Every Which Way But...

There has been a lot of debate lately, both on the blogosphere, as well as in the local newspapers over the issue of decriminalizing homosexuality.

Amongst all the back & forth & arguments that have been going on, I see some common threads emerging:

1) Homosexuality is wrong/evil/immoral.
2) Homosexual is unnatural and deviant behaviour
3) Homosexuality contributes to the transmission of AIDs/HIV
4) Homosexuals are perverts & having them around will put your children in danger of molestation.

The way I see it, points no. 1 & 2 are subjective to one’s religious & moral beliefs & should not come into play when deciding on whether the homosexual act is a crime or not.

Point no. 3 may be true, but then, the whole picture is never put forward by those using this argument that heterosexual transmission of AIDs/HIV still remains the predominant form of transmission.

As for point no. 4, I won’t even bother to counter that as it is such a ludicrous generalization in the first place.

Lost amid all this noise is the bottomline question of why the homosexual act between two consenting adult males is still considered a crime (and a secondary question to that is what about the homosexual act between two consenting adult females?). Why should the sanctity of one’s bedroom be invaded by the law? What I or anyone else does in his own private space with his/her partner with full consent shouldn’t be anyone else’s business but our own.

I am not talking about rape. Neither am I talking about paedophilia or underaged sex. I am talking about two consenting adults, whatever gender they may be.

To be clear, these are examples of what I mean*:

a) Adult forces another adult to have sex with him/her – criminal? Yes!
b) Adult has sex with/molests child – criminal? Yes!
c) Adult has consensual sex with another adult – criminal? No!

*Note: I did not include sexual orientation in the examples because I don’t think it matters.

Some may believe that homosexuality is evil. Similarly, some may believe that eating pork is taboo while others may believe that gambling is immoral. So be it. But please do not impose your beliefs on others & use that as an excuse to argue against decriminalization of homosexuality.

I believe in tolerance. Whether or not I think homosexuality is right or wrong does not matter. But I will not discriminate against someone just because he/she is gay. And I certainly do not think the law should either.