No Sexuality Is Greater Than Another

THANKS for your response Z. Sibindi to the article the Rainbow Project placed in last week’s The Namibian.

We would like to revisit the myths and facts about homosexuality in light of your words: Myth: Homosexuality is a major sin against god. We have already written how Leviticus 18:22 and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah are two biblical passages commonly misused to promote hatred against homosexuals.Another passage similarly used, the one that you mentioned, is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.Here, two original Greek words: malakoi and arsenokoltai are often mistranslated.The translated meaning of these words has changed over time and has included masturbators, child molesters, and prostitutes.Even today, many bibles have different translations.For example, The 1933 Afrikaans bible, which was translated by racist supporters of Apartheid, translates the words as homosexuals while the 1985 New Jerusalem bible translates them as the self-indulgent.Thus it is not clear what the passage is really saying.Yet, we just must look to the story of Jonathan and David to see that it is not homosexuality that is being criminalized.True, there is no specific mention of sexual encounters between the two, but being homosexual is much more than just having sex with a person of the same sex: it is about who you love and share an emotional and spiritual bond with.In 1 Samuel 18: 1-4, the bible states that, The soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David.Later, in 1 Samuel 20: 41-42, the two share a passionate kiss and 2 Samuel 1:26, David says to the dead body of Jonathan: Very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.Once one breaks with the homophobic idea that being gay is only about the physical act of sex, it is clear that these two were homosexuals.Myth: Homosexuals are ill.It is true that at one point in time, people thought being homosexual was due to an imbalance of hormones.People have tried to ‘cure’ gay and lesbian people by injecting them with chemicals, removing parts of the brain, using electric shock, and other horrific means.These ideas are very outdated and are rarely taken seriously today.At one point in time, ‘science’ also showed how the brains of black men were smaller than those of white men.Today, all respected scientists say that there is no biological or mental disease that is responsible for homosexuality.AIDS is not mostly a homosexual disease outside of Africa.The person most likely to get HIV in the United States is the young, heterosexual man, and lesbian women all over the world are the least affected by the disease.Myth: You can tell if someone is homosexual by just looking at them.Once again, a gay man is not someone who dresses in women’s clothes.It is common but false belief that all cross-dressers are homosexual.In fact, most men that wear women’s clothes are heterosexual.Studies have routinely found that between 60% – 80% of transvestites are attracted to the opposite sex.Myth: People choose to be homosexual.Just as you never decided to be heterosexual, gay men and women never choose to be homosexual.However, being gay is not a disease that someone develops or is born with.Many studies have been done to find exactly why people become gay: from looking at genes to hormones to the size of different parts of the brain.Yet no single factor has ever been found.There is no specific reason why someone’s sexuality is what it is.Myth: Homosexuality is unnatural.While very few of the millions of species have been studied in an effort to find out just how prevalent homosexuality is, there are nearly 500 species that have been observed to have same-sex relationships and that number is constantly increasing as more studies are done.For example, dolphins, which are the only animals besides humans to have sex for recreation, routinely have sex with members of their community that are the same sex.However, human sexuality should not be equated to that of animals because most animal sex is done for reproduction.It is a common homophobic argument that homosexuality means the end of the species.Yet, an entire population would never be homosexual.We are encouraging people to recognize the diversity of sexualities and see that a part of every group of people is attracted to the same-sex.Furthermore, over-reproduction is a real problem in the world today.Myth: Homosexuality is “un-African.”A common myth that many people believe is that Africans have always regarded homosexuals as shameful, but this only began with colonialism.The Portuguese explorers that arrived in Angola in the 1600’s found many homosexuals.They were not only a banished group living on the coast as you claim, but throughout the area from Luanda to every border.Checking the accuracy of such reports with homophobic governments, like that of Zimbabwe, is similar to asking an apartheid government about the equality of the races; we must go beyond such biased sources.We agree with the words of our President when he stated let what you do in the bedroom remain private.If homosexual people were allowed to exist and not threatened with violence, deportation, and un-employment, then that could be so.Unfortunately, the homophobia in our society does not allow sexuality to be private.The Rainbow Project WindhoekNote: This letter has been shortened – EdWe have already written how Leviticus 18:22 and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah are two biblical passages commonly misused to promote hatred against homosexuals.Another passage similarly used, the one that you mentioned, is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.Here, two original Greek words: malakoi and arsenokoltai are often mistranslated.The translated meaning of these words has changed over time and has included masturbators, child molesters, and prostitutes.Even today, many bibles have different translations.For example, The 1933 Afrikaans bible, which was translated by racist supporters of Apartheid, translates the words as homosexuals while the 1985 New Jerusalem bible translates them as the self-indulgent.Thus it is not clear what the passage is really saying.Yet, we just must look to the story of Jonathan and David to see that it is not homosexuality that is being criminalized.True, there is no specific mention of sexual encounters between the two, but being homosexual is much more than just having sex with a person of the same sex: it is about who you love and share an emotional and spiritual bond with.In 1 Samuel 18: 1-4, the bible states that, The soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David.Later, in 1 Samuel 20: 41-42, the two share a passionate kiss and 2 Samuel 1:26, David says to the dead body of Jonathan: Very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.Once one breaks with the homophobic idea that being gay is only about the physical act of sex, it is clear that these two were homosexuals.Myth: Homosexuals are ill.It is true that at one point in time, people thought being homosexual was due to an imbalance of hormones.People have tried to ‘cure’ gay and lesbian people by injecting them with chemicals, removing parts of the brain, using electric shock, and other horrific means.These ideas are very outdated and are rarely taken seriously today.At one point in time, ‘science’ also showed how the brains of black men were smaller than those of white men.Today, all respected scientists say that there is no biological or mental disease that is responsible for homosexuality.AIDS is not mostly a homosexual disease outside of Africa.The person most likely to get HIV in the United States is the young, heterosexual man, and lesbian women all over the world are the least affected by the disease.Myth: You can tell if someone is homosexual by just looking at them.Once again, a gay man is not someone who dresses in women’s clothes.It is common but false belief that all cross-dressers are homosexual.In fact, most men that wear women’s clothes are heterosexual.Studies have routinely found that between 60% – 80% of transvestites are attracted to the opposite sex.Myth: People choose to be homosexual. Just as you never decid
ed to be heterosexual, gay men and women never choose to be homosexual.However, being gay is not a disease that someone develops or is born with.Many studies have been done to find exactly why people become gay: from looking at genes to hormones to the size of different parts of the brain.Yet no single factor has ever been found.There is no specific reason why someone’s sexuality is what it is.Myth: Homosexuality is unnatural.While very few of the millions of species have been studied in an effort to find out just how prevalent homosexuality is, there are nearly 500 species that have been observed to have same-sex relationships and that number is constantly increasing as more studies are done.For example, dolphins, which are the only animals besides humans to have sex for recreation, routinely have sex with members of their community that are the same sex.However, human sexuality should not be equated to that of animals because most animal sex is done for reproduction.It is a common homophobic argument that homosexuality means the end of the species.Yet, an entire population would never be homosexual.We are encouraging people to recognize the diversity of sexualities and see that a part of every group of people is attracted to the same-sex.Furthermore, over-reproduction is a real problem in the world today.Myth: Homosexuality is “un-African.”A common myth that many people believe is that Africans have always regarded homosexuals as shameful, but this only began with colonialism.The Portuguese explorers that arrived in Angola in the 1600’s found many homosexuals.They were not only a banished group living on the coast as you claim, but throughout the area from Luanda to every border.Checking the accuracy of such reports with homophobic governments, like that of Zimbabwe, is similar to asking an apartheid government about the equality of the races; we must go beyond such biased sources.We agree with the words of our President when he stated let what you do in the bedroom remain private.If homosexual people were allowed to exist and not threatened with violence, deportation, and un-employment, then that could be so.Unfortunately, the homophobia in our society does not allow sexuality to be private.The Rainbow Project WindhoekNote: This letter has been shortened – Ed