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Homosexuality: Back to civil rights? More than one gay writer has said that homosexuality is not about whom you have sex with; but it’s about who you fall in love with. Well after hearing it put that way, I would have to disagree with the arguments of the religious conservatives that feel as though homosexuality is “unnatural”. In fact, isn’t this the way that all genders create relationships? They find people that they enjoy being with and love them for who they are, all of different races, sizes, backgrounds and ages; yet not the same.
In the bible, Leviticus 18:22 says, “You may not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination”. However, it does not state any of this in Exodus 20:1-17 Ten Commandments, in which are the moral codes for governing our lives, spoken from God himself. So, is it easier to condemn homosexuals with words from The Book of Leviticus, than to condemn those that sit before the church day to day disobeying moral’s written in stone? Shirley J. Braverman’s definition of Homosexuality states, “Homosexuality is a predominantly emotional or erotic preference for members of one’s own sex”; this is indeed true.
Homosexuality is only different in at the end of the day for the people that walk around loving a person of the same gender, the love is no different than that of a heterosexual and there for should not be valued as less in anybody’s eyes. The pressure of religion on the homosexual community is a problem worth investing in, because of the social strain and unnecessary stress; individuals are fighting for equality, acceptance, marriage, a family, and happiness. The words of abomination and condemned to hell while in church send’s the signal to a congregation as a whole that homosexuals are evil.
Especially, it you were to visit Westboro Baptist Church of Fred Phelps where the slogan is “God hates fags”, you may become a homophobic and one that creates a rise in the suicides and murder of homosexuals. Have we gone back to The Civil Rights Movement, bashing a human because homosexuality is “different” being in the house of God is wrong in any form that you are destroying a person’s identity, with harsh words such as a “fag”. It is because of this that the young has decided that their life is not worth living and some heterosexuals have decided that fate for them.
Does the church take blame for harsh lessons without limitation, especially when speaking to children with the lack of salvation in their voice of judgment? In 2004 according to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network in California information, it was shown that 85% students of LGBT students continue to be verbally harassed at school, after the 1997 suicide of Jim Wheeler, who was tormented for his sexual preference every day at school, by students of homophobia. Can the same people of persuasion that homosexuals are “unnatural” behavior eliminate some of these acts of prejudice, yes they can.
Homophobia is not only fear in those that are afraid of homosexuals, but also includes homosexuals themselves. In the culture of a heterosexual, it is not unusual to have a homosexual experience, would a Christian be able to say I experienced an encounter and I was able to move forward with a different respect for the homosexual community? Yes, they could, but it’s the fear of being rejected that keeps some heterosexuals from wanting to even affiliate themselves with homosexuals.
Some homosexuals become homophobic themselves, hiding in and isolation of misery, hating who they are because of the oppression of gays in society. From my own personal knowledge, I know it takes your family to hold you higher than anybody and it wouldn’t help to have your church as well. So, I am proposing and telling the world to stop that prejudice act against people, because of personal fear of the unknown. I dare a church, a family of homophobics to go through the everyday life of torment.
What if God said it’s okay in the Commandment, is love thy neighbor not the same, as love me for who I am; in deed it is. In the words of Dr. Maya Angelou, “You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise (Angelou, 1978),” whoever shall read this shall remember that people are people and you have your life to live as they do. I am a homosexual, and I believe that a positive action takes number of people with faith in people to stop these acts of fear.
If you are hurting someone intentional is that wrong, or is it only wrong when it is too late and the opportunity has passed, because life was no longer an option for the individual. Take a stand, because value and morality is living and learning the rights and wrongs, not every family will have the same values, so when did they become one man’s standard based on fear? Bibliography Adler, Libby. “The Gay Agenda. ” Edited by Ann Arbor. Michigan Journal of Gender ; Law 16, no. 1 (2009): 148-156. Braverman, Shirley. “Homosexuality. ” The American Journal of Nursing, Apr 1973: 652-655.
Neff, Lisa. “A portrait of pain. ” Advocate. Los Angeles, Mar 2, 2004. 24-25. Rachels, James, and Rachels Stuart. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hil, 2010. Richardson, Tammy, Nathalie Rayes, and Jerome Rabow. “Homophobia and the Denial of Human rights: “It is not my place to find others’ relationships agreeable or offensive. “. ” Transformations, Mar 31, 1998: 68. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. James, Rachels, and Stuart Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy (New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2010), 44. [ 2 ]. Ibid. [ 3 ]. Ibid. [ 4 ].
Shirley Braverman, “Homosexuality,” in The American Journal of Nursing 1973, (New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003), 652. [ 5 ]. Libby Adler, “The Gay Agenda,” in the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law 2009, ed. Ann Arbor (Michigan: Michigan Journal of Gender Law, 2009), 52. [ 6 ]. Lisa Neff. “A portrait of pain. ” The Advocate, March 2, 2004, 24. [ 7 ]. Tammy, Richardson, Nathalie, Rayes, and Jerome Rabow, Homophobia and the Denial of Human Right: “It is not my place to find other’s relationship agreeable or offensive. ” ed. Wayne (New Jersey: New Jersey Project, 1998), 71.