Doing It Right by Bronwen Pardes

Author:Bronwen Pardes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

IS IT WRONG TO BE GAY?

Some people believe that it’s wrong to be gay. They may say that males were simply meant to be with females and vice versa. But to say that it’s wrong to be gay is to say that it’s wrong for a person to be who they truly are and to love who they truly love. The bottom line is, sexual orientation is something we’re born with and cannot change.

Many people believe that their religions declare homosexuality to be a sin. However, there are also people of all different faiths—including clergy members—who don’t believe it’s a sin. And for every person who can quote a passage from the Bible or some other religious text saying that homosexuality is wrong, there’s someone else who can interpret that same passage to have a different meaning. Any piece of writing—whether it’s the Bible or this book—can be interpreted in many different ways.

If you feel that homosexuality is sinful, ask yourself for a moment what your religion says about sex outside of marriage or sex for any reason other than to make babies. Ask yourself what your religion says about masturbation. Lots of religions teach that these things are sinful too, but many people find it easy to ignore these rules—perhaps because sex outside of marriage doesn’t make most people half as uncomfortable as homosexuality does.

Most of the sinful things I can think of are harmful to other people. But being gay isn’t harmful to anyone. Gay people, just like straight people, want to have loving relationships and want to have sex—they just want to do it with members of the same sex rather than members of the opposite sex. The bottom line is this: Although the teachings of any religion can be useful, they can never be a substitute for your ability to think for yourself about what is right or wrong.

In the past few years religious organizations have had a lot to say about homosexuality because gay people are fighting for the right to marry legally. (At the time this book was written, gay marriage was only legal in the United States in nine states and Washington, D.C.) However, this is not a religious issue. Gay people want to get married for the same reasons straight people do—because they want to make an official commitment to each other and take care of each other the same way straight couples do. Marriage gives couples legal rights: the right to make medical decisions in an emergency, the right to visit each other in the hospital, the right to inherit property when one of them dies, the right to adopt children together, and hundreds of other rights that straight couples take for granted. These rights aren’t given to people by a church or a temple or a mosque. They are rights afforded to straight couples by the government. Gay couples simply want equal treatment under the law.

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