True, an effigy is not necessarily intended to be burned. Effigies of Guy Fawkes, for example, yes, but that's only one specific use of both the term and the effigy itself. Hanging someone in effigy is another.

According to the dictionary:

ef•fi•gy

1.dummy representing somebody disliked: a dummy, often roughly made and intentionally amusing or insulting, representing somebody disliked or despised

2.carving: a carved representation of a person, used as an architectural decoration or a monument

The attempted dehumanization of same-sex oriented people is to be found in the use of words like "queer" in reference to a male homosexual and "dyke" for a female homosexual. There is a whole lexicon of such dehumanizing terms in reference to same-sex oriented people, but you get the idea.

You DO get the idea, don't you?

Don Firth