborated over centuries. Contemporary gay and lesbian people are forced to an encounter with these meanings. We are vilified and demonized by a homophobic culture.The archetypes, stereotypes and images in which we are enmeshed are an enormous burden. They are also a gigantic opportunity. Gay and lesbian people are linked to myth, history, and the capacity to transform society.