Challenges related to homosexuality

Why then is TT a country filled with so much hypocrisy, prejudice, bias and ignorance? For example, being gay/lesbian or different in our neck of the woods is like being accused of the most heinous crime. When in truth and fact and from a openly- minded global context, this salient issue of gayness and lesbianism must be looked at in today’s modern new-age settings, from a non-discriminatory angle.

Those among us who blindly believe or espouse the false idealism that being gay is a choice have got to rethink and ask their inner conscience: Who on God’s green Earth gave them the right to believe that homosexuality is a choice? My humble, layman and personal opinion differs in that one cannot choose the reactions of his or her autonomic nervous system, which governs involuntary bodily functions like heartbeat, breathing, sexual arousal and feelings. And it is the same for homosexuality.

For the religious, that is how God made things function, so who are you to question His handiwork? Now tell me, why would an individual choose a life where he/she is criticised for the rest of their lives? Why would they want to be ostracised from their families, have a hard time finding jobs and have a difficult time trying to marry the person they love? Blaming individuals for being gay is like blaming them for being left-handed/southpaw. We need to realise that just because something is not the norm in society — for example left-handed or ambidextrous — does not mean it doesn’t exist or it is wrong.

According to journalist Michael Rowe writing in the Huffington Post, there was an incident in New York in which a 17-month-old toddler was beaten to death because he acted “too feminine” and his mother’s boyfriend thought beating him was the only solution. This innocent child was murdered just because of the manner in which he carried about himself. Now isn’t that a sin according to religious scriptures? Why should others be able to choose who marries who? If a man and a woman marry, no one seems to care, but if homosexuals want to marry, there is a huge uproar.

We are equals in this world, whether black, white, or any other race for that matter. Why should we not be equals based on sexual orientation? At the end of the day love is love and in a marriage there is one thing that truly matters — love.

Who would be affected if homosexual marriage was legalised? No one. Everyone believes there is one person who is out there to love us. Gay people feel the same way. If we are to go by the holy scriptures, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Buddha, Lord Krishna and even Almighty Allah have never discriminated.

The ball is in open court.

Vanishka Maharaj Cunupia