On Sexuality

He's nice but he's gay. Contrast that to he's nice and he's gay. Do you see the difference? The former response is held by somebody indoctrinated with the idea that homosexuality is “wrong”. The latter response is held by somebody accepting of the person as he truly is. In this case, homosexuality is neither right nor wrong. It just is.

Many are critical of homosexuality, it is often more or less implied, because they tend to be promiscuous. Well, if this is the case, it is not homosexuality that is the problem, rather it is promiscuity. But one need not be homosexual to be promiscuous. Just observe all the “illegitimate” children of society. Furthermore, with promiscuous gays at least there are not “unwanted” children.

On the other hand, as everything is a trade-off, one might point out that AIDS is much more prevalent in gays and as such puts a bigger burden on our health care system. Well, here are the choices: 1)”unwanted” kids which more often than not place a terrible strain on society and themselves or 2) increased cases of AIDS which likewise place a terrible strain on society. Which is the least terrible of these seemingly terrible choices?

For those who consider homosexuality to be wrong not because it leads to promiscuity but because it is immoral in itself, what about heterosexuals who are promiscuous? Why is the “spotlight of shame” not on them as well? Far be it from me to say promiscuous heterosexuals are glorified, but they certainly are not vilified to the extent homosexuals seem to be. Heterosexuals' promiscuous behavior, according to this line of argument, is no less sexually immoral than homosexuality itself. Now, to my point.

For those who do believe homosexuality is wrong, consciously or unconsciously, because they believe it causes promiscuity, could it actually be that those predisposed to promiscuity tend to be homosexual? In other words, could homosexuality be caused by a tendency to be promiscuous? In this way, one could actually see homosexuals as heroes! HUH? How so? Well, imagine if they were promiscuous and heterosexual? There would be even more unintended (unwanted, to be politically incorrect) children straining society.

Might homosexuality be an ingenious way for evolution to govern populations? So in this case, maybe there is a promiscuity gene that is highly correlated to a homosexuality gene? One would have to make a good case for homosexuals being statistically more likely to be promiscuous than others for this argument to have any validity. Suffice it to say, I do not know whether something like this is true but am injecting a different perspective into the discussion for the sake of leaving “no stones unturned”.

Does homosexuality tend to lead to promiscuity or does promiscuity tend to lead to homosexuality? Or might there be little or no correlation? Do not in any way take this to mean it is even true that homosexuals are statistically more promiscuous. I am merely investigating causality as this should have a profound impact concerning peoples' convictions on such matters.

Concerning those who fear accepting and tolerating homosexuality will lead to further declines in society, a couple of things. First off, homosexuals can not spread their genetic predisposition through blood, so to speak, as they can not procreate. In this way, not being condescending in the least, natural selection seems to take care of the “problem” of homosexuality for those who fear its proliferating beyond control. As for homosexual couples adopting, it is very unlikely their children will have any more tendency to be homosexual than those from “straight” homes.

But the wild card might be supposing that in the future, male couples as well as female couples will have the ability to propagate via surrogates. This I have nothing to say about other than it is what it is or shall I say it will be what it will be.

For those that might think homosexuality to be on the rise, maybe this is evolution's brake, as it were, on population. Is this necessarily a bad thing?

Should The People Decide?

Concerning an issue like gay marriage, should it be determined by a public referendum? If so, should a public referendum in favor of slavery be valid just the same (as I'm sure society would have at some point in the past favored)? If not, why should a public referendum against or even in favor of gay marriage be any more valid just because a majority of its citizens desire it? Just the same, what would a public referendum in Nazi Germany have yielded? Perhaps solidarity with Nazi propaganda?

Majority opinion on a given issue does not necessarily make it right or good, nor does it necessarily make it wrong or bad. How then are we to know what "progress" really is? It seems neither majority opinion nor supposedly benevolent politicians offer any clear answers to this. Perhaps we should seek God to shed light on such matters? If so, the question now becomes, whose God?

Even if majority opinion suggests we follow "God X" (of course as per my fundamental argument even this is dubious), there is still no consensus as to how we are to view "God X" anyway. Does "God X" want a society built upon self-reliance (strive for a more capitalistic approach) or does He prefer a society built upon reliance on Himself and by extrapolation others (strive for a more socialistic approach)? Does He want society to be conformed or tolerant? Does He want a society that places judgment on our failures and scandals or grace, mercy and forgiveness? Does He want a society that embraces ecological balance even at the expense of humanity or does He prefer a society that places utmost importance and care on humanity?

Of course the obvious response to these questions would be to say that God's "truth" lies somewhere in the "middle" of all these dichotomies. But this obfuscates the problem just the same because there is no consensus as to what the "middle" actually entails. Ultimately, people harbor conflicting views of the same God!

Who then can we necessarily trust? Not the masses, surely. Neither can we trust allegedly benevolent politicians. Nor apparently even GOD!* How about trusting ourselves as individuals? I must confess that this scares the living daylights out of me! Trust myself? In any case, how shall we address our intense disagreements? 



*I can't help but think peoples' supposed "trust in God" is simply a proxy for trusting themselves. In other words, it is a projection of EGO onto "all-knowing and infallible God". This in turn elevates peoples' mere opinions to stratospheric "holier than thou" heights because after all, they come not from self but from GOD. So in essence, we seem to arrive back at the idea of trusting ourselves as individuals. But once again, how shall we address our intense disagreements?

Just Go Ahead And Do Whatever You Wish!

There are some religious crusaders that actually believe the deaths of U.S. soldiers are punishment for “our” tolerance of homosexuality. If this is the case, God's judgment appears very arbitrary.

This suggests to me that we should just go ahead and commit whatever misdeed we wish, because it is likely someone else will be left to deal with its consequences! Conversely, we will likely be left “holding the bag” for somebody else's misdeed just the same.

So if I were so inclined to murder somebody in cold blood purely for enjoyment's sake, perhaps a poor, amiable widow will be left to deal with the consequences of my egregious misdeed? This seems particularly absurd to me as it will hopefully be to others.

Most believe, generally speaking, that a man should reap what he sows. But in this case, God is just a “vending machine” judging favorably the good and unfavorably the bad. As it should be in my opinion.

Why Might We Seek God?

I believe the reason a person seeks God at some point in his life is grounded in a desire to get “outside” self and become connected to something bigger than his/her small insignificant self. I speak of those who seek God to distinguish them from those which had it “chosen” for them at birth or childhood.

By seeking something bigger than oneself, this usually signifies a desire to distance oneself from ego. But what seems to happen quite often is the ego unconsciously reasserts itself within the context of this new found relationship with God. It is very common for many to become so imprisoned by dogma that being who they are is less important than being “correct”. I will expound on this idea with something I personally experienced during which time I was a Christian with a very typical set of beliefs.

Homosexuality and abortion are 2 of the most egregious forms of sin in the eyes of many believers. So because of this, I felt compelled to see these things as “absolutely wrong” though deep down I sympathized with each. Most homosexual people I had come across were very respectful and thus my “I am” had no reason to be critical of them or their behavior. However, my dogma, which was essentially a manifestation of my ego, told me otherwise. This conflict was only overcome when I “broke free” of the dogma which imprisoned me.

In the same vein, abortion is a very explosive and complicated topic. It is unpleasant to think about but I don't think this in itself qualifies me to deem it absolutely and utterly wrong. There are situations where abortion seems to be the “least terrible” choice.

The application of just a small amount of reason suggested to me that there are situations involving abortion, or any controversial issue for that matter, that have no good answers. Asking what an absolutely perfect God would do in such situations is irrelevant because oftentimes there is no perfect answer let alone any mediocre answers.

However, if one substitutes God with “ego” it becomes quite apparent what the perfect answer is. Whatever your ego tells you!