Nothing Queer About It

"Homosexuality is a choice". As Sarah Palin uttered these words, I feared that this ignorant lady could be one 74-year-old's heartbeat away from being president of the US. The fact is that in this day and age, homosexuals are far from attaining even the basic of human rights around the world. Throughout time, religion has implanted disgust and abhorrence towards same sex intimacy, which is evident by church-backed gay bashing in the US and judicial prosecution of same sex couples in Pakistan. Even Ivy League educated leaders of the world, go out of their way to defame this very large minority. It is painful enough to know that Bush Jr. does not believe in natural selection, claiming that the "jury is still out". What George doesn't realize is that the Scopes trial is over. The fault lies in the ignorance showed to scientific reality and the dependency on hate based convictions.

Homosexuality is demonstrated in all species from fruit flies to donkeys. Humans are no exception to this rule and the fact is that sexual orientation is an inborn combination of genetic and environmental factors that largely decide a person's sexual attractions before they are born. The permutation of genes that determine eye color, baldness, or a third nipple perhaps, also cause hormonal imbalances which determine sexual orientation. Left-handedness and hair whorls are common among gay men reflecting the biological traits and commonalities due to genetic combinations. The reason why most men are straight is the same reason why most dogs are straight and why most hippos are straight. The standard deviation of a group of any species will generally indicate that up to 7% of the male population is gay or bi-sexual. All prior mid-20th century "theories" of men becoming gay because they are raised by headstrong single women, or are surrounded by sisters, have been discredited. Homosexuality is a genetic deviation from the mean or the "norm".

The notion that homosexuals can reconsider their orientation via therapy is also a discredited falsity. Also researchers have concluded that a heterosexual entity raised in a homosexual environment will not "turn gay" but instead will tend to stick to its biological heterosexual tendencies. The same way, a homosexual entity will tend to remain homosexual regardless of strong heterosexual environments. The fear that many Bible-thumpers hold is that allowing gays to marry would justify their existence and would corrupt society. This ignorance is backed by many governments around the world and hampers basic human rights for gays. This stems from religious decrees that state that homosexuality is a "sin" just like murder, rape, and theft. The best way to think of it is, whether one would punish a child with Down Syndrome just because he was born a certain way, just the thought of it is criminal. Not to say that gays are mentally or physically handicapped in anyway.

So why is there so much hatred for gays? In a time where we fight against injustices caused by ignorance we should see that scientific knowledge should take precedence over hate-backed notions. We are still years away from realizing that heterosexual love is not superior to homosexual love. Gays, bisexuals, lesbians, and transsexuals, are not evil human beings but just "human beings". They struggle to sustain a semblance of a normal life in a heterosexual world where they are outcasts. They have also been prosecuted by Hitler, by religious fundamentalists throughout time, and by governments around the world. Sadly, they do not have a Holocaust Museum to commemorate their suffering. In one memorable stand-up event, the comedian Chris Rock said:

"There ain't no point hating anybody. Each one of us has at least a gay cousin. When you was playin' ball, he was jumpin' rope. He didn't TURN gay, he was gay then! He just didn't have anyone to be gay with!"