.. In the mythical ideal family, there is no room for homosexual intercourse. . In contrast (what is, rather than what should be), the activity has been around for a long time, and is even found in non human animal life,  statistically associated mainly with population size and density. . In some early and classical literature it was found to be acceptable in some circles in early Greek and Arabic communities. . It has been recognized as an activity often found in same sex boarding schools, prisons and on sailing ships. . Today’s concerns about legalizing marriages between same sex couples is mainly an issue of human rights, rather like movements against racism in other times and places. . See Chapter Seven. . Marriage confers many legal and financial rights, including tax breaks and inheritance rules, which are seen as discrimination against those whose sexual preferences are other than heterosexual. . The opposition against legally recognizing same sex marriages, especially by churches in Africa, is ironic in that churches in the West are citing the Christian values of tolerance, love, understanding and forgiveness, while those in Africa are run by people who themselves have often experienced the application of intolerance, meanness, bigotry and discrimination based upon race. . During the nineteen seventies, when I was working on my PhD in Africa, I had an American friend and fellow graduate student who was gay. . He told me that he knew of a community of about six hundred homosexual men in the capital city. . This was in direct contrast to the oft spoken assertion by Africans that homosexuality was seen as unnatural in Africa and that there were no practising gays. . I also interviewed an educated woman who reported that gay relationships were common in girls’ boarding schools (supi), and often continued long after graduation, even while the women married, had children, and sometimes ended their heterosexual marriages and started others. . Legal recognition of same sex marriage today in Europe and North America is one more addition to the social recognition that there is no single ideal family type, and that the serious sociological study of families needs to recognize the inherent bias, and conservative agenda, in citing a mythological monolithic “traditional” family. . There are many sociological issues that relate to homosexuality.  These are only a few.  You are encouraged to generate more. .

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