Q07139

Gay Rights

Black rights are taught in schools worldwide. We learn about how black people got equality after years of oppression. Gay rights are not taught in schools though. This is because the gay rights issue has yet to be resolved, and homophobia is as common today as racism was back in the 1950s. Homophobia prevents gay and lesbian people from getting married in most places, gay couples from adopting as a couple. Homophobia is most common in schools however, and although most teachers these days frown upon homophobia, a lot of gay and bisexual students are still afraid to “come out of the closet” for fear of being bullied and harassed.

Some people think that gay people can get married in New Zealand, but they are mistaken. Gays can only enter a legal agreement, called a “Civil Union”, which is similar to a marriage. But it is not marriage. Gay people, who may be great New Zealand citizens with a dutiful job, are denied the right to marry the person they love more than anything, simply because some heterosexual people don’t like the idea. Civil Unions, however, have been legal since April 26^th 2006, with New Zealand’s first televised Civil Union being aired the same year on the popular New Zealand show Shortland Street, Maia Jeffries and Jay Copeland being the ones legally joined. New Zealand’s Labour Party supported Civil Unions the most, while the National Party contained the most people against it. The previous year, then Prime Minister Helen Clark stated that she though it unfair to not allow gays to marry, but that she would not push for the change. Defenders of the discriminatory Marriage Act have said that they want to “protect” marriage, but if that were true, they would be making divorce illegal. It is excessively unfair and unjust that loving gay couples can not marry, while young prostitutes can marry rich old men for their money.

This leads into the next point; a gay couple could be the best parents in the world and not be allowed to adopt as a couple, but a terrible straight couple with an unstable relationship that could end at any time can adopt with almost no issues. The fact that a single man can not adopt a female child makes a bit more sense, as that is to help prevent pedophilia, which is illegal. But gay sex is not illegal anymore, as long as it is between two consenting men over the age of 15. Sex between two men was illegal once, but people finally saw that it was not wrong. Lesbian sex was never outlawed, and it is not seen as wrong as much as sex between men is, showing that there is a hint of sexism and sexual objectifying in homophobia.

Homophobia is most common in schools, but the surprising thing is that a lot of men who bully gay men watch lesbian pornography. It seems a little hypocritical that they view one form of homosexuality as wrong, but another as fine and something to be observed with interest. Gay people get bullied and harassed for their sexuality daily, but some schools have Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) that help support gay students and prevent the anti-gay atmosphere that appears in most schools. The American state of Tennessee has unfairly banned any Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual (LGBT) subjects from even being mentioned in schools. Thankfully, other states have been smart enough not to do that, and some actually encourage homosexuality to be taught about in schools. Unfortunately, a lot of students, among people of every age, are misled to believe that the AIDS virus is a gay-exclusive disease, while others believe it is more likely to be obtained from gay sex. Both are wrong. You’re just as likely to get AIDS through heterosexual sex. Because of these misconceptions, people should be educated about this in school.

Being gay is completely normal, and homosexuality has been observed in almost 1500 different species of animals, including penguins, dolphins and even primates. However, homophobia has only been observed in one; humans. If homosexuality is as unnatural as some say, why is it so widespread? And if it is against God’s wishes as most Christians say, should we also be throwing rocks at our neighbours for working on a Sunday? We do not do that anymore, so why is homophobia still around? To plagiarize Shakespeare’s famous words, “a love by any other name would be as wonderful”. That is exactly what homosexuality is. It is just another form of love.