Homosexuality

This is a paper that I wrote for a class last semester. Excuse the casual language, it was for Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics so I wasn’t too picky with grammar/wording.
What would you do and/or say if your brother came out of the closet? What if it were someone who was a bit harder to love? Say your neighbor, or a church member. What about someone you dislike? How would you react? Would it change how you saw him/her and how highly you regarded him/her? Furthermore, what action would you take? Maybe you would turn a blind eye, maybe you would be accepting, or maybe you would even be supportive of his declaration. Would you try to forcing him to be straight and make the morally correct decision or would you let him make his own decisions and live his own life?
Homosexuality is an extremely controversial topic. The country disagrees on homosexuality, the state disagrees on homosexuality, even the Christian Church disagrees on homosexuality. What are we to do? This is not a small issue that can be overlooked, it must be directly addressed. People are dismissed from the military, shunned from society, and even looked down upon in church for revealing their sexual orientation.
There are many disputes on homosexuality. The Nation is currently arguing whether or not gays should be allowed into the military. In 1993 the Pentagon established a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding to gays enlisting and being allowed to rightfully defend their country. Now people are calling for it to be repealed due to military service being a right instead of a privilege. The states are battling whether or not to allow gay marriages, as California made obvious last year with Prop 8 which is being rewritten as homosexuals and homosexual supporters claim some voters did not fully understand the Proposition. The Church members are fighting the topic, trying to decide if it is morally acceptable or not.
Although President Obama indicated that he would eventually repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” during his campaign last year, he has not made any moves since he took office and the White House has said that it won’t stop the military from dismissing gays and lesbians who admit their sexuality. The Democratic Party does not wish to currently outright ban homosexuals from entering the military because it caused problems for them as well as President Clinton when DADT was first passed. People have said that everyday DADT is kept in act our nation is robbed over more and more brave men and women who are willing to fight for their country, that it is legalizing discrimination, and event that it’s a travesty of justice and something that every judge on the Supreme Court should be ashamed of. However, the House Armed Services Chairman is reviewing the law to see if it is “still appropriate for today’s military” (Laura).
The state faces the issue of whether or not to legalize same sex marriages. Gays present the fact that they feel like they will never be able to feel as if they are married through civil unions. When Tracy Tierney was in the hospital she was asked for her marital status and when she replied that she was in a civil union the nurse marked the ‘single’ box. Tracy replied that she was “more married than single”, leaving the nurse quite flustered. If they were allowed to be married to one another there would not be such a dispute over the issue because after all, marriage is marriage, everyone knows what it means. At the same time, the state says that gays have no case to fight because after all, they are free to marry, just not someone of the same sex (Allison).
The church’s issue comes into play with whether it is wrong and sinful to be homosexual. The Bible’s seeming condemnation on homosexuality has even led some people to generalize that they must heed the Word of God as it isn’t always precise. Gay Christians present the idea that sinning is something that you have a choice about, whether you want to do the correct thing or the more appealing wrong thing, so how can they be sinning if they don’t have the choice (Frank)? This leaves believers in a quagmire. They must decide if homosexuality should be shunned, tolerated, or accepted; whether or not it is wrong; and if they should be allowed to be married.
I believe that homosexuals should not have to face all of these problems. There must be some compromise between them and the rest of society as their acceptance will be gradual yet progressive. Homosexuality isn’t something you can just express and expect everyone to be used to the idea immediately; it takes time to get accustomed to other’s different ways of thinking. After people have gotten more accustomed to gays being open about their sexuality, then they can push for more and more rights.
For now homosexuals need to choose their battles a bit more carefully. Trying to get past “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is not a very wise move, at the moment. Although it is not ideal, it is not terribly discriminating or oppressive, so they should be complacent with this for now. If they try to be too radical with their rights people who are borderline pro-gay will be quickly turned off. Gays should focus on the privilege of marriage, because that is relevant to every homosexual instead of just the ones who wish to enlist in the military. Marriage is everyone’s desire, it is the highest level of commitment, it is the biggest promise you can make to someone. The connotation of civil union has no where near as much magnitude as the connotation of marriage, so how dare someone try to keep a couple from that level of unity?
That begs the question of whether or not it is morally acceptable to be gay, the Church’s big battle. I believe that it is acceptable to be homosexual. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: … nor homosexual offenders…will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (Holy Bible, The…). This shows us that despite the fact that homosexuality is a sin, it is not one that cannot be forgiven. Jesus died so that he would cover our sins, even those of the homosexual. If God would not exclude them from his kingdom, what would give us the right to keep them from worshiping with us or scorning them when they do?
I believe that there are some homosexuals who cannot force themselves to be heterosexual. It has been observed through experiments that brain hormones function differently in people with different sexual orientations and that there are differences in the brain, including a larger and elongated suprachiasmatic nucleus and parts of the hypothalamus were smaller, both typical characteristics in female brains (Brian). If this is really the case, how can we say that homosexuals are damned if it is out of their control? Although some would argue that one can pray for help in this evil way, God doesn’t always say yes. This isn’t very different than someone asking to be cured from a disease like cancer. Sometimes God says yes and works a miracle, giving that person a new a rejuvenated life, but sometimes He doesn’t and puts them to rest. In the same way, sometimes God may work miracles, helping homosexuals to become straight, but who’s to say that homosexuals should be blamed if He doesn’t?
This all shows that we should be more accepting of homosexuals. We need to support them as Christians because they do go through great trials and if we, who are supposed to reflect God’s character, treat them rudely, then who will be kind to them and show them what God is really like? Luke 10: 27 says to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Holy Bible, The…).
This is all highly relevant because it is up to us, the new generation, to take action. Adults’ ways are already set in stone, but we can make changes. We can still adjust ourselves to be open minded enough to the point where we can accept homosexuals like brothers and worship with them. We can make sure the generations that will come after us will have a good example, that they will understand the truth about homosexuality, and that although it isn’t right it’s not something to condemn others for. We can help our Church become one.
We can also help homosexuals get the rights that they deserve. They are people that are not very different than us, and we must learn to respect that. They deserve the privilege to openly serve our country, but that must come in time. There isn’t much reason to deny them force them to keep silent about their sexual orientation other than that others aren’t used to it. Soon, we will be the ones voting and deciding what they can and cannot do. Nothing should stop them from protecting our country as an act of patriotism.
Homosexuals must be given the right to marry one another. We shouldn’t stand in the way of their partnership just because of our preconceptions. If they love each other and wish to traditionally dedicate their lives to one another, they should be allowed to. The confusion and rights of civil union are complex and tedious.
Although the idea of children growing up seeing homosexuality as a normal occurrence is a scary thought, that is where our roles come into play. It will be our role to teach them that although it isn’t normal, it isn’t necessarily bad. A child or teenager can see something that is bad and know it’s bad without scorning it, so we must build those principles in them while they are young, before the media and peer pressure come into play.