Hypocrisy in Homophobia

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Camille Price Cancel

ets talk about the

gays, the queers, and the
curious. These people are
no longer in hiding, they
are students, family

members, co-workers,
businessmen, athletes,
bosses, etc. Nonetheless,
they are second-class
citizens, denied of their
rights to marry and adopt
and in some places even
donate blood. The mere
mention of the word gay
makes people cringe and
my question is why?
Recently the debate
centering around gay
marriage has divided the
island. Should gays be

allowed to marry? Or
better yet, why shouldnt
they? The reasons for the
denial of this basic human
right can be boiled down
to: a) it will change the
definition of marriage and
b) God condemns it. Both
reasons presenting those
who are against
homosexual marriage as
intolerant and antiquated,
to say the least. The mere
fact that a human being is
capable of such hatred
against an expression of

love between two people is

a gross example of how
detrimental religious
fanatism is to society. First
of all lets analyze the
reasons of marital
opposition which are (as
stated above): a) it will
change the definition of
marriage and b) God
condemns it.
Marriage has in fact for
years been between
members of opposing
sexes, ergo, man and

woman. Nonetheless, the

marital dynamic has
changed drastically from
its humble beginnings to
what it is now in the 21st
century. It started out as
an exchange, a man was
interested in a woman and
would ask the womans
father for her hand in
exchange for some kind of
capital, be it five cows,
money or property. The
woman, on the other hand,
had no say in this. She was
merely part of an
economic exchange:
money in exchange for
reproductive gain, securing
heirs, etc. This practice is
still enforced in some
countries and is seen as a
violation of a womans
rights in most of western
culture but, the tradition of
the potential groom going
to the brides father and
asking for her hand is
marriage is still practiced
today. Fast forwarding a
couple thousand years, a
woman would be
presented before society

and through it, to her

potential suitors. She
would be dressed in a
beautiful gown and
jewelry; she would no
longer be a girl, instead
she was a woman. Does
this sound familiar? Well,
its still practiced today as
quinceaeras and sweet
sixteens. Marriage as
western society defines it,
is between two consenting
individuals who share
feelings for each other and
have decided to officialize
their union through a
ceremony be this in a place
of worship or court. If they
so decide, they may annul
the union through divorce.
The definition of marriage
has been redefined so
many times that allowing
homosexuals to partake of
it would not affect its
western definition except
in the sense that instead of
it being between two
consenting adults of the
opposite sex, it would be
between two adults
regardless of sex.

The second reason for the

denial of same sex
marriage is religious. God
does not condone
homosexual behavior.
Homophobic Christians
(note that I am not
criticizing theists in the
general sense, a person can
have faith in a higher
power and be an excellent
human being, I am only
criticizing those in which
homophobia and religion
coincide) love citing
Leviticus, especially when
talking about Sodom and
Gomorrah, the cities God
destroyed through fire and
brimstone because of their
sodomite behavior. This
act of choosing parts in the
Bible to prove a specific
point is called cherry
picking, and it goes both
ways. The same way in
which Christian fanatics
chose certain verses to
condemn gays, other
people can condemn these
Christians. Leviticus, talks
about a lot of things. It is

located in the Old

Testament and delimits the
rules for Judeo-Christian
living. Amongst its rules
we can find the Ten
Commandments which are
the ten most famous set of
rules which contain things
that are pretty much
common sense: Thou shall
not kill, dont lie, dont
steal. These are not the
only laws God
commanded for there are
others ignored by most
Christians and for good
reason, they dont make
sense in our present
society. These include: not
eating shellfish, not
wearing mixed fabrics, not
cutting the tip of your
beard, amongst others. If
we have been able to move
forward as a society
discarding these ancient
rules, why havent we
discarded that a man shall
not lie with another man
rule. Ah, here lies the
issue, fanatics
conveniently keep that rule
because its much easier to

say that the Bible forbids

this behavior than saying
that youre being a douche.
So unless fanatics start
obeying ALL of the rules
stipulated in the Bible, I
dont see why they should
be allowed to control who
is or who isnt allowed to
marry.
Finally, gay, bisexual,
queer, transgender, men
and women in Puerto Rico
pay taxes, vote, and
overall participate in every
scope of Puerto Rican
society. The fact that they
are not allowed to marry
because someone alien to
the relationship is
somehow bothered by this
is an embarrassment to
how far we have come as a
society.