Queers & Homophobia

Even if I wasn't queer, I wouldn't be homophobic. Despite my homophobic years when I was a child and young teen, I know I would have realized my ignorance eventually. I was an athiest, so I had no religious reasons for my attitude. It would have caved either way.

It's not a choice. We're born into it the way a person is born into the family or culture they're born into, or into being left-handed. They have no control over it, no choice. Neither do we. And supposing we did, as some people would like to believe, why the fuck would we choose it? Why would we choose to be ridiculed and not have equal rights and feel cast out from society?

Scientific studies over the last few decades have shown that there is probably a biological reason for our queerness. For instance, men with a number of older brothers are more likely to be gay, and among identical twins, if one twin is gay, the other has 50% chance of also being gay. Also, queerness has been observed in many other species of animals, including homosexual animals, bisexual animals, and transgender animals. It is also found in human societies all over the world.

A lot of homophobes, especially right-wing Christians, are under the impression that queers will somehow adversly affect society just by having equal rights. I really have a hard time understanding just what bad effect we would have. Our being here and being treated like the human beings that we are won't hurt anything. We won't destroy the family by having marriage rights, and we aren't out to "recruit" children (even if we could turn straight kids queer, what reason would we have?). We just want to live our lives with the same dignity as anyone else.

Then of course, there's the issue of the Bible and the Torah. Many of the supposed rules against homosexuality have been reexamined by biblical scholars and found to actually be rules against homosexual rape, homosexual prostitution, and -- in the case of Leviticus 18:22 -- two men having sex in a woman's bed rather than their own, which would be okay. (For more, read What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, by Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph.D.)

Of course, these interpretations might be a stretch, but considering the other bizarre rules found in the Bible (like the rule against mixing two types of fiber in one piece of cloth, or the rule that women aren't supposed to speak in church), it seems a little peculiar to focus only on the rules against homosexuality anyway. In my opinion (which I suppose is somewhat worthless as a non-Christian) many of the rules in the Bible are simply no longer relevant to our modern lives. Christians and many Jews have given up the Kosher laws -- why not these supposedly anti-gay laws?

links:
Facts About Homosexuality
Facts About Sexual Orientation
Homosexuality: Common Questions & Statements Addressed
American Pyschiatric Association Fact Sheet on Gay and Lesbian Issues
Answers to Your Questions About Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality
Homosexuality is not a pathology
Does Homosexuality Pose a Threat to Society?
On the Wavering Argument: Is Being Gay as Bad as Some Say, and If It Is, So What?
The Emotional Origin of Homophobia
Is Homosexuality Inherited?
Ten Myths About Homosexuality
Homosexuality and Bisexuality
The Gay Gene
Lesbian and Gay Parenting
Left-Handed Bears & Androgynous Cassowaries: Homosexual/transgendered animals and indigenous knowledge
The Bible and Homosexuality

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