I don’t know about you, but when I stick my head out into the winds of American political discourse, I not only get a nasty, nasty feeling, like something I once loved has died unloved, I also feel like everything is receding. faster than forward. How is it that we have come this far in so many ways, and yet we seem to be regressing to the point where the persecution of witches will be the next topic discussed by various factions of those who are supposed to serve the government? Take, for example, the issue of same-sex marriage that still occupies so much political ground when the biggest concerns should be about our dismal financial collapse and the human greed that brought it about.
The central reasoning against same-sex marriage is, of course, expressed within religion, advocating that marriage is a ‘sacred institution’ between a man and a woman. It’s not at all clear to me what modern American fundamentalists or conservative politicians mean by “sacred institution,” since for most of human history down to the most recent times, women, by and large, have had very little to say about who is to be her husband and were generally treated as personal property. In many parts of the world this situation still exists. What could be sacred about slavery? It is no wonder that most politicians, bishops, ministers, gospel preachers, popes, rabbis, mullahs, writers of Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, and dictators were and are men, not to mention the gender of the most major religions. deity.
What is also never mentioned in these proclamations on the sanctity of marriage is that almost fifty percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce; this percentage continues to increase. Furthermore, an equally large percentage of babies are born out of wedlock. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics showed that in 2007, forty percent of babies born in the US were to single mothers.
The current arguments against same-sex marriage, the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and gay rights in general stem not so much from religious institutions as from political perversity. It is certainly not the first time in history that this obfuscating shell game has been played. While technologies change and cultures change, deception is and always has been much the same. The extremely wealthy (individuals, corporations, and political institutions) pay politicians to pander to the public’s lack of knowledge and fan the fires of fear. A perfect smokescreen is raised, almost always under the guise of religion but devoid of fundamental ethics.
Homosexual issues are the perfect complement to this irredeemable power-hungry system because same-sex desire remains the least understood of human complexity. Although there is abundant scientific evidence supporting homosexuality as a natural expression, many people, especially religious conservatives, still believe that homosexuals choose to be homosexual; therefore they can change. Such are the beliefs and proclamations of the husband of one of the current candidates for the presidency of the United States and that, in fact, he has made a business – reparative therapy – of turning gays into heterosexuals. Presumably it is her belief as well. It is amazing and terrifying that this kind of voodoo rubbish can be prevalent anywhere miles away from the slightest bit of intelligence, let alone at this level of political discourse.
The notion of choice is based on the historical biblical belief that humans are the beneficiaries of ‘free will’ while non-humans are not, presumably because we have become too intelligent for our own good. There is abundant scientific evidence to support the opposite; over 1,500 species engage in various levels of homosexual activity.
It is convenient and politically more effective to turn everything black and white, and the mainstream media, with its own repressed filters, add to the confusion. There is no absolute ‘state’ when it comes to human sexuality and there never has been. There is black and there is white. But there are countless grays in between.
If we believe that a gay person is homosexual by choice, should we believe that heterosexuals are also heterosexual by choice? If this is so, then all heterosexuals are just as capable of same-sex desire as all homosexuals. Can be this? Unlikely. What is more likely is that a percentage of heterosexuals never experience same-sex desire. On the opposite side of the spectrum are homosexuals who have absolutely no desire for the opposite sex. Between the two, there is a remarkable gradation from one to the other. Pansexuality is an indivisible fabric of greys, blacks and whites woven from genetic predisposition but immensely pressed by cultural weight. Human sexuality is complicated, complex and rich in diversity.
Millions of people get married, have children, and then decide to “come out,” choosing to express their natural state of desire toward people of the same sex. Coming out is a choice, divorce is a choice, cruelty is a choice, bigotry is a choice, greed is a choice, and bigotry is a choice. Same-sex desire is not a choice. It is a state of being. It is neither right nor wrong; it simply is. The less attention we pay to those who claim otherwise, the better off we are. As the poet and filmmaker James Broughton once said: “Do not pollute the Divine with religion; it takes away all the fresh air of Paradise.”
