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| mbenznut (profile) wrote, on 12-16-2005 at 5:11pm | |
| My research paper. I wish I'd spent more time on it, but it's decent enough. When you hear the word gay, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For many people it is just a feeling of indifference. But what about all of the other reactions of violence, hostility and hatred? No matter what people believe about homosexuality, it can be agreed that violence is not the answer. The ignorance of Americans is what leads to the hatred of homosexuals. The opinions of most people are formed in their youth by their parents. As people age, they usually learn to form their own opinions and in some cases second-guess themselves. Sometimes this is not the case. Parents can be very dominating over their children and force them to conform to their beliefs. Children can also be influenced by their heroes and role models. If parents do not take special care in raising their children, they will be influenced in ways that they do not realize and can be detrimental to the child’s individual development. Religious organizations will sometimes force their beliefs upon you. Religions usually transfer from one generation to the next. While it is becoming more common today for children to have a different religion than their parents, it is still not especially common. This can cause people to blindly follow the teachings of their church. In most cases, this is not too much of an issue. As a rule of thumb, churches teach respect and tolerance. But the minority of the churches is where the problem arises. This minority is one of the most vocal. They preach that man should not lie with another man as he would with a woman. A version of this is written in the Bible, but it is taken too literally. There are many different versions of the Bible; all of which were translated from another language. A lot of meaning is lost in translation. For someone to hold to the exact wording of a translation is unreasonable. No matter how much you try to convince this group otherwise, they will not budge from their beliefs. It can be brought up to them that the bible states women are beneath men and worth less than men. They will not take that passage literally, so why should any other? For example, “Sodomy is an abominable sin, worth of death” (Westboro). I find this quote especially amusing because of the wording. Sodomy is any sexual act that does not lead to procreation. This suggests anyone using condoms or birth control deserve to die. Rationality is often not a sensible approach when it comes to homosexuals and religion. Parenting is not only done by the parents but also by the schools. This is a problem because 85% of teachers do not want to include homosexual material in their courses (“Statistics”). If the teachers will not even bring up the idea of homosexuality, where will the students be educated about it? Children are taught to be accepting of people of different races in school. I find sexuality to be of a very similar nature. It is not something you can just change. Why should students not be informed about sexuality just as they are about race or any other subject for which discrimination occurs? Homosexuality is a controversial subject, but that is one of the main reasons why it needs to be addressed. If no one brings it up, sexuality will continue to be swept under the table and be ignored. A disturbing trend seems to be happening in schools; gay bashing. Many boys are trying to prove that they are men. They are doing this by asserting their dominance over others. An easy way to do this is to pick someone weaker than they are that nobody will feel sorry for. The targeted group has become gays. They can easily be singled out and people are usually too hesitant to stand up for them for the fear that they will be picked on themselves. The biggest reason that there is discrimination towards homosexuals is that there are very few policies in favor of them. Equal opportunity laws do not apply to sexuality. It is not even legal for gays to marry. This is one area where the separation of church and state does not exist. Marriage should be defined as the union of two people. Why does it have to be one male and one female? If marriage were simply expanded to include gays, far fewer laws would be required. Some states have laws allowing insurance for same sex partnerships. If marriage were just allowed, this law would not be necessary. Estate settlements would be far less messy if the partner were just allowed to assume ownership as they are in heterosexual marriages. Often times there are very good policies put into effect by corporations. But there is not always follow-up to these policies. Just because the policies are there does not mean that they are followed. A survey done by a group in New York shows that 27% of companies would refuse to hire someone if it was known that they are homosexual (“Statistics”). Why should any straight person care about gays? While many college-aged people think they do not need to, they are wrong. Soon they will be graduating, and chances are that there will be at least one gay person in the office. They need to know how to act around that person and how to treat them. The obvious answer is to treat all of your coworkers the same. But how many prejudices will they continue to hold against that person because of how they grew up? Not only will people have to deal with homosexuality in everyday life, they will also have to in their personal lives. When people have children, they do not know whether their child will be gay. If their child is gay and comes out to them, they will need to know what to do. Many parents do not and will often alienate their child. Sometimes home life can be so severe that the child will run away. A study in Seattle, WA showed that 42% of homeless children were gay (“Statistics”). This is a far greater percentage of gays than exists in the general population. The problems that homosexuals face are fairly well known. What is not known is what needs to be done to eliminate these problems. MTV decided to bring attention to the problem by airing the names of hate crime victims for 17 commercial-free hours (Edwards). The entire 17 hours were without sound. It was a very dramatic move for a music channel to show nearly a whole day worth of programming without sound. While attention being brought to the issue is very helpful, action needs to be taken. All laws limiting rights of gays need to be overturned. Any laws favoring heterosexuals need to be eliminated. If everyone is legally equal, it will be much easier for the public to accept that they are in fact equal. It is not acceptable for the government to sponsor the degradation of homosexuals. America is said to be the land of tolerance. While this is true in many respects, it is not when it comes to sexuality. It is up to the younger generations to change the ways of our nation, but until we raise our children to be understanding and tolerant this will not occur. Ignorance needs to be eliminated in order to ensure equal treatment of homosexuals. |
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Fanelia | 12-16-05 11:39pm Though I've never had to deal with the ridicule associated with sexuality, I greatly admire your determination to make your voice heard. My parents taught me nothing about homosexuals, though as Catholics, it wasn't a mystery what their beliefs were. You were my first lesson, and then Jeeber's parents followed. I'm grateful I was offered a glimpse into your lifestyle, because it has added much more strength and character to my own beliefs, I would have to say.
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mbenznut | Re:, 12-16-05 11:29pm Thanks. |