right-wing authoritarianism, customs and beliefs regarding cultural tradition, and personal experience with non-heterosexual individuals. Research has also recognized the effects of level of education on views of heterosexism. Wright et al. revealed that higher levels of education, or having more years of education, is related to less homophobic tendencies. As discrimination Explicit or open This type of heterosexism includes anti-gay laws, policies, and institutional practices, harassment based on sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; stereotyping, discriminatory language and discourse, and other forms of discrimination against LGBT persons such as: Hate speech, terms of disparagement, hate mail, death threats, "murder music" Scapegoating, mobbing, witch-hunts, moral panic; using gay men and homosexuality as a folk devil for the AIDS pandemic. Negative portrayals or stereotypes of gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals solely as villains, suicide or murder victims Using the gay panic defense in assault or murder cases. Sodomy laws when enforced almost exclusively against consenting, adult, same-sex partners. See also: Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas In some countries where homosexuality is criminalized, such as Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, offenders may receive the maximum sentence of capital punishment. See also: Paragraph 175 Discrepancies in age of consent laws in which legal sexual activity between members of the same sex is set at a higher age than that for partners in female–male relationships. Most such laws apply explicitly (or have historically applied) only to male homosexual sexual activity. See also: Morris v. The United Kingdom, State v. Limon Prohibiting youth from bringing a same-sex date to high school prom. See also: Fricke v. Lynch, Marc Hall v. Durham Catholic School Board Adoption bans against either same-sex couples or gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals. See also: LGBT adoption, In re: Gill Legislation that prevents legal and social equality, i.e., laws that prohibit protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, particularly with regard to health care, housing, and employment. The institution of female–male marriage and reserving the right to marry strictly for female–male couples via explicit definitions or through bans on same-sex marriage such as "marriage protection acts" (such as DOMA in the United States); pp. 145–151 Also, the above restriction even when same-sex couples have access to civil unions that are either analogous to or not on a par with marriage; Barring gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals from serving in the armed forces or