Do no harm

I know. I know I cannot help myself. But here I go again......

For those that are sick of the subject of Gay rights please don't read on. I have a few e-mails (from previous posts) that I would like to resolve. Besides till the war is won a person must keep fighting ( I learned that from good old George). Also, since the e-mails I received were from LDS saints I have curved my post toward them. 

 Mormons are sheep not bigots

 I have a cousin who was arrested for standing next to two men who were selling drugs. She went to jail and she has a criminal record.  According to her testimony she was not selling drugs. She did not know who they were and she did not have any drugs on her person when the arrest was made. 

 The LDS church contributed 75% of the dollars spent in marketing Prop 8 to California's citizens. Some, all, most (insert your preferred adjective) of the marketing selling this proposition was based on unfounded statements regarding religious freedom, adoption laws, education laws, and the moral standing of those who support gay rights and gays themselves.  These statements bashed gays and their lifestyle and the laws enacted limited their lives and happiness.  Mormons, bless their hearts, made a stance regarding this and they will reap the reward. Be it heaven or hell (once again your preference) or just some good old name-calling.

 So if you are Mormon, people MAY think you are a bigot (insert chauvinist or prejudice if you would like). If you are Mormon and didn't vote for the legislation, people MAY think you are a bigot.  I may even go as far to say, if you associate yourself with Mormons, people MAY think you are a bigot. But seriously are Mormons bigots? No! They do not hate and this is a key ingredient to being a bigot. So if you are one of the above people and someone calls you a bigot, please understand they might be angry. They just had their rights taken away.  

 Gay is a choice - Nature vs. Nurture

  I could care less about this argument; genetic or choice it doesn't matter to me and honestly being gay could involve one, the other, or both depending on an individual.  I love diversity. I love that people are different and as long as you do no harm to others I could care less about what you do in your home and with your heart. But this seems to matter to some so here goes.

Most researchers believe that behavior generally is affected by both genes and life history. Course there are scientist that would argue both sides of this argument.  Furthering this complexity is the fact that something as complex as a behavior, if predetermined by the genome, would utilize more than one gene.Making it even more difficult to pull out the specific genes necessary for a certain behavior.  I hope everyone can understand the difficulty resolving weather being gay is a choice (what ever that means) or genetically predetermined.  That being said I did find this article, published this year, regarding some research being done in Italy. It describes how, if gay is genetic, the gene(s) would survive through evolution.

 "A team of researchers found that some female relatives of gay men tend to have more children than average. The scientists used a computer model to explain how two genes passed on through the maternal line could produce this effect. In 2004 the researchers studied about 200 Italian families and found that the mothers, maternal aunts and maternal grandmothers of gay men are more fecund, or fruitful, than average. "These genes work in a sexually antagonistic way — that means that when they're represented in a female, they increase fecundity, and when they're represented in a male, they decrease fecundity. It's a trait that benefits one sex at the cost of the other."

 This theory does not explain homosexuality in females.

Gay is a choice (?)... and so is the religion you follow

Even if gay is a choice, I do not think this validates discrimination.  The hypocrisy of this statement stands in our faces, especially for those that choose to follow a certain religion. Religion is a choice. It is also a freedom given to us by the founders of our country Our founders knew and the LDS church knows how CHOOSING a religion can cause persecution from others. They know this through their history. We know it through the history of our country. A history of death and loss, and choice. These experiences should strengthen understanding and acceptance of others and should give strong testimonies to not persecute others based on differences.  Even differences of choice.

 Homosexuality is not "Natural" 

 I grew up with bisexual mallards. We had one female and two males and a goose of unknown gender. When the female mallard was on a nest or two quick for the male mallards they would take turns with each other (or the goose if he/she wasn't quick enough). If you want to see "natural" homosexual action just visit your local aviary or park pond.  Course you may also witness duck rape. They do that too. 

 Homosexuality happens in nature and has "been documented in almost 500 species of animals...the closest living relative to humans, bonobos are not shy about seeking sexual pleasure…They copulate frequently, scream out in delight while doing so, and often engage in homosexual activities. About two thirds of the homosexual activities are amongst females." I had the opportunity to see videos of these animals in a woman's lib class in college. If I have to listen to one more person say homosexuality is not natural I may puke or rather try physically beating sense into them with a thick piece of wood.  You can see more of these wonderful and very endangered animals here. 

Do no Harm

 "The LDS church as well as those who founded our country were persecuted based on their belief system. This history has affected our families, religions and country. These experiences should strengthen our understanding and acceptance of others and should give us strong testimonies to not persecute others based on differences." 

I received this response to the above statement. "'I don't think that the "discrimination that the LDS church went through in its early days' is the issue here. It was the assassination, physical persecution, and the actual destruction of property that was Unacceptable. If someone hates you, that is okay. If they, because of their dislike, kill someone in your family and physically force you out of your home... that is a totally different thing."

I agree with this response but I would argue that WE DO HARM to the gay community when we do not accept them. 

An excerpt from an e-mail Nate never sent (hope he doesn't mind):

"This weekend I plan to share a glass of whiskey with my good friend Jonathan, and quietly remember the passing of his long time boyfriend Asher who slipped away last year, a week before Christmas. His tragic death was due to an overdose on anti depressants, prescribed to help him deal with his deep depression, mainly caused by his inability to deal with his parents and family disowning him. We will try and help Jonathan remember the good times, and forget the sadness and anger he felt as he arranged a Christmas-eve funeral that the young mans family refused to attend…because their boy turned out GAY"

"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated ₃ that "as many as 30% of completed youth suicides each year" are performed by gays and lesbians" This number is staggering when it is estimated that only 5% of the total number of  youth are gay. 

From this website:

The Guardian, an English newspaper reported on a study by Dr Ian Rivers, a senior lecturer in social psychology at York, St John College in England. He suggests that there could be as many as 46,000 young people being bullied for their real or perceived sexual orientation in British secondary schools........Rivers has looked at the effects of homophobic bullying on young gays and lesbians and found that more than half considered suicide because of aggression at school, and that 40% of that group had actually tried to kill themselves; three-quarters of these had tried to kill themselves more than once.

Considering that:

• Homophobia is largely based on religious beliefs which among Christians are derived from about 6 quotations from the Bible.
• Three out of four Americans identify themselves as Christians
• Most Christian churches have actively taught hatred of homosexuality for decades.
• Conservative Christian churches are currently leading the fight to:
  • Prevent gays and lesbians from enjoying rights and protections equal to the general population,
  • Prohibit marriages for loving, committed same-sex couples,
  • Oppose adoption by gay or lesbian adults, and
  • Keep accurate information on sexual orientation out of the public schools.

we estimate that Christian churches are responsible for at least 40% of the homophobia in the United States.

Another way of looking at this is to imagine what would happen to the acceptance of homosexuality in North American culture if all religious institutions were as active in promoting equal rights and acceptance of gays and lesbians as the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christhave been for many years. After a few decades, children would no longer grow up hating homosexuals. After puberty, when a minority of children became aware of their own homosexual or bisexual orientation, they would accept it as a normal expression of human sexuality. They would be far less liable to commit suicide to avoid a life of same-sex orientation.

Assuming that external and internal homophobia is a main cause of suicide, we believe that churches can be conservatively assigned indirect responsibility for about 496 youth gay/lesbian suicides per year. This rate is greater than the witch genocide rate in Western Europe during the witch burning times in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.

If we include, suicides by homosexuals over the age of 24 (like Asher was),  and youth suicides which are reported as accidents, then the churches' (and our) responsibility is much greater.