I’ve never really understood bigotry and hatred. Ignorance was not taught as a virtue in my house, and my parents strove hard to overcome their own intolerances to raise us to be better than they were. That is not to say that I have none, or that I am perfect. I am far from it, and I hope that when and if I begin to raise children, I can follow the amazing examples of my parents and try to ensure that they are raised without my own irrational fears and beliefs. That’s why, when asked to write about my views of homosexuality, I didn’t understand why I needed to. I didn’t understand why anyone would think it was anything other than okay to be gay.
So I did research.
I went online and I googled things like, “why is it not okay to be gay?” and “the bible and homosexuality.” I’m still pretty confused as to why people think there is anything wrong with being gay. All of the religious arguments I have found have no basis in any teaching of God, and all of the social arguments I have found either site studies that are at least 20 years old, or completely ignore the correlation between homosexual and heterosexual couples. Simply put, the only reason I can find that people have to say that homosexuality is not okay is that they are ignorant, cowardly douchebags.
So why are so many people afraid of homosexuality? Probably because fear is used to control the population, and homosexuals are something we can still teach people to fear.
The best article I could find that rationalized those fears is an article written by Mike Haley, a “reformed” homosexual who now lectures to gay kids to try and scare them straight. The article, entitled, Why Gay is not OK, reprinted on Beliefnet.Com was the first thing that popped up when I searched for why some people don’t think its okay to be gay. The article, written in 1999 articulates the same biased and backwards beliefs that I have seen around the internet on everything from the website of Fred Phelps to Tea Party blogs. Some of you, just don’t seem to understand that the world has changed in the last 10 years.
Claims against Homosexuality –
1) Only a tiny minority of people are gay, so it doesn’t matter that they don’t get represented. No, seriously, this is one of their arguments. WTF? Can you come up with a less intelligent argument? Can you come up with a statistic that doesn’t show how much we need to defend the rights of those citizens more? This is basically saying so few people are gay that they don’t count as being human. Criminy. THIS is as good as it gets?
2) Homosexuality isn’t genetic, its a lifestyle choice. Ok. Research is still out there on this one. We can prove that there are defiantly some genetic factors in becoming homosexual, but we can also prove that there are environmental and developmental factors. What we haven’t proven is that homosexuality isn’t a natural developing. In Fact, most research shows that it is a naturally occurring development, often siting situations where there is one gay and one straight twin in a set. Not that any of that even matters, since its all points to being a lot less of a choice than being, say, Catholic or Episcopalian. Those are lifestyle choices that we do give rights to in America. Should we really consider any other lifestyle choice to be any less important, any less worthy of our support and respect? To think so is foolish, pigheaded, and wrong.
3) Homosexuals are sexual deviants incapable of love and monogamy. And neither or heterosexuals:
Alfred Kinsey has found in his studies that 50% of males and 26% of females had extramarital sex at least once during their lifetime. Depending on studies, it was estimated that 26–50% of men and 21–38% women, or 22.7% of men and 11.6% of women had extramarital sex. Other authors say that between 20% and 25% of Americans had sex with someone other than their spouse. However, one survey that measured the prevalence of adultery in the 12 months prior to the study showed rates of extramarital sex as low as 2.5% The results suggest that while 15–25% of married Americans have had extramarital sex at least once in their lifetime, extramarital sex occurred infrequently in any one year.
The largest industry in the US is pornography. Prostitution rates have risen all across the country. We are simply a nation of dirty scumbags. The divorce rate in the US is on the rise, still, despite being the highest national divorce rate in the world. We are a nation that doesn’t like to bang only one person. We still view domination of multiple sexual partners as a sign of virility in men. I think the monogamy issue is one that needs to be addressed purely across the board, not just in homosexual communities. Why should you hold them to any higher standards than you hold yourselves.
Everyone should just keep their genitals in their pants.
Now for the big one, and the one that Mr. Haley doesn’t comment on in his article, because he can’t: God doesn’t like homosexuals.
I have not been able to find any biblical evidence of this. I can’t find any Biblical evidence for God being against homosexuality at all. Here are a few things that I can find God having a problem with, and I don’t think many of us would disagree:
- Rape
- Sexual Abuse of Children
- Beastiality
- Prostitution
- Orgies
- Ritual sex in a Pagan Temple
- Sexual relationships in which one person is dominated by another person in general.
Wow, I don’t see homosexuality on that list at all. The only reason I even take the time to point this out is because so many people are effected by their religious views. Always remember, the man standing at the front of your church is not GOD! He is a man, just like you, and he has the same fears and worries that you do.
In researching this article, I came across the blog of a young, openly gay, Mormon, Sneakers in Sacrament. Raised in a church that actively teaches that homosexuality is a burden keeping you from the true purpose of humanity, marrying and raising children, he has found his own ways to come to terms with God and his sexuality. He has a rather amazing article written on exactly what he believes and feels here. Its pretty long, but worth the read. I encourage anyone trying to come to terms with being gay and following God’s teachings to read it, and begin doing some research into exactly what your religion teaches, not from the preachers and priests, but from the voice of your God directly.
You’d be surprised.
Really, though, I’m still having the same problem I had at the beginning of all this. I don’t understand why anyone would think there is a problem with homosexuality. I can’t find any evidence from a credible source that anything about being gay is inherently wrong. Sure, there are plenty of pitfalls that need to be avoided, but none that don’t exist in the heterosexual community.
Really. Its okay to be gay.