Religion and homosexuality: Being gay is not a choice

As we grew up, we all aspired to be better people one day. To be recognised by the entire community. To be appreciated by our families, friends and colleagues… To have our own stable families, consisting of a wife, husband and kids.

Religiously, being gay is a very inexcusable and punishable sin. Both the Bible and the Holy Quran prohibit this form of sexuality. Cultures and traditions view this form of sexuality as a taboo and a curse. But for Heaven’s sake, gay people also do celebrate Christmas, observe Ramadan, go to Mosque and church, and have their different religious denominations. I also wrote about religious homophobia in this blog post.

Quite frankly, though, would anybody in his/her conscious mind just voluntarily opt to join the community of rejected individuals? Would anyone voluntarily opt to undergo humiliation, mistreatment, rejection, violation, and curse? Of course, not!
I, personally, believe that, just like I happened to like people of opposite sex, gay people too just happened (by default) to find themselves liking people of the same sex. I refuse to believe that any gay person just voluntarily opted to go against the widely appraised cultures, religions, and beliefs.

I refuse to believe that any gay person just voluntarily opted to be rejected by his very own family, friends, colleagues, fellow worshipers, and neighbours. In my own personal opinion, people do not necessarily just choose to be gays, but many people do opt to suppress it… which is a very unnecessary suicide. To me, justifying homophobia is no different from justifying apartheid and slavery.

In his condemnation of the use of religious justification for anti-gay prejudice, Nobel laureate and a retired archbishop, Desmond Tutu, once said: “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry! I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic.”

An unknown anti-gay activist once said: “If you do not like gay marriages, don’t blame us. Blame straight people. They are actually the ones who keep on making us (gay babies)”
The point that I’m trying to drive home here is that, until people start thinking rationally, and not using religion and culture as an excuse for their homophobic habits, the gay community shall remain marginalized and rejected. Being gay shall remain an incurable disease in the eyes of socially illiterate and ethically ignorant people. Hell shall remain the only destination for gay people in the eyes of the hypocritical preacher man.

Article reposted with permission from: news24.com, written by Kamela Mahlakwane.