HAVE YOU BEEN GAY TODAY?

This is in response to a fellow writer’s post on being anti-gay. In case you missed it, you can read it here.

Now, Brian (the writer) mostly complains about getting hit on which I admit is repulsive especially when you don’t like the guy hitting on you- gay or not. I too hate being hit on but hey that’s life. You get hit on, you say yes or no- life goes on.

Rather than expressing his anger at being hit on by gay men, he also expressed his distaste for homosexuality as a whole, went ahead and quoted the bible  (BIG MISTAKE) then said something about supporting countries that discriminate homosexuals. There was not one logical reason for his whole distaste of the gay community and their “lifestyle” ; Not ONE!

I am all for personal opinion but when that opinion is used to oppress a group and deny them human and social rights e.g marriage (for those who want it), I will challenge your opinion and strive to change it : LOGICALLY.

And I think its about time we buried the following anti-gay justifications for once and for all.

1- HOMOSEXUALITY IS UN-AFRICAN

Are you serious?!

This is one embarrassing notion that even the most learned of people tend to lean to i.e. that homosexuality along with other bad things is a western phenomenon that we Africans should totally reject!

However, anyone who doesn’t know otherwise is clearly ignorant of various aspects of African culture. I wont write an essay on that- Google and read about homosexual and transgender activities in ancient Africa- and you’ll realize that it was anything but frowned upon in most African cultures.

Now, anti-gay people also claim that homosexuals force their lifestyle and ideals on others. Pray tell, what beliefs and idealsare those? And who’s forcing his/her lifestyle on others?

If there is a gay person forcing his/her lifestyle on others, he’s an asshole no less. Just like heterosexual people forcing their lifestyles onto homosexuals; it goes both ways. Anyone forcing anyone to do anything is an asshole- gay or not.

The second outrageous claim anti-gay people make is that:

2: HOMOSEXUALITY IS UNNATURAL AND AGAINST THE LAWS OF NATURE

Am interested in these laws of nature and who the heck makes them anyway? The following is an excerpt from Hitler’s speech( humor me and read on)

“Blood mixture and the resultant drop in the racial level is the sole cause of the dying out of old cultures…. All who are not of good race in this world are chaff…Those who are physically and mentally unhealthy and unworthy must not perpetuate their suffering in the body of their children.” Hitler in ‘Mein Kampf’

The 1935 Nuremberg Laws finally gave clarity to ‘blood purity’ when mixed marriages and any form of relationship between Aryans and Jews was outlawed. Anyone classed as an Aryan who was caught engaging in a relationship with a Jew after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws faced a prison sentence. Any Jew caught breaking the laws faced a lengthy sentence in a concentration camp with no guarantee that he/she would be released. Freisler had finally got his way as ‘blood treason’ was now on the statue book.”

(sourced from http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/blood_purity_nazi_germany.html)nt

I don’t need to explain the comparison do I?

Now, with Hitler in the picture, can we please go slowly with what’s natural, unnatural or what should be killed off for being different and “impure”.

Only self righteous people place themselves on the positive end of their version of the “laws of nature”. Some people who are not black, think that all blacks are dirty things ; some think women from a certain area (which is not theirs) are stupid- others also think gay people are disgusting and unnatural but do tell, what is natural?

For me, anything that exists without being forced upon a person, or coerced; that is natural. If I am born liking men only or women only that’s what is natural to me. And if a person is born gay or becomes gay with no coercion whatsoever, they too are natural! Let them be!

Brian, the writer of the anti-gay post also argues against the term HOMOPHOBIA and so  I’d like to introduce a phrase that is maybe more anti-gay friendly and politically correct.  Sexual Prejudiced:

(Source – http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/faculty_sites/rainbow/html/prej_defn.html)

I think that’s what  Brian and the people who agreed with him suffer from.

And for a sexual orientation that exists in many of the animal species, I would think intelligent advanced humans had gotten the memo and realized homosexuality is not so dangerous a phenomenon as to be so severely rejected to the point of killing/ dehumanizing homosexuals! Homosexuality is natural!

At this point I bet someone badly wants to quote the bible and talk of Adam and Eve (not Adam and Steve*YAWN*).

3. THE BIBLE IS AGAINST HOMOSEXUALITY

*sigh* I hide my face in despair every time someone begins what is supposed to be a reasonable, logical argument, with the words,  “The bible says…”

So what if it rejects homosexuality? The bible is also against female empowerment, eating pork and religious tolerance! If we are looking for a book that is the yardstick for what’s moral, the bible does not cut it.

Anyone who does not admit that it allows rape, genocide, infanticide, racism, slavery among other evils; and anyone who calls the  bible the good book is clearly delusional. The bible cannot and may not be used as a yardstick for morality- it is anything but! Refer to the memes below.

So fuck the bible – respect and treat gay people as human as you’d want to be treated no matter how different they are from you- you owe them that much.

The day anti-gay people will come up with logical arguments against homosexuality, then we may consider dubbing it an evil. However, if you’re one of those people who use the above arguments to perpetrate violence or discrimination against members of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, intersex) community, you are clearly ignorant and hopefully, a little bit of reading good literature might save you (and the rest of the world) from stubborn foolishness.

Have a gay Friday people.

by Hellen Masido

Disclaimer : The views expressed below are those of the author and do not reflect those held by the site