Homosexuality and Society - Essay Example

Homosexuality and Society Outline: A) Society attitudes towards homosexuals B) Marriage and homosexual families C) Children of homosexual parents D) Homosexual priests E) Conclusion The debates related to lesbian and gay civil rights have become rather vehement during recent decades. This minority group separated public opinion into two: some claim that these people have the right for ‘traditional’ life; others believe that homosexuals deserve no more than contempt and disgust. The point is that if these people can be considered equal members of society and can equally enjoy the benefits it offers. Sullivan believes that gays should be allowed to join the priesthood, get married and have or adopt children. In this he sees stabilizing effect on both gay community and society at large. However this effect is under question. Society anti-gay attitudes remained the same throughout the 1970s and 80s. Three-quarters of Americans do not accept that sexual relations between adults of the same sex as healthy. In the 1990s the attitudes changed as changes occurred in attitudes to other social phenomena like divorce and casual sex. However still nowadays people in their majority value heterosexual unions. 50-60 percent accept gay relationships as normal verses 30 percent who consider gay relations as "not wrong." (Young, 2003) July 1, 2000 marked a new era of the lesbian and gay civil rights movement. The Vermont legislature passed a law that grants same-sex couples “all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law…as are granted to spouses in a marriage.” This led to many protests from religious leaders and politicians and those who favor “traditional” marriage. (Coolidge et.al., 2003) Marriage is an institution which serves the basis of any society for thousands of years, it provides stability in the life of both adults and children. Civil marriage gives access to a great number of protections, responsibilities, and benefits like health care, parenting and immigration rights; inheritance, taxation, Social Security, and other government benefits.(Coolidge et.al., 2003) That’s why lesbian and gay politics concentrate on ‘advocating anti-discrimination laws that protect gays and lesbians against the material costs of subordination—lost income, opportunity, authority, and status.’ (Calhoun, 2002) It’s also true that during recent decades same-sex couples relationships became more recognized legally and socially. For example, many municipal governments and some state governments formally recognized policies for employee benefits by ordinance or statute, executive order, or collective bargaining agreement. (Coolidge et.al., 2003) Still for many years homosexuals had no protection and lived the life of outcasts. Do these people have the right to live a life of equal members of the society? Though homosexuals are considered to be antifamily, many of gays desire to parent. The surrogate roles of psychological father such as a teacher or pediatric nurse are not sufficient for many gay men. Gay fatherhood is really possible due to out of wedlock impregnation, artificial insemination of lesbian mothers, use of mother surrogates, and adoption of children or foster care. (Bozett, 1987) However, homophobia of the judicial system and the larger society is evident from the custody battles which lesbian and gay parents currently face. The legal problems are also faced by lesbian couples who use artificial insemination (Bozett, 1987) However, more concerns relate to issues of family formation, dynamics and developmental changes within these families and the effect of parents’ sexual orientation on lifestyle of their children. Medical, legal, and education professionals inquire the well-being of children in lesbian mother and gay families which grew rapidly challenging normative extended nuclear family. Urban Institute demographer Gary Gates 2000 census data show that a quarter million children live in same-sex couples households, 4.2 percent of which are either adopted or foster children. A 2003 survey by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute found 60 percent of adoption cases being in gay households. (Sanchez, 2005) The children future is under question. Would children grow to form ‘traditional’ families? Is the care provided by lesbian mother adequate for the healthy development of a child? So much concern is about sexual identity and sexual orientation of a child raised in gay/lesbian family. Many previous researches (Abelin, 1971; Biller, 1972; Hetherington & Deur, 1971; Stendler, 1954) suggested that all alternatives to the traditional family unit are harmful to the healthy development of a sense of self (Steckel, 1987) Later researchers like Cramer (1986) prove that children raised by gay parents do not differ from those raised by non-gay parents. They have ‘traditional’ ‘sex-role socialization, gender identity, accomplishment of developmental tasks, intelligence, reaction to father absence, parental separation and divorce, and general adjustment and development’. (Pennington, 1987) The scientific evidence suggests that children raised by gay families have no increased risk in their educational, cognitive and sexual development. However, the differences in life experiences still exist. (Perrin, 2004) The children may also suffer social disadvantageousness in lesbian family where a woman is a head of the household. Such families ‘suffer less earning power and lower social status than families with an adult male’. (Bozett, 1987) Children living in gay families feel some special curiosity from other people they communicate. Though these children may not encounter stigmatization, they are more inclined to become isolated. The feeling of awkwardness is common among these children when they come to discuss their family issues. (Perrin, 2004) So the structure of the family is more likely to influence child’s communication styles. The children of homosexual families differ from their peers in their ‘interpersonal skills and emotional expressiveness.’ These children are likely to experience more discomfort and social isolation. (Perrin, 2004) Still there are reports that children of homosexual parents face public intolerance, prejudice and even discrimination. School systems are places where homophobia and transphobia thrives and where children of homosexual parents experience harassment to the same extend the gay students do. (Fact and Figures) So the major concerns which arise in relation to children raised by homosexual partners are about sexual identity of a child and the risk of disturbances in gender roles behavior, physiological health risks and adjustment and social relations difficulties. Those many studies reject the possibility of any problems. However, it’s too early to make any conclusions. All these fears make one enquire if the society can risk children’s health and life. The more controversial question is if gay men can be ordained. Can gay men join the priesthood without spotting the glory of it? Sullivan (2006) believes that the situation has been changing during the past 30 years. Catholicism has undergone profound shifts while a gay Catholics face a conflict.  He stresses on the fact that church has never considered homosexual condition in itself sinful and gay people as evil. Heterosexuals having sex without intention to make babies are the same sinners as gay couples. However, the Vatican under Benedict XVI considered celibate gay men unfit for the priesthood, gay-ness itself immoral and gay men as suffering from psychological disorder. (Sullivan, 2006) The gay priest problem has obtained unseen scale as more and more people start talking about adequacy of ministries led by gay priests. The estimates of many sources including Donald B. Cozzens’s book The Changing Face of the Priesthood are 40% or more of gay ordained U.S Roman Catholic clergy and seminarians. (McDonald, 2005) With such a tendency soon we are likely to have the majority of gay priests. The augments that celibate gay priest are not dangerous for the society when we talk about chastity and prudence are point for further reflections. However is it really true that priests remain celibate the whole life? There are numerous cases of priests dying of AIDS or pedophilia cases which is considered to be a homosexual problem. Gay priests make friends with other gay men which result in creating a gay subculture in most of the larger US dioceses. (Young, 2000) Since homosexuality is not a natural phenomenon and is a kind of a personality disorder, the gay priesthood is seriously doubted. Priests are servants of the God who at the same time serve society. They unite the will of God and society. Are men with serious disorder able to perceive the human nature and promote human values – like marriage, children, etc? As the history of homosexual priests shows, very few got rid from such inclinations and signs as exhibiting oneself as a gay instead of a man or acting out or encouraging for actions or campaigning actively for rights to practice homosexuality. (Abbott, 2005) The fact of priest dying of AIDS shows that they commit sin. They not only sin as all other laymen but they undermine the teachings of the Church. Can the successful society be built on so unsteady basis? Can people trust priests who commit sin sweeping away traditional Catholic morality? What is their impact on people? Sodomy as a moral sin and as a breach of promises of chastity is a double allegation on a priest. A priest as a moral teacher should not play such a hypocritical role. Could such moral teacher set his pupils on the righteous path or teach moral lesson? Only mature man can become a priest who can preach morals and values. The examples with AIDS positive priests exhibit moral delinquency of a person who cannot resist one’s libido and selfishness. Such priests lack irresponsibility and self-control which had always positively differentiated God’s servants from lay people. This gives a way to misgivings that the whole institution can be damaged when a person sets his own agenda first. This all makes people doubt the purity of the US episcopacy. The corruptness inside the episcopacy makes one argue the healthiness of society at large. Can people show respect and obedience to church when bishops are corrupt? Can society’s basis - the "institution of marriage" survive if the church approves homosexual monogamy? Accepting homosexual marriages as unions legally and morally equal to those of ‘traditional’ households puts into question the moral basis of the whole society. Sodomy as ‘the act that defines the class homosexual’ (Calhoun, 2002) is prohibited by law, and the acceptance of same-sex marriages undermines the whole legislative system. Can such changes have stabilizing effect on the society? This is doubtful. There are many aspect of homosexuality problem which are controversial and will be discussed by many generations. One thing is sure that homosexuality is not natural. Legalizing same sex marriage will open the door to many other crazy things people can suffer. Besides, homosexual marriage will undermine the institution of ‘traditional family’ and the legal system as a whole. Heterosexual marriages have proved to be a viable structure of society for many centuries. We cannot be sure if society can survive in case family structure is destroyed by alternative ways of cohabitation. The main goal of every family is to bear a baby and bring up decent citizens for one’s country. There arise many moral questions in cases of artificial insemination, sperm donation, etc. Children raised in same sex families confront public harassment, experience discrimination and as result become isolated. Though studies do not find expressly negative outcomes on children living with two moms or dads, there’re much obstacles for these children to grow in ‘traditional’ society. Children’s future is under question. Going through public contempt, such children tend to feel discomfort and emotional disturbance. The children born from surrogate mothers or being artificially inseminated are intentionally rejected to know their biological parents which may have serious outcomes for these children in their future adult life. The reasonable basis for welcoming gay priest in the church is absent. The teachings of the Church which despise sodomy cannot be brought to lay public by a gay priest. The claims that celibate priests whether gay or straight are welcome only if the chastity is observed are not supported in practice. There’s a lot of evidence that gay priests die of AIDS proving how righteous they are. This in turn undermines the institution of the Church. The problem of homosexuality and granting the same legal rights to them is really hard to solve. The scale of social changes is rather astonishing. The face of the family changes and it endangers the moral basis of society. Legalizing same sex families and granting them the right to adopt or bear children or giving ministries to gay priests is likely to distort the looks of the society which to all this suffers other social diseases. References Abbott M. C. Three priests speak on gay priest ban. 2005 http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/050922 September 22, 2005 retr. 23 Nov. 2006 Bozett F. W Gay Fathers in Bozett F. W. Gay and Lesbian Parents. Praeger: New York, 1987. Calhoun C. Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Coolidge, D. O., W. C. Duncan, M. Strasser, L. D. Wardle. Marriage and Same-Sex Unions: A Debate. Praeger: Westport, CT, 2003. McDonald N. H. Survivor: Vatican Advocate (Los Angeles, Calif.) 38, 40 N 22 2005 Fact and Figures about kids with gay parents. http://www.colage.org/research/facts.html retr. 22 Nov. 2006 Pennington S. B. Children of Lesbian Mothers. in Bozett F. W. Gay and Lesbian Parents. Praeger: New York, 1987. Perrin E. C. Difficult Adjustment to School: The Importance of Family Constellation. Pediatrics Vol.114 No.5 November2004 Sanchez J. All happy families: the looming battle over gay parenting. Reason. Aug-Sept., 2005 Shaughnessy P. The Gay Priest Problem. http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Igpress/2000-11/essay.html retr. 22 Nov. 2006 Steckel A. Psychosocial Development Of Children Of Lesbian Mothers. in Bozett F. W. Gay and Lesbian Parents. Praeger: New York, 1987. Sullivan, A. Father, forgive him. Advocate (Los Angeles, Calif.) January 17 2006, p. 80 Young C. Gay rights go to court: sodomy laws, same-sex marriage, and the future of homosexual rights. Reason. June, 2003 Young N. "Gay Culture" Threat to US Priesthood Scotland On Sunday. June 11, 2000 Read More