Homosexuality
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
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
Bibliography: Adler, Libby. "The Gay Agenda." Edited by Ann Arbor. Michigan Journal of Gender & Law 16, no. 1 (2009): 148-156. 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. [ 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.