Homosexuality, Homophobia & Prejudice

Important - I am not naive or uneducated when it comes to Christianity. I was once a Christian, and as I grew up my beliefs and opinions changed. I have also studied Philosophy, Theology, Sociology and my History of Art degree has included a lot of information about religious events throughout History. I feel qualified to comment on this topic, although I would like to admit that this is just my perspective. I am also well aware that not all Christians are the same, not all can be 'accused' of some of the things mentioned in this rant.

I learnt a long time ago that the views of sexuality amongst Homosexual and Bisexual people vary. Some feel the need to defend their sexuality, sometimes to the point of finding the connotations of 'that's gay' as insulting, others just let it roll past them. For me, I do consider phrases like 'that's gay', 'you're gay' or other jokes that involve stating that someone is gay to be an insult. To the average hetrosexual this is harmless, but turn it around; Could you say 'you're black' or 'you're muslim'? No. That would be racist, and would imply that being a particular race or religion was a bad thing. So why is it that saying 'you're gay', is not insulting? True, the actual word 'gay' does not even mean homosexual and has instead become a word to represent it.

When I refer to such comments or jokes as insulting I am looking at the general view in society that being homosexual is wrong. Unnatural, evil, wrong, these are all views that I trace back to Christianity. Homophobia is the fear of Homosexuality, and this fear does not completely stem from a religion. I see homophobia as the fear of the unknown; a fear of ordinary people, religious or not, that there is something they do not understand. I do agree that Homophobia has also been created due to psychological issues, such as people who fear their own feelings. Despite this, I do feel that Christianity has helped this fear. I also make a distinction between homophobia and prejudice. You do not have to be homophobic to be prejudice against homosexuals or bisexuals, and likewise homophobia does not create prejudice.

Once again I am going to return to religion as the source of propoganda for the anti-homosexual stand point. I realise there are other religions that I am not so familar with (Islamic religions, for example) that have similar views of religion. In comparison to these religions Christianity has dominated the world for a longer period. I would also like to point out that there are various events in history that show a lack of tolerance for other religions from Christianity. It is not just Homosexuality that recieves such bad press by Christianity; divorices, other religions, abortions, have all been given the same treatment. I find that Christianity has also always needed to publicise it's beliefs, a trait that can be followed through history to the early Christian Church. I have heard Christianity compared to religious extremists, usually in terms of Christianity's innocence. My response to this is that all religions have extremists, and likewise, they all have pacifists and liberals. Just because Christianity does not have extremists that blow things up does not mean they do not have extremists. Instead of killing everyone, the crimes of Christian extremists are hate crimes. A way of erradicating something 'unnatural', and this has happened all the way through history. Just because it happens less now does not mean it has never happened.