Religion, Law & Homosexuality - Essay Example

?Running Head: RELIGION, LAW & HOMOSEXUALITY Religion, Law & Homosexuality: A Comparative Analysis of UAE & US Submitted IDDate Homosexuality has been a critical and well-debated topic all across the globe. It is important to note that social attitudes towards homosexuality vary greatly due to differences in cultural values and norms. While discussing impacts of culture on social attitude towards homosexuality, influence of religious forces cannot be undermined. A typical example of such cultural variations can be a comparative analysis of United States and United Arab Emirates regarding homosexuality. The reason for selection of this topic is to find out justifications for conflicting laws and general behavior in these two regions on the subject matter. Where homosexuality is not admissible in UAE legally and is perceived as a taboo, many states in United States are legalizing homosexual marriages while having a strong support in the ones that have not sanctioned it yet. Here, the hypothesis is that religion acts as the cornerstone of social behavior in United States and UAE hence justifying the different attitudes on the same subject i.e. homosexuality in these regions. This initial hypothesis is backed up by cursory analysis of cultural and social differences existing between United States and United Arab Emirates. According to American Psychological Association (2008), “Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions”. With reference to this definition, APA (2008) further provides an illustration of being homosexual by stating that where there is a consensus about development of sexual orientation in middle childhood or early adolescence, no scientific evidences have been found as to what causes a homosexual or bisexual behavior. However, it is important to note that being homosexual is not a mental disorder despite being perceived differently in various cultures. Furthering to this definition of being homosexual, the intended purpose of this discussion is to identify if religion is the possible reason behind different social attitudes towards homosexuals in countries having different cultures. To begin with, the law in United Arab Emirates only allows marriages that are admissible on heterosexual grounds. In addition to that, any kind of sexual contact outside this defined limit is not allowed as it may fall under the category of felony and adultery. There are punishments for such crimes ranging from mere sentence to capital punishment (Gorton 2002; ILGA-Asia 2013). It is important to note that Sharia law forms a foundation of many federal laws and thus surpasses any other allowance made by legislation. Another important element in defining social behavior towards homosexuality in UAE is government-sanctioned forced psychological treatment against homosexuality. Legislation and other legal boundaries are intended to develop a behavior that is acceptable socially and culturally. Where the shapes of legislation varies greatly in different regions, say even in UAE and KSA (despite both being Muslim entities), the social and cultural behavior also show differences on different subjects. This is precisely the reason why content used in advertising differs in these two countries. However having developed that the religious forces in UAE not only governs cultural values but also have a significant impact on legislation (federal and civil laws), it is more likely to have an effect on the social behaviors as well. In order to identify the gist of these behaviors, it is important to understand what Islam says about homosexuality. According to Huda (2013), Islam forbids any kind of sexual contact between two individuals of the same gender mainly because it against the natural order and brings destruction to the institution of marriage. Furthermore, “In Islamic terminology, homosexuality is alternatively called al-fahsha' (an obscene act), shudhudh (abnormality), or 'amal qawm Lut (behavior of the People of Lut). Islam teaches that believers should neither participate in nor support homosexuality (Huda 2013).” Therefore, it can be said that religious doctrines of Islam are further reflected in the social and cultural behavior in UAE. On the other hand, there are various studies that have advocated the general acceptance for homosexuality in United States. According to Harms (2011), after development and acceptance of civil and individuals’ rights in the past few decades, the acceptance for such sexual orientation and inter-gender marriages has increased greatly. Although the rate of this change varies in different racial, religious and ethnic groups as United States has a variety of cultural values due to changing demographics caused by massive immigration in the past two decades (Glick and Golden 2010; Loftus 1998). Research conducted by Arthi (2008) also helped in finding the justifications of such social differences in different demographic segments by stating that sexual prejudice towards homosexuality is dependent on age, gender, education and religiosity. Where religious affiliation increases with low level of education, it can explain the reciprocating level of acceptance for homosexuality in different ethnic minorities as they have higher dropout rates in educational sector as compared to Whites and African Americans. Same argument is supported by the research Shackerford and Besser (2007) as they considered education, age, political views and religious fundamentalism being closely related and major factors governing general acceptance towards homosexuals. It is important to note that legislation in United States is mainly governed by human rights and not religion despite Christianity being the religion followed by majority of population. Christianity itself has no room for homosexuality however the distance between state and Church illustrates the reason behind general acceptance for such sexual orientation (Froese and Bader 2007; Patrick 2012). Besen and Zicklin (2007) further argue that upcoming youth in United States has a greater acceptance for homosexuality as compared to older ones. They assert their argument by stating that individuals tend to have increased religious affiliation with the passage of time and “recent studies that focus exclusively on gay and lesbian discrimination show that some religions are more conservative and less accepting of gays and lesbians than others. Jews, those with no religious affiliation, and inactive Christians have higher rates of gay and lesbian support than Catholics, who are, in turn, more tolerant than Protestants, who show the lowest levels of tolerance towards gays and lesbians (Besen and Zicklin 2007: 252)”. Comparative analysis between UAE and US is also supported by the research of Mireshghi and Matsumato (2008). Their research involved a comparison between Iranians and Americans on the subject of perceived cultural attitudes towards homosexuality and identified a more negative perception in the Iranians. If same research can be levied on UAE due to cultural similarities among UAE and Iran, it can be said that UAE resonates with Iran on the subject matter. A critical analysis of the literature available on homosexuality in UAE and US helped an understanding that these two regions have less cultural and social similarities. It was also found that religion has a greater influence on individuals’ public and private matters in Muslim countries. Even legislation and general code of conducts reflect religious doctrines. On the other hand, religion and legislation in United Stated govern separate areas of individuals’ life. Where religion governs private preferences, law dictates the desired social behavior. There has been a substantial research available that indicated various factors having an impact on religiosity i.e. age, gender, education, income etc. This phenomenon explains general differences between racial and ethnic groups regarding general attitude towards homosexuality in United States with religion being more dominant in the lifestyle of individuals with less education and lower social status. Where it has been established that these two regions reflect different social behavior in terms of religion and how their legal system reciprocates with religious forces, it can be said that religion also has an impact on social and cultural acceptance towards homosexuality. In UAE, homosexuality is considered as a crime of various degrees due to prevalence of Sharia. Same is reflected in general behavior of individuals as religion directly influences their private lives as well. This explains why homosexuality is considered as a taboo and an unacceptable social stigma. On the other hand, US legislation gives preference to human and civil rights with sexual orientation being the private matter of an individual. As far as social acceptance is considered, it has increased greatly over the last few decades due to changing demographics showing different religious beliefs and level of fundamentalism with staunchly religious individuals considering homosexuality as forbidden by their respective religion and unacceptable in terms of social behavior. The argument helps in reaching a conclusion that religion does governs individuals’ attitude towards homosexuality as it has a direct impact on cultural and social norms prevailing in different regions. Since cultures of Muslim regions like UAE and western countries like US show greater differences in terms of religious affiliation, so does their general social behavior and legal system. It is important to note that the research faced limitations due to inadequate scholarly research conducted regarding attitude towards homosexuality in Muslim countries specifically UAE. However, this research has indicated that there is a potential of future research on what governs social beliefs regarding homosexuality in Eastern countries mainly Muslim ones. Perhaps, studies conducted on different countries in Eastern part of the world would help in understanding if religion is the only dominating factor in designing general cultural and social behavior regarding homosexuality. References American Psychological Association. 2008. “Answers to your questions: For a better understanding of sexual orientation and homosexuality”. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx Arthi. 2009. “Religion and Attitudes towards Homosexuality”. Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://www.psych.lse.ac.uk/communities_change/Poster%20(Arthi).pdf Besen, Yasemin and Gilbert Zicklin. 2007. “Young Men, Religion and Attitudes Towards Homosexuality.” Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 1(3): 250-266. Froese, Paul and Christopher D. Bader. 2007. “God in America: Why Theology is Not Simply the Concern of Philosophers.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 46 (4): 465–81. Glick, Sara Nelson and Matthew R. Golden. 2010. “Persistence of Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in the United States.” Journal of Acquired Immune Deficit Syndrome 55(4). Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2974805/ Gorton, Don. 2002. “Gay rights in the clash of civilizations.” The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 8:16. Harms, William. 2011. “Americans Move Dramatically Toward Acceptance of Homosexuality, Survey Finds.” Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2011/09/28/americans-move-dramatically-toward-acceptance-homosexuality-survey-finds Huda. 2013. “Homosexuality in Islam.” Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://islam.about.com/od/islamsays/a/homosexuality.htm ILGA- Asia. 2013. “What are the laws and policies like for LGBTI people in your country?” Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://ilga.org/ilga/en/countries/UNITED%20ARAB%20EMIRATES/Law Loftus, Jeni. 2001. “America’s Liberalization in Attitudes toward Homosexuality, 1973 to 1998.” American Sociological Review 66(5): 762-782. Mireshghi, Sholeh I. and David Matsumoto. 2008. “Perceived Cultural Attitudes Toward Homosexuality and Their Effects on Iranian and American Sexual Minorities.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 14(4). Retrieved July 16, 2013 http://davidmatsumoto.com/content/2008MireshghiandMatsumotoCDEMP.pdf Shackelford, Todd and Avi Besser. 2007. “Predicting Attitudes toward Homosexuality: Insights from Personality Psychology.” Individual Differences Research 5(2): 106-114. Read More