A New Era
Many people in America today are discriminating against a certain group of people. It is a prejudice that runs deep in the fabric of many American lives. This prejudice is against the homosexual community of America. It is claimed that homosexuality is wrong because it’s a conscious decision. In some religious belief systems in America it is even a sin against God and therefore an ‘’abomination’’. However, does the evidence support the idea that homosexuality is a choice? Furthermore, does the evidence justify the discrimination and prejudice felt by the average homosexual in America today?
Biblical Argument
Leviticus 18:22 states “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is an abomination’’. This is perhaps one of the most widely quoted verses in the Bible that Christians generally use to oppose homosexuality. It seems very straight forward and clear. However, are the Biblical authors a reliable source of information with regards to questions involving human sexuality in general? They claim three very puzzling ideas about human sexuality.
The first claim is that, according to Leviticus 15, any man who has a bodily discharge is unclean and must go through a 7 day ceremonial cleansing before he is clean again. Later in the same chapter a woman on her period is prohibited from touching almost anything or else she will make the object she touches unclean. Once the period is over, she has to wait 7 days to be ‘’ceremonial clean’’. She then has to sacrifice two doves to the Lord for an atonement of her ‘’unclean discharge’’. And the last questionable idea that seems important to the Biblical authors concerning human sexuality is the story of the fall in Genesis. God CURSES woman by making her endure childbirth.
To quickly summarize, semen emissions and a woman’s monthly period are unclean and sinful, and childbirth is a curse from God. As we know today, these activities are a normal part of most human beings. The Biblical authors seem to lack true insight into human sexuality. This evidence seems to be out of date.
Psychology
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), there is little or no choice in the way sexual orientation is determined. It is also no longer classified as a mental disease thanks to people like Evelyn Hooker. She studied 30 homosexual males and 30 heterosexual males that were matched in age, IQ, and education. Patterns of thoughts, attitudes and emotions were measured. There were no significant differences in psychological well-being. This lead to more research and in 1973 homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
According to the APA, therapies aimed at changing sexual orientation can be damaging. There is no scientific evidence to support it even works, and these therapies tend to reinforce stereotypes and prejudices. This seems to stand in direct conflict to the Biblical authors claims on human sexuality. The psychological research is much more up to date and based more on empirical observation than ancient ideas.
Respect
Every human being deserves a certain measure of respect. People of goodwill have and will continue to disagree on certain issues and still give each other a certain level of respect. Should we raise taxes? How do we fix health care? These questions are different from homosexuality because they do not deal with what someone is. There seems to be more homophobia underlying disagreements about sexuality rather than honest disagreement. Heterosexuals enjoy the benefits of marriage, financially and socially. Most people want to get married someday and discriminating against the homosexual community because of the erroneous belief that it’s a conscious choice seems to fly in the face of modern psychology. Prejudices are hard to break. Woman did not even gain the right to vote until the 1920s. Just recently President Obama and Congress passed a bill that gives equal pay to women. In the year 2009 human beings should not be continuing to hold outdated views of reality.
Conclusion
It is time for America to stand up and say discrimination against homosexuals is wrong. The lawyers from Bush v Gore 2000 have teamed up to challenge proposition 8. The issue of equality for homosexuals should not be a two-sided issue. Discrimination on the basis of outdated information and a person’s sexual orientation is much worse than what the Biblical authors did because they lacked understanding we now have today. It is time to stop living in the past and progress into a new and more equal future
