Homosexual Love and Gay Marriages - Essay Example

Linda Neuer Dianne Valdes Module Gay Marriage Module No: ENC 1101 July 19, GAY MARRIAGE Gay marriage simply refers to the civil contract between two individuals belonging to the same gender, where sexual union and other rights, attributed to the married husband and wife, are also created and considered to be legal and legitimate ones. Though once viewed as strongly against the religious belief, moral values and ethics, and had been vehemently criticized by an overwhelming majority of the people at large all over the world, several western countries have allowed the practicing of the same provided both the parties to the contract exercise gay sexual union with free consent and without coercion or undue influence. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize marriage between same-sex couples on May 17, 2004, as a result of a November 2003 decision by the state’s highest court that denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry violated the state’s constitution. (Smith, 2005:2) Though homosexuality has been being practiced for centuries in almost all parts of the earth, both explicitly or secretly, and men and women belonging to various age groups get indulged into it, yet an overwhelming majority of human societies apparently denounce the same provided it challenges the moral values prevailing in the culture as well as unrestricted permission of the same may put the reproduction system as well as survival of human race at grave jeopardy. Marriage’s role in upholding respect for the transmission of human life is the first event in procreation. Humans undergo unprecedented challenges to that respect because of new techno-science that opens up unprecedented modes of transmission of life. (Somerville, 2003:3) The religious leaders including rabbis, monks, priests and bishops particularly condemn and censure same sex relations and marriage due to the very reality that the Scriptures do not allow it at any cost. According to Bible, if a man also lies with mankind, as he lieth with a woman; both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. (Leviticus, 20:13) It is therefore, the Abrahamic faiths, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, rebuke gay sex without granting any space to this activity. Though several western countries, having Christians in majority, have displayed relaxation to voluntary gay sex, yet the Muslim states are still reluctant to bestow such rights upon their subjects. They cite the example of the people of Prophet Lot, tale of whom has manifestly been narrated in the Holy Qur’an, who were pelted with stones from the heavens and destroyed en masses for transgressing from the right path for openly developing male-male relationships and thus ignoring their women and putting reproduction at stake subsequently. (Al-Aaraf: 80-82) Moreover, other conservative faiths including Hinduism and Confucianism also denounce gay marriage on religious grounds, without giving slightest way to the same. Gay sexual union observes opposition beyond religion too, as a large proportion of scholars, thinkers and philosophers consider it as the violation of morality and thus perversion in the real sense. They declare homosexuals as mentally retarded patients, who are undergoing psychological and emotional collapse or disorder because of some deprivation or incident they have undergone in their past. They are of the opinion that the children who were ransacked, abused and molested could turn as murderers, child molesters, pederasts and rapist as well while adopting criminal line on becoming grown ups. It is therefore the homosexuality cannot be tolerated or neglected as a curse for society. The price of toleration of serious deviance from a society’s constitutive morality is the loss of a distinctive form of interpersonal integration in community understood as something worthwhile for its own sake. (George, 1993:65). The opposition of gay rights is not confined to the backward and developing Asian and African states; rather, the most developed nations like the USA and Europe also have the conservatives that go against gay relations. Republican leaders such as United States Senator Trent Lott declared that homosexuality was a disease, like alcoholism, sex addiction, or kleptomania. The Reverend Pat Robertson declared that “the acceptance of homosexuality is the last step in the decline of Gentile civilization” (Lacayo, 1998:35). However, time has taken drastic change and people are changing their views against same sex union and marriage. Canada is the most favorable states in this regards, where people witness least prohibition in homosexual activities. Canada is the only nation in the world in which same-sex couples may marry without either spouse being a resident. (Gallagher & Baker, 2006:4) Consequently, the age-old tradition of declaring homosexuals as mentally sick ones, perverts, transgressors, adulterers and faggots etc observes imperative decline with the passage of time. Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy into a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul. The sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species. (Foucault, 1980:43) The supporters of gay rights criticize the opposition of their rights as well as the prejudiced behavior against their community. The homosexuals are of the view that the humans should have the right to choose the lover and sex partner of their choice without taking the gender of the partners into consideration. Since the gays select their partner with mutual understanding like the straight couples, out of the free will, and without any coercion, no one should be allowed to impose undue restrictions on the joys of homosexuals provided they are not hurting the fellow-beings nor are they inflicting any harm to society at large. In addition, human rights also allow every citizen to lead his life with freedom without inflicting any harm to other individuals. The homosexual community is of the view that since the society had once introduced restrictions through law against the blacks, immigrants and other groups, and had not bestowed upon the women of the right to vote, the society was actually undergoing prejudice, bias, ignorance and backwardness because it had become hostage at the hands of the majority of the conservatives; however, since the women and African Americans had obtained equal rights after making continuous struggle for their rights, the gays would also be in a position to earn a respectable place in society one day on the foundations of equality and justice. Another argument adopted by the gays includes that opposition, disliking and abhorrence regarding one issue, habit or custom should be confined to oneself only; and no one should try to enforce and implement one’s personal will on the rest of society with the belief that they are justified in their claim of refuting a theory, notion or proposition, and the entire society should imitate the same. Homosexuals opine that every society maintains bias on the basis of class, status, race, ethnicity, religion, gender and socioeconomic position, so hatred of homophobes on the foundation of sexual orientation of the individuals is not a surprise altogether. Somehow, since the human rights activists claim to be protecting the rights of all social, cultural, political, racial and religious groups, so they should also raise voice for the gay rights and must condemn hatred against them provided the homophobes have no right to display prejudice and disregard towards the individuals in the light of their sexual orientation. Moreover, life partner has imperative significance in individual and collective life of the people, and marriage is not the matter of one single day, so forcibly getting married to the person of people’s choice may keep the person at perplex state of affairs, where the forcibly married couple will always strive to get rid of the artificial union in the form of burdensome marital-knot. So if an individual intends to spend his life with the member of same gender for the peace of mind and tranquility, why and how can the social structure forbid him from leading a satisfied and contended life for the rest? Additionally, if someone feels comfortable in entering into friendship, companionship, courtship and marriage finally, creating of hurdles and impediments on the part of society is unconditionally against the principles of liberty and freedom of thought and action. To conclude, it becomes evident that the religious and conservative individuals of society appear to be standing against homosexual love and gay marriages. The moralists, condemning gay rights, state that since man was not born to get indulged into dissipation and fornication till the satiety of his lust and carnal desires, he must remember that he is also responsible to his Creator, God the Lord, for all his actions and behavior. Consequently, humans must lead their life in the light of the commands decreed by the Lord and the code of moral law, has manifestly been provided in the form of the Scriptures, so that they could escape the wrath of God in the life Hereinafter. On the contrary, homosexuals regard the homophobia as the outcome of the lack of the vision and exposure of the rivals about sexuality. If people believe that homosexuality causes harm to people, or that it is a deviation from what they believe to be normal psychological functioning, then they judge it to be morally wrong. Conversely, when people’s informational assumptions lead them to see no harm or illness in these actions, the actions are judged to be matters of personal choice, or of social convention, not cases of moral violation. (Haidt & Hersh, 2001:193) Somehow, humans must confine their sexual activities to the moral and religious teachings, and should enter into heterosexual matrimonial relationships, because all religions and all societies have been imitating the same since the human arrival on the earth. Furthermore, first human couple was also heterosexual one, and marriage between the people belonging to opposite genders is the only method of the survival of human race. Thus, gay sexuality could be acceptable on partial or temporary basis, but marriages between opposite genders are close to nature and religious teachings as well. Works Cited Devlin, Lord Patrick. “The Enforcement of Morals” Oxford University Press 1965 Foucault, Michel. “The History of Sexuality: an Introduction”, tr. Robert Hurley New York 1980 43 George, Robert P. “Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality” Oxford Clarendon Press 1993 65 Gallagher, Maggie & Baker, Joshua K. “Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe” Institute for Marriage and Public Policy Vol. 3, No. 1, April 26, 2006 Retrieved from http://www.marriagedebate.com/pdf/imapp.demandforssm.pdf Haidt, Jonathan. & Hersh, Mathew A. “Sexual Morality: The Cultures and Emotions of Conservatives and Liberals” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, V. H. Winston & Son, Inc 2001191-221 Smith, Alison M. “Same-Sex Marriages: Legal Issues” Congressional Research Service: The Library of Congress 2005 5-7 Somerville, Margaret A. “The Case against Same-Sex Marriage” McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law 3690 Peel Street Montreal, Quebec H3A 1W9 2003 2-9 Read More