This past week Archbishop, and Nobel Peace Laureate, Desmond Tutu came out with his latest of recent statements supporting LGBT rights both in Africa and throughout the world. "Today I pray for people in Africa and throughout the world who long for freedom because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender." His argument is one that is familiar to members of faith organizations throughout the world that stand behind gay rights as a human right. To let Tutu speak for himself, "Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God."
The connection between gay rights and religion is one that is often made as a negative one, particularly in the United States. However, the Archbishop and other key religious figures, such as Reverend Al Sharpton (the only Presidential candidate in the 2004 elections to be for same sex marriage) prove that this correlation is wrong.
The issue LGBT rights is one that is present throughout the world. In the U.S. members of decade-long relationships are still denied the right to hospital visits, pensions, and other legal privileges bestowed only on heterosexual couples, by a government and people that refuse to recognize their union as legitimate. In Uganda, newspapers describe gay members of their society as primal, and the government is back and forth on whether homosexual acts should be a crime punished by life in prison.
Religious leaders such as Tutu and Sharpton are working to push back against this prejudice, by many others like them are doing the exact opposite. How do you feel the religious community can affect this civil rights conflict? Have you seen or experienced religious pressure to feel one way or another? How does your personal faith affect your opinion on this subject? Why do you think there such as strong correlation (negative and positive) between faith and LGBT rights? What is the best approach, in your opinion, to facilitating this conflict: fostering understanding or standing up against ignorance?
If you disagree with the argument that LGBT individuals deserve these privileges, I encourage you to share your thoughts as well. All opinions are welcome, and will be respectfully considered.
I'll take this question by question.
ReplyDelete1) I think the religious community can affect this by either (a) fostering constructive discussion about it and being TOLERANT HUMAN BEINGS despite what their religions say about the morality of it or (b) staying out of it. All 3 of the Abrahamic religions say very plainly that homosexuals should be executed so for them to argue IN FAVOR of it is a stretch of their religion to start with.
2) I have seen individuals arguing for both sides and it always boils down to the exact same argument of "is homosexuality a choice?" It is well known that homosexuality is NOT a choice as it occurs in many other species naturally.
3) There is such a strong correlation because of the amount of ignorance that is still strangely present. When people are brought up being taught that homosexuality is a sin and that it is a choice, it's no wonder that they are ignorant to the way things ACTUALLY are.
4) The best approach is for people to realize that EVERYONE, regardless of gender, sexual preference, race, religion, nationality, deserves to have the same rights as everyone else. If a straight couple can do something that a gay couple can’t, that's wrong. The biggest obstacle to LGBT rights is the fact that people don’t see it as an extension of basic human rights. The sooner people realize that, the easier all this will be.
The way I see it, it’s a clear black and white issue. If you are against LGBT rights then you are WILLFULLY ignorant of a rather large portion of society. People that oppose it on a religious basis need to open their eyes and decide for themselves rather than have a Bronze Age book define their morality. People that oppose it on any other basis are bigots that foster ignorance and hate through our communities. Neither of those should be tolerated.
I am really fascinated by this subject. I was actually looking into gay rights in Africa as a possible theme to my dissertation topic at the LSE. If you want more information and a good article on the trend in many developing countries towards criminalization of homosexuality check out this link from an article on The Economist!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/node/16219402