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HOMOSEXUALITY
Gay and Lesbian relations
Training Handout
In the mythical ideal family, there is no room for homosexual intercourse
Homosexuality (what is, rather than what should be) 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.
Today’s concerns about legalizing marriages between same sex couples is mainly an issue of human rights, rather similar
to movements against racism in other times and places.
See
Chapter Nine.
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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