LGBT 

 

There has been a lot of discussion recently about homosexuality and the civic and human rights of homosexuals. The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender) community want equality under the law and some also want equality within religions.

 

Debates have ranged from the caring, through the logical, the legal, religious and to the outright vitriolic. Demonstrations occur throughout the world both for and against.

 

Governments have adopted very different attitudes ranging from equality under the law through to severe punishments under the law.

 

Secular society in many western democracies, which considers homosexuality to be a normal human variation, affirm this in law with equality of human rights,

 

So what is homosexuality from a scientific / cultural standpoint? This is a complex area and below is just a very brief summary.

 

Historically homosexuality was generally considered a choice made by individuals and this view remained throughout history (with some exceptions – see Hinduism below) until quite recently.

 

There then followed psychiatric analysis of homosexuality along with the study of social aspects of the persons upbringing and relationships. These studies also looked at whether homosexual behaviour was learned or not. The results were varied and generally inconclusive.

 

More recently with the arrival of modern medical research there is now a general consensus amongst researchers that homosexuality is the result of hormonal effects during foetal development in the womb. Hormones produced by the mother determine the sexual organs of the foetus – either male or female.

 

However the hormones responsible for male or female brain development, for the effects of adolescent sexuality and emotions, are provided to the foetus many weeks after the sexual organs have been developed.

 

Usually a foetus with male organs receives hormones that develop a male brain, male adolescent behaviour and male emotions. Similarly foetuses with female sexual organs receive hormones that develop a female brain, female adolescent behaviour and female emotions.

 

The effects of the various hormones, their interaction with different genes etc., is still not fully understood, however it is now known that when a foetus receives different brain development hormones than the ones it should get i.e. a foetus with male sexual organs receives female brain / emotion development hormones, the child when born will start to develop traits opposite to the ones expected from its physical identity. This can occur as early as being a few years old, or not fully appear until adolescence. As it is often explained by homosexuals themselves – “I feel like a female trapped in a male body” or visa-versa. Homosexuals say they have the same feelings of love towards parents, partners and children as heterosexuals, it is just that as a result of the above they are attracted to and love same sex partners.

 

So where do the various religions stand on this subject and why?

 

Atheists and Humanitarians generally do not hold any position on homosexuality other than to say that all people should be treated equally, provided they are doing no harm to others.

 

Buddhist opinions vary by type of Buddhism practiced and generally have no fixed opinion on homosexuality. The following comments by Hsing Yun a Chinese monk who leads the world’s largest Buddhist association seems to sum up the Buddhist stance:-

 

"People often ask me what I think about homosexuality. They wonder, is it right, is it wrong? The answer is, it is neither right nor wrong. It is just something that people do. If people are not harming each other, their private lives are their own business; we should be tolerant of them and not reject them. However, it will still take some time for the world to fully accept homosexuality. All of us must learn to tolerate the behaviour of others. Just as we hope to expand our minds to include all of the universe, so we should also seek to expand our minds to include all of the many forms of human behaviour. Tolerance is a form of generosity and it is a form of wisdom. There is nothing anywhere in the Dharma that should ever lead anyone to become intolerant. Our goal as Buddhists is to learn to accept all kinds of people and to help all kinds of people discover the wisdom of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha."

 

Hindu opinions vary by interpretation of various religious texts. However the general opinion seems to be that homosexuality has been accepted in Hindu culture throughout history and that provided that sexual experiences are not the product of lust (which would not be acceptable to heterosexuals either) but are based on romantic love, then they are acceptable. Some Hindu divinities are supposed to be androgynous and to have changed sex in order to experience homoeroticism.

 

Judaism there appear to be two distinctly different views of homosexuality amongst the Jewish religion. Traditionalists point to the Torah and the (Old Testament) book of Leviticus, and as Leviticus specifically names homosexuality as a sin they say that homosexuality is wrong, sinful and worthy of punishment, albeit that other sinful acts according to Leviticus are ignored by Jews.

 

Reformist Jews accept homosexuals as equals saying that all people are made in God’s image and that this most basic of all beliefs overrides anything else. Therefor it would be wrong to discriminate against people who are made in Gods image. The Reformist Jews accept homosexuals as equals in religion, marriage, and civic status.

 

(Leviticus, by those who believe in the absolute truth of their texts, believe that it was written by Moses and is therefore the absolute word of God. Scholarly research however shows that Leviticus was written well after Moses death, and over many centuries and by different hands. Also that it contains laws and cultural traditions that predate Moses by many centuries.)

 

Protestant / Anglican Christianity is currently in turmoil over this issue. Anglican churches are diverse in their views, from churches which do not accept any LGBT members, to churches which are happy to have openly same-sex, partnered or married, non-celibate bishops. The nature of the Anglican Communion is such that not all churches or dioceses must agree on all issues in order to share a common faith and baptism.

 

Part of the controversy concerns how much and what sort of disagreement over these issues may exist while still calling it a "common faith. It is likely to cause a schism within the church. Many African churches are of the opinion that homosexuality is not acceptable to their faith, whilst the majority, but not all, of what may be called “Western” churches offer a more liberal acceptance of the LGBT community.

 

Catholic Christianity the Catholic Church hierarchy hold a very specific opinion on this viz -  homosexual orientation is considered an "objective disorder" because Catholicism views it as being "ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil", but not sinful unless acted upon. Homosexual sexual activity, by contrast, is viewed as a "moral disorder" and "homosexual acts" as "contrary to the natural law as they close the sexual act to the gift of life.”

 

The Catholic Church holds that, as a state beyond a person's choice, being homosexual is not wrong or sinful in itself. But just as it is objectively wrong for unmarried heterosexuals to engage in sex, so too are homosexual acts considered to be wrong.

 

Leading figures in the Catholic hierarchy, including cardinals and bishops, have sometimes actively campaigned against same-sex marriage, or have encouraged others to campaign against it, and have done likewise with regard to same-sex civil unions and adoption by same sex couples. This view therefore makes LGBT’s unable to marry or engage in sex for life.

 

The Catholic Church has opposed the decriminalization of homosexual activity in certain countries, and stood against a proposed call for global decriminalization from the United Nations. However, in other countries, and again at the United Nations, the church has opposed its criminalization - reflecting a wide range of opinions within the global church.

 

(Biblical texts quoted by those against LGBT’s are again specifically Leviticus, also Genesis - although more about the attempted homosexual rape of two of Gods messengers by wicked men of Sodom – and Romans with reference to lesbianism.)

 

Islam as Islam is both a system of law as well as a system of beliefs, homosexuality is considered by traditional conservative scholars as both a punishable crime and a sin. Nevertheless, homoerotic themes were present in poetry and other literature written by some Muslims from the medieval period onwards and sometimes homoeroticism in the form of pederasty was seen in a positive way.

 

According to the laws of Shariah, Muslims found guilty of homosexual acts should repent rather than confess. This means that many Muslim countries tolerate same-sex acts so long as they happen in private and do not challenge the existing dominant family and social order. Many Muslim scholars have followed this idea of a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in regards to homosexuality in Islam

 

Prejudice however remains both socially and legally in much of the Islamic world. In nine Islamic countries homosexuality carries the death penalty, in two countries it is illegal and imprisonable, and in twenty Muslim majority countries homosexuality is legal. Most Muslim-majority countries have opposed moves to advance LGBT human rights at the United Nations, in the General Assembly and/or the UNHRC but three countries signed a UN Declaration supporting LGBT rights and two countries have enacted non-discrimination laws.

 

(In the Quran text relating to homosexuality is similar to that of Genesis and Sodom, other texts refer to the legal right to have sex with wives and slaves but not others, and appears to be more about legality than belief.)

 

Is scientific education the key to LGBT acceptance? Those who have the advantage of a comprehensive secular and scientific education and access to modern scientific knowledge and thinking – irrespective of their religious beliefs - tend toward legal liberalisation and acceptance of the LGBT community. However, those who have the disadvantage of being influenced by governments and/or religions who restrict access to such education, information and knowledge, or indeed refute it on religious grounds, tend towards condemnation of the LGBT community.

 

Charles

 

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