Should we FIGHT or EMBRACE homosexuality?

The history of homosexuality stems back as far as the ancient Greeks, who by the way regarded it as normal behavior to a certain extent. Their nature of relationships was usually between an older man and a beardless youth. The relationship lost its sexual side after the youth reached adulthood. In Rome, masters took up younger slaves for sexual relations, and it was only considered disgusting to continue the sexual relations after the slave grew old enough to develop facial hair. But even then, it was never considered illegal. When Christian philosophers started preaching against homosexuality, the western culture took it up, and it spread all over. At some point, homosexuality was punished by like hanging, and castration among others.  Some behavioral scientists have reported homosexuality among animals and birds. In fact, even the greatest of the gods, Zeus, is portrayed as pursuing homosexual as well as heterosexual romances

Present-day discussions and declarations about homosexuality are as controversial as the discussions about abortion. Because of this, we keep experiencing rather expensive repercussions with our denial of their existence. With abortions, I can’t state any harder, the deaths and complications that come with unsafe abortions. With homosexuality, I want to shine a light that homosexual men contribute about 17% of new HIV infections globally, and have a 22% increased risk of acquiring HIV compared to other adult men. With the presence of bisexual beings, this statistic will soon get to you and me. Should we kill these homosexual men? Or should we offer them pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV? The opportunity cost for both options play differently for different people.

But where do gay people come from? Many studies have talked about predisposing factors including hormonal, environmental, and sometimes genetic. A study done among gay people showed that most of them experienced a form of deprivation of love during their upbringing. while most people may not clearly identify this longing within themselves, and possibly its relevance, it’s certainly very strong for others. And some people, long to have just one person that validates them, one person who gets them, completes them, and whom they then got to see as a soul mate. The one. And it didn’t matter if they are male or female.

Research shows that most gay people decide what their sexual orientation will be during adolescence. Coincidentally, adolescence is the hardest age group to deal with any young girl or boy. The parents don’t understand them, and neither do they understand their parents. Many children will usually tend to listen to their peers, and pick their beliefs and ideas from them. Adolescence too is when secondary sexual characteristics become pronounced. One day you are feeling like a child, and the next you have all these hormones running around, and your body is telling you things, and you feel the need to experiment with everything. This too could be the way many people get into homosexuality. We have heard stories and possibly experiences from some single-sex schools. Could it be that sometimes it starts out as curiosity or an experiment, and then the individuals get lost in the moment? Then one moment turns into many moments, and later it becomes a habit, and finally a personal belief? Or has love become so scarce that we will try and find it regardless of who is serving it? Anyone can support or disagree with all the above based on their religious background, upbringing, or whatever environment they are in at the moment. And that is okay.

There is a part of me that believes that given the right circumstances (upbringing, hormones, religion, trauma, environment), you and I could belong to either side of the spectrum as gay or straight. This doesn’t necessarily make the behavior right or wrong, and I choose to remain neutral to this argument. Maybe we should just treat this like a vegan vs non-vegan conversation, or the way we see flat earthers and round earthers. We might never get to the end of it as long as one group is seen as a minority, and the other is seen as the right one. I hope we can think about inclusion.

Happy living, Happy surviving!