Love Is Kind
They are judged and deemed as being an "abomination", "sinful", or "unnatural". I'm sure a lot of you have heard about what's going on in Russia, regarding the new anti-gay law. On June 30th, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill banning the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors". According to polymic.com, "the law caps a period of ferocious activities by the Russian government
aimed at limiting the rights of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and intersex people". As Russia is holding the upcoming Winter Olympics, the new law has raised a lot of controversial debates among so many people. That has gotten me thinking more about the issue of gay rights. Today, I'm going to strip down all the curtains and shed some light on it.
The Numbers:
There isn't any accurate record of what percentage of the world is either lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender; however, in 2011, it was estimated that there were more than 8 million adults in the US who were gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Compared to my country, Cambodia, that's more than half our total population. Many of them, especially those living in a more conservative household, community, or country, are living under constant judgement, hatred, and discrimination. There was a news survey called "The Homosexuals", aired on CBS in 1967 which stated that 2/3 of Americans felt disgust towards gay people; whereas 1/10 of Americans felt hatred towards them.
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| Image via jeffweintraub.blogspot.com |
Anti-Gay Law:
Unfortunately, Russia is not the only country to practice anti-gay law, and it's certainly not the first one either. As a matter of fact, more than 76 countries all around the world have anti-gay law; that means if a person is discovered as being an LGBT in any of those countries, they can face jail-time or even other worse punishments. In Iran, if a person is convicted of sodomy (defined under Islamic Penal Code in 1991 as "sexual intercourse with a male"), that person can be punished by the death penalty. Even kissing someone from the same sex can be punishable by "60" lashes.
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| Image via secularnewsdaily.com |
things still going on in our world.
Conversion Treatment:
Back in the 19th and the 20th century, homosexual was classified as a dangerous and unwanted medical condition. There were numerous treatments that guaranteed to be able to convert a gay person into a straight person. Many of those treatments included abuse and disturbing rituals. Some of those treatments were: exorcism, electro-convulsive therapy, prostitution, hypnosis, fetal intervention, "overdosing" on homosexuality, cold showers, transplants, cocaine, strychnine and genital mutilation, and praying. I've attached a link down in the "Sources", in case you want to know what any of those treatments was about.
But in this day of age, most of us know by now that being homosexual is not an illness. In fact, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Association of Social Workers all said that homosexuality "shouldn't be treated as a mental disorder". They're even opposed to attempt at conversion therapy. When you put one person under a lot of pressure in order to change something that they can't change, what they will likely do is to suppress it; therefore, conversion therapy won't change their sexual desire, but most likely just change their sexual conducts.
The Holy Bible:
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| Image via mfcarter.net |
I was watching this great documentary called "For the Bible Tells Me So". At one point, they started talking about how some Christians think that being gay is an "abomination". They then started questioning about other "abominations" that were mentioned in the bible such as eating shrimps, planting two seeds in one hole, eating rabbit, and ejaculating outside of a woman's vagina. I'll leave that for you all to decide on your own.
Choice Or Something You're Born With:
There have been heap amount of studies done on whether or not homosexual is genetic. Me, most of my friends are gay. Personally, I don't care at all whether or not they chose to be gay. I'll still love them either way. I made a decision to be a vegan and my friends and family still love me. For me, as long as they're not doing anything to harm anyone and they're happy, I'm happy, too. At the end of the day, they're still my friends; their sexual preference has nothing to do with what kind of person they are.
With that being said, there was some studies done that have shown that having older brothers increases the chances of a male becoming gay. One of the theories is because when a mother has a boy, her body sees it as a foreign object; hence, creating an antibody against the male fetus. The more boys the mother has, the more adapt to it her body is; thereby, feminizing the baby.
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| Image via cosmomagazine.com |
P.S. If you're an LGBT, never feel that you're alone. There are many people out there, including me, who are fighting for your rights and will accept you just the way you are. There's a huge project called "It Gets Better", because it will get better. Don't ever lose faith; don't ever lose hope. We're right behind you. You're never alone.
Love, Catherine
XOXO
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