Anti-homophobia campaigns are linking being gay with misery

Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex is joyous! Make no mistake, it’s the experience of homophobia and transphobia that can destroy lives and often leads to depression, anxiety and poor mental health. The evidence for this is as clear and conclusive as it gets. Discrimination can have…

7qztkc9c-1358296195 — Campaigns makes clear that homophobia is wrong, but do nothing to affirm that being gay is good. Niv Singer

The evidence for this is as clear and conclusive as it gets. Discrimination can have a worse effect on your health and well-being than smoking, drinking, or what you eat.

For these reasons, it’s been really good to see three big public campaigns – No to Homophobia, beyondblue’s Left Hand campaign, and headspace’s Charlie v. The Big Secret poster – aimed at tackling discrimination based on gender identity or sexuality launched recently. But are they getting the messages right?

Unfortunately, when you engage with these campaigns, and watch the adverts, it’s easy to think that being gay means a life of misery. That if you’re young and gay, you should be prepared to be bullied and teased for the rest of your life.

In particular, the message in the beyondblue campaign seems to be that there are a few people who were born gay, and you should try to be nice to them because they can’t help it. It makes clear that homophobia is wrong, but it does nothing to affirm that being gay is good.

Those of us working to improve the health and well-being of same sex attracted and gender diverse young people know just how much difference getting the message right can make. Gay rights advocates have been working against a tide of homophobia for decades.

Different tactics have been deployed to fit particular contexts. For many years, the focus on homophobic violence, abuse, and suicide grabbed attention where there would otherwise have been silence. And there have been times when a focus on HIV/AIDS has been necessary to generate funding for broader advocacy work.

Today, at least at an institutional level, the homophobic tide appears to be turning. Thanks largely to the positive and vibrant campaign for equal marriage rights, homophobes in parliament have been forced onto the back foot – or, in the case of Corey Bernardi, to put his foot in his mouth. In health care, there’s a near complete consensus that sexuality is not a medical or psychological condition, and that providing therapy to “cure” gayness is highly damaging, particularly for young people.

According to the Writing Themselves In national survey of sexual health and well-being conducted at La Trobe University three times since 1998, levels of homophobia experienced by young people in Australia have actually been increasing. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the context young people experience that discrimination in, is positively changing.

People in the GBLTI community should feel good about their sexuality. Guillaume Paumier

Perhaps most importantly, the attitudes of young people in the third survey (2010) appear transformed when compared to the initial 1998 research. Instead of having to “suck up” the abuse because “I deserve it”, young people are increasingly calling for “something to be done” and recognising that “it’s their problem, not mine”.

Young people who know they are not straight can now access more information to safely explore their sexuality than ever before. Programs such as Safe Schools Coalition Victoria mean that there are now also more positive discussions about sexuality in schools than previously.

So, is it time we moved on from some of the old arguments in public campaigns? We may be born this way, but does it really matter? Just because we’re gay doesn’t mean we’re bound to a life of suffering. We’re not victims; we’re a community as diverse as any other.

Two of the key determinants of good mental health are civic engagement and positive relationships. Any educator will tell you that young people can only thrive and reach their potential when they feel good about themselves. This includes feeling good about your sexuality, whatever that might be.

When we’re thinking about challenging homophobia, let’s think about how our messages might be received by young people who are thinking about their sexuality for the first time. All of us have a responsibility for creating a safer, more inclusive community – but let’s make it a happier one too.

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44 Comments sorted by

Stephen John Ralph

carer

Having experienced a childhood in a small coastal town where I was bullied, bashed and bothered, I ended up bitter towards the world for decades. This obviously left me more of a victim, but I was too immature to see that.

Having aged considerably, and sadly more the wiser, I see that we live in a world where prejudice and victimisation is ubiquitous. Whites barely tolerate blacks, w.a.sp.s hate the muslims, employers hold contempt for workers, everyone hates the jews, etc etc etc.

It makes me feel less angry at being victimised as a kid and teenager, but somehow it makes me feel so much sadder that the world can be an intolerable and prejudicial place. Cest la vie I say....................thus it will probably always be, But we can dream, cant we?

4 months ago report
1. Christopher White
  
  PhD candidate
  
  In reply to Stephen John Ralph
  
  Stephen
  
  I'm sorry that you had such a difficult time in your childhood. I can relate to it. I grew up in a time where homosexuality was illegal, and was considered a mental illness as well as a sin. I too was bullied, bashed and harassed by both private citizens and public officials - in other words, I got beaten up by gangs and harassed by the police who were supposed to protect me. I was lucky enough to have a family who did not try to have me institutionalised (which DID happen to others I…
  Read more
  
  Stephen
  
  I'm sorry that you had such a difficult time in your childhood. I can relate to it. I grew up in a time where homosexuality was illegal, and was considered a mental illness as well as a sin. I too was bullied, bashed and harassed by both private citizens and public officials - in other words, I got beaten up by gangs and harassed by the police who were supposed to protect me. I was lucky enough to have a family who did not try to have me institutionalised (which DID happen to others I knew), but I was still told by my mother that she would find someone to "help" - meaning "cure" - me when she found out I was Gay. It was hard, no doubt about it.
  
  But I have also been lucky enough to witness the immense changes that have come about since then - and to be a part of them. I was actively involved in the Gay Law Reform movement in my own country in 1985, and watched as public perception of Gay and Lesbian citizens moved from, at best, disinterest to positive acceptance and support. I’ve continued to watch as that support has increased to the point where my partner and I were legally hitched (in my homeland, although not yet in Australia) some six years ago. I’ve watched as young men and women around me have gone from being apologetic about their sexual identity, to being defiant about it, to being so much a normal part of their social circle that their sexuality is not even an issue.
  
  I’m sorry that your past experiences have given you such a Hobbesian view of human society; but I have to disagree with you when you make the claim that “prejudice and victimisation [are] ubiquitous”. I have lived to see remarkable change over the last 40 years and I have great hope – in fact, certainty – that such change will continue. Prejudicial attitudes and behaviours are inevitably the result of ignorance and the fear that grows therefrom; all that is needed to end them is education and exposure to the feared “Other” who almost always turns out to be not so frightening after all. It is my observation that humanity is inherently cooperative and peaceful, whatever our political and religious leaders may tell us to the contrary. I believe that that inherent nature will inevitably come to predominate.
  
  4 months ago report
2. Gordon Smith
  
  Private citizen
  
  In reply to Stephen John Ralph
  
  Stephen, I am an employer so I assume you are talking about me. I am also a WASP so I suppose I am doubly damned.
  I take no personal offense, just pointing out your broad brush approach.
  
  4 months ago report
Phillip Smith

urban designer

Sorry. You lost me with the double-negative in the heading!

4 months ago report
1. Sue Ieraci
  
  Public hospital clinician
  
  In reply to Phillip Smith
  
  So what is your alternative suggestion for saying "against hatred of homosexuals" succinctly?
  
  4 months ago report
Phill Herbert

Self funded

The focus on mental health of our young is a recent phenomenon, perhaps just some 5 yrs with rates of male adolescent suicide being a catalyst. Gosh, how things have changed since I was a kid. Such overtures through these initiatives could be considered to be in their relative infancy, and thus will change incrementally or used an adjunct to programs looking at esteem and community building. Will the Cori Bernardi's of the world place hurdles...you bet; he would rather kill children than have his bigoted ways dented. Interesting times indeed!

4 months ago report
Jim Woulfe

logged in via Twitter

Focussing on the link between homophobic harassment and mental health issues provides ammunition for those who wish to deal with same-sex attraction as a pathology. Gays can be treated as sufferers needing help rather than self-actualised humans.

This is where the power of the "It Gets Better" campaign is demonstrated http://www.itgetsbetter.org.au/ . It shows how we've built happy and fruitful lives in spite of the adversity of earlier years. It illustrates how young LGBTI individuals have rich and fulfilling futures before them, and that even though they are often victimised, they do not need to regard themselves in any sense as victims.

I envy the young people finding out today that they are gay, because generally they have informed parents and families, and a huge range of confident, successful role models. Regardless of how anyone treats them, the message that they can live happy fulfilled lives comes from multiple and powerful sources.

4 months ago report
Stephen John Ralph

carer

Gordon

My broad brush strokes were intentional.
Of course not ALL employers feel contempt for their workers, not EVERYONE hates the Jews, etc

I was trying to paint a word picture (to follow your metaphor). There are countless other examples to use with those same broad brush-strokes.....the rich feel superior to poor, the Italians hate the Albanians.....

I hope you aren't rich or Albanian. (well at least Albaninan)

4 months ago report
1. Gordon Smith
  
  Private citizen
  
  In reply to Stephen John Ralph
  
  Point taken Stephen and I thank you for your considered reply. By the wayi am not Albanian but do happen to be married to an Italian LOL.
  
  4 months ago report
Robert McDougall

Small Business Owner

given that most people have a gay family member and that most of the hysteria surrounding "it will ROOOOn society" has retreated to the rabidly entrenched, it would be a brave politician indeed who would take the track that Cory Bernardi has.

The irony of the situation is that for a gay person, the process of coming out and standing firm in the face of homophobia builds such personal strength that over time, the cumulative influence of that strength has introduced changes that make it easier and easier for young men and women to be themselves.

"Homophobia" is the problem of the person who feels they need to engage in it.

i suspect if those families i mentioned earlier witnessed homophobia being directed at their loved ones, a lynch mob would soon form.

4 months ago report
Arthur James Egleton Robey

Industrial Electrician

Are you lot talking about you willies again?
There are 9 Billion people on the planet with a doubling time of 35 years.
The Limits to Growth report is quiet clear. We are not going to make it.
The next thing you will be obsessing about the cricket.
Stupid Ape.

4 months ago report
1. John Harland
  
  bicycle technician
  
  In reply to Arthur James Egleton Robey
  
  Surely you are stating your support of sexual practices that do not risk accidental pregnancy?
  
  4 months ago report
Kim Darcy

Analyst

I think these movements, and others like the "Proud Schools" project to be rolled out across schools this year, are extremely misguided, ill-informed, dangerous, and cruel. How the hell have these fanatical transgender and Gender Studies activists managed to con so many people, at the very top political levels, and all on the taxpayer dime? What on earth does same-sex attraction (gay/lesbian) have to with being intersex or a transexual!? And who has given the green light for this monstrous conflation…
Read more

I think these movements, and others like the "Proud Schools" project to be rolled out across schools this year, are extremely misguided, ill-informed, dangerous, and cruel. How the hell have these fanatical transgender and Gender Studies activists managed to con so many people, at the very top political levels, and all on the taxpayer dime? What on earth does same-sex attraction (gay/lesbian) have to with being intersex or a transexual!? And who has given the green light for this monstrous conflation to be imposed on children as young as 10 right across the nation?

Being a gay/lesbian school student should be much the same as any other school kid - a period of awkward fumbling, taking chances, rejections, and home-runs - except at present a gay/lesbian kid is even more disadvantaged than your average goofy teenager, as the gay/lesbian kid doesn't have anywhere near the same sexual signalling protocols. To be sure, this has improved immensely, even since I left school, but still has a ways to go..

But to lump the 1-2% of school kids who will be same-sex attracted in with the tiny, tiny % of people whose issues are complicated medical situations, usually involving masses of drugs, and often surgeries is an outrage. I fear that these hopelessly naive campaigns by adult zealots are basically manipulating children for their own ends.

4 months ago report
1. Mark Harrigan
  
  Dr
  
  In reply to Kim Darcy
  
  Apparently Ken you lack the ability to "discriminate" here? The fact that GLBTI folk are "grouped" in this campaign (because they tend to be the victims of similar stereotrypical prejudice) does not mean there are not recognised distinctions between them - both in the campaign and by the target audience - who are perhpas more sophitsicated than you give them credit for.
  
  4 months ago report
Kim Darcy

Analyst

Basically, telling not only gay/lesbian kids, but ALL kids that gay/lesbians are a class of people who have serious, very "weird" medical disabilities will not only create much more misery, but also violence, and suicides.

4 months ago report
Michael Leonard Furtado

Dr at University of Queensland

A most arresting article, based on a provocative hypothesis, viz. that raising awareness about the discrimination and prejudice that Gay people suffer tends to pigeonhole as well as victimise us.

I dont, however, regard the two propositions, viz. about victimisation and valorisation, as mutually exclusive. What they simply do is to make us aware that there are two narratives that speak to our experience of living, both of them as real and authentic as the other and that the process of gay liberation…
Read more

A most arresting article, based on a provocative hypothesis, viz. that raising awareness about the discrimination and prejudice that Gay people suffer tends to pigeonhole as well as victimise us.

I dont, however, regard the two propositions, viz. about victimisation and valorisation, as mutually exclusive. What they simply do is to make us aware that there are two narratives that speak to our experience of living, both of them as real and authentic as the other and that the process of gay liberation - indeed liberation of any kind - is to learn to shift from one narrative to another.

Assuming Stephen's first narrative to be authentic - and it sounds very much like my own - once said, it opens up the possibility of victims taking charge of their own lives, rewriting their scripts and changing things.

In that sense its crucial for Stephen to have told us some of his story and to interrogate him about his account of his experience is to potentially deny his reality and revictimise him, except, so to speak, this time from within what I assume to be a predominantly gay and lesbian-friendly audience.

Narrative analysis is a useful way of 'putting it out there' without fear of criticism or objection. The opportunity to off-load gives oppressed persons the chance to express their epistemic voice, particularly if its been hitherto suppressed.

Therefore the context in which this is done should be carefully monitored to ensure privacy, confidentiality, empathic listening and non-interruption. None of this can be safeguarded or guaranteed in a climate in which victims are subjected to exposure, expostulation and forced to speak up. In a curious way such practices reinforce the bullying that victims have experienced for almost all of their prior lives.

Its only through patient listening and much therapy that gay persons can develop and express an alternative voice. In my own case, my experience of such a voice is that it is still gentle, appropriately tentative and non-assertive; a quiet voice, so to speak, from within, which while strong and enduring in its sentiment, does not stoop to the fight-back militancy of one's thuggish oppressors.

Paramount to making such a change of script possible is the necessity for a safe place. Most victims, especially of a certain age and culture, might never have experienced this. Indeed their survival may well have depended on picking up and employing the precise brash and bullying social and cultural practices that were used to demean them in the first place.

Not for nothing has it been observed that many homophobic people are in fact same-sex attracted and have learnt to cope in a homophobic world through employing the self-same practices that have disempowered them in the past. Let me illlustrate my point.

I grew up in India in a devoutly Catholic family. My father was homophobic and suppressed my behaviour through horrific beatings. My mother, who was appalled by his brutality but without the power to protect me, told me in adult life that she felt so disempowered by this that she even prayed that I would die in order to be released from this torment.

I attended a boys' school, where corporal punishment and bastardisation were commonplace. My life was precisely the misery that the writer objects to publicising. I was deemed a failure and banished overseas in the way in which much of the developing world tends to settle for the kind of menial work that native populations in the developed world simply will not do.

My only escape from this was to avail of the opportunity to become a teacher, at the time the only profession offering a foothold on the lowest rung of the paid skilled-employment ladder. I met and married an empathic and caring young woman, whom I had told of my same sex attraction. The priest who counselled us made it clear that marriage was superior to living life within a homosexual closet. We were made to understood that we were exercising our free-will in choosing this bleak non-option.

The marriage was a disaster, though producing two beautiful now adult children who have been strong affirmers of my subsequent single status and decision to out myself, though it has to be said that for years after the break-down of my marriage I yearned for its restoration and the safety and status that pretence and make-believe have to offer the deluded and oppressed.

It is only in recent times that I have managed to glimpse an alternative narrative. I decided within my faith and cultural networks to say who I was. When my ex-wife applied for an annulment and I was informed that I was free to marry again, I replied to the canonical court to thank them, while enquiring if this meant that the Archbishop, who had once been my employer, would sanction and officiate at my marriage to another man!

(He wrote back wishing me well, and stating that while he could not do so, he would be delighted to confer a blessing on any relationship of good will and intention in which I chose to enter.)

I am now proudly 'out', having informed all my relatives and so-called friends. Only one - a former Director of Catholic Education - has written to congratulate me and meets with me regularly to affirm and explore with me about what I intend to do about my new identity as a matter of personal and social justice.

While I have a long way to go, I consider it my God-given right and duty to live my life as I was intended to. This means that I allow myself to fall in love and, hopefully, one day this human need and desire will be reciprocated by another man.

Thanks for the opportunity to tell my story.

4 months ago report
Mark Harrigan

Dr

To the extent the current campaign empowers same sex attracted people to feel that they do not have to put up with the sort of discrimination (overt or covert) that still rears its ugly head in our schools and workplaces etc it's a good thing.

Some people, alas, are incapable of conceiving same-sex attraction as a normal part of the continuum of human diversity. Wheh they become aware that another is same sex attracted they fail to see the human and see only someone to be demonised or villified…
Read more

To the extent the current campaign empowers same sex attracted people to feel that they do not have to put up with the sort of discrimination (overt or covert) that still rears its ugly head in our schools and workplaces etc it's a good thing.

Some people, alas, are incapable of conceiving same-sex attraction as a normal part of the continuum of human diversity. Wheh they become aware that another is same sex attracted they fail to see the human and see only someone to be demonised or villified. I often wonder that when they do this it only reflects that inside themselves they are filled with twisted bile and self loathing and have to project it on to others in a vain attempt to feel good about themselves. It usually fails.

I would only take minor issue with the first line of this article and rephrase it to "Being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex or straight is joyous!". They all can be - if we let them - and should just be subject the human condition that we all have to experience.

4 months ago report
1. Stanley James
  
  logged in via Facebook
  
  In reply to Mark Harrigan
  
  I'd l;ike t o comment on the misery biz at the beginning of the article.
  
  In the USA some of the extreme right wing hate groups have said that "gay people are miserable because they know there is something wrong with them."
  
  The above by these hate groups is simply the old game of blaming the victim by the victimizer.
  
  Its the hate groups that discrijminate , demonize, and often dehumanize gay people. Creating a poisoned social environment.
  
  4 months ago report
2. John Harland
  
  bicycle technician
  
  In reply to Mark Harrigan
  
  I am trying to contextualise people I know to have alternated between homosexual and heterosexual relationships who maintain a public image of being 100% homosexual (and don't anyone dare challenge that!)
  
  Do we have any assurance that there is less prejudice and segmentation within the GLBT grouping than outside it? Of course there will be denials, but evidence would be more helpful.
  
  As for defining the group that is victimised, what about people who suffer the same kind of prejudice and misunderstanding in school for reasons other than gender or sexuality? Should we include those with hearing impairment, or protruding teeth, or those who think differently?
  
  Prejudice is the problem. Gathering and labelling all those targetted by prejudice is not a solution to prejudice. It is a way of institutionalising and justifying prejudice against those groups.
  
  4 months ago report
Comment removed by moderator.
1. Christopher White
  
  PhD candidate
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  Mr Hennessy
  
  It is a great relief to me (and I suspect to many) to note that you are retired and therefore no longer in any position to influence more than a few young people with your outdated and irrelevant attitudes.
  
  It is also a great relief to me that those attitudes are diminishing within the general population as those who hold them die out.
  
  4 months ago report
2. Mark Harrigan
  
  Dr
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  It's a good idea not allow ill informed bigots, who sprout prejudice and base their views on being misinformed, to teach either. Not sure such attributes are a "disability" in the currently accepted sense of the word though? Perhaps they are a biological or sociological "aberration" due to factors we cannot establish?
  
  What matters, but that some cannot see, is that LBGTQ epople are human beings - and entitled to the same respect, civil rights as all other human beings - to be treated on their indivudal merits - no more, no less.
  
  4 months ago report
3. Mark Amey
  
  logged in via Facebook
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  If we wait long enough, Hennessy will tell us that homosexuality is due to iron overload.
  
  4 months ago report
4. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Mark Amey
  
  It's mister to you , pal. If you don't like Science , maybe what you should do is not try to use it in your pitiful pedantic arguments. Dig ?
  
  4 months ago report
5. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Mark Harrigan
  
  "the same respect, civil rights as all other human beings"
  
  The same 'respect' as a flasher.
  
  4 months ago report
6. Mark Harrigan
  
  Dr
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  Was that meant to be a rebuttal or logical reply? What does being a "flasher" have to do with anything - or are you displaying further apparent ill informed by bigotry by trying to equate being a "flasher" (most of whom are hetero) with being same sex attracted?
  
  And a "flasher" is entitled to the same civil rights as everyone else before the law - which if they break they can expect consequences but are entitled to the presumption of innocence.
  
  So, I repeat "LBGTQ epople are human beings - and entitled to the same respect, civil rights as all other human beings - to be treated on their individual merits - no more"
  
  So far the individual merits of your logic and posting would seem to be severly lacking.
  
  4 months ago report
7. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Mark Harrigan
  
  "a "flasher" is entitled to the same civil rights as everyone else before the law - which if they break they can expect consequences but are entitled to the presumption of innocence"
  
  A flasher is not to be allowed to teach school or to be around playgrounds due to their proclivity to paraphiliac tendencies , part and parcel of mental illness.
  
  You may think it is alright to 'take that chance' but , I disagree.
  
  4 months ago report
8. Mark Harrigan
  
  Dr
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  It's still irrelevant. Has nothing to do with homosexuality. And such a ban is a legal consequence to which I referred.
  
  You appear to have nothing of value to contribute and nothing of logic in your posts
  
  4 months ago report
9. In reply to Mark Harrigan
  
  Comment removed by moderator.
10. In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  Comment removed by moderator.
11. In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  Comment removed by moderator.
12. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  Alcohol ?
  "What choline metabolism can tell us about the underlying mechanisms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders"
  
  4 months ago report
13. Mark Amey
  
  logged in via Facebook
  
  In reply to Tom Hennessy
  
  Actually, I do 'dig' science. what I don't 'dig' are these A=b=c, therefore the butler did it, arguments, which are never referenced.
  
  4 months ago report
14. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Mark Amey
  
  The 'reference' are in quotes , again I should have placed the link but forgot. Over the years there are so many different sites that if you DO include a link it automatically trashes the comment so I've learned a simple quote from the article suffices to allow someone to access the source.
  "In sum, there is a significant relationship between non-right-handedness and pedophilic preferences"
  http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/02/left-handedness-and-pedophilia-brain.php
  
  I will apologise , sir , for my outburst , looking again at the comment it was a fair comment and in no way an attempt to cast any doubt upon my intent.
  
  4 months ago report
15. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Mark Amey
  
  "these A=b=c, therefore the butler did it, arguments"
  
  I honed the game as a child , a natural evolution to , health research analysis. Increased oxidation , as per Linus and many others , with no idea where from or why , and iron , which causes oxidation. Iron did it , in the library.
  
  4 months ago report
Stephen John Ralph

carer

Dear Mr Hennessy

good you good thing.

You are entitled to your beliefs and as you say, what "MAKES" a person gay is not yet known or understood.

I guess the issue is in the word "DISABLED".....................cant say I agree with you there, but if thats the way you view homosexuality - so be it.

And I imagine many disabled people teach in schools throughout Australia. As indeed I'm sure people with Tourette's are employed around the place.

Be kind to people with disabilities - you may end up with one yourself.

Of course if you detect a teensy weensy dollop of sarcasm - good on you.

4 months ago report
1. Tom Hennessy
  
  Retired
  
  In reply to Stephen John Ralph
  
  "As indeed I'm sure people with Tourette's are employed around the place."
  
  Many people with Tourette's cannot be given 'full reign' based strictly 'civil rights' , because they act way to weird and cannot control their weirdness.
  
  "3 Men With Tourettes On A Holiday"
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtCUYUBOnzk
  
  4 months ago report
Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui

logged in via Facebook

All members of society are interested in the due observance of the Laws of Nature, hence they have all a right to praise or condemn another man's actions according as they are conformable or contrary to these laws. They have even a kind of obligation in this respect, lest men be wanting in their duty to society and to individuals, were they not to testify, at least by their approbation or censure, the esteem they have for probity and virtue, and their aversion, on the contrary, to iniquity and vice…
Read more

All members of society are interested in the due observance of the Laws of Nature, hence they have all a right to praise or condemn another man's actions according as they are conformable or contrary to these laws. They have even a kind of obligation in this respect, lest men be wanting in their duty to society and to individuals, were they not to testify, at least by their approbation or censure, the esteem they have for probity and virtue, and their aversion, on the contrary, to iniquity and vice.

1) Same-sex marriage is not a useful law, as it does not tend to the preservation and perfection of man.

2) Same-sex marriage is not a just law, as it does not conform to the will of the supreme legislator; whether that be called “God” or “Evolution”.

3) Same-sex marriage is not an honest law, as it is not: conformable to the maxims of right reason, agreeable to the dignity of our nature, nor deserving of the approbation of man.

Those who take part in same-sex marriage are well acquainted with the Laws of Nature which they ought to follow, but they see themselves as their own judges leaving their whims and passions left unchecked, and they understand no obligation to contain themselves within the limits of that regard and respect which they owe to civil society, the tranquility of families, and the happiness of children. They deem themselves the arbiter of their own actions, pridefully announcing the right to being the judge themselves, both of Natural and Civil Laws, and of the manner in which they ought to apply them. This independence and excessive liberty must only be productive of disorder and confusion anytime there happens to be a clashing of their interests and passions with civil society.

Under a just and beneficent jurisprudence, followers of Natural Law are accordingly administered invincible liberty in both actions and speech; while concomitant to vice and confusion, liberty is necessarily oppressed. The height of felicity and prudence is to know how to guard against vice and confusion; as to banish licentiousness, and yet be no way introductive to tyranny. What is most evident with the legislation of same-sex marriage is that debauchery has become sovereign, the Laws of Nature perverted, the virtuous condemned, and the true felicity of mankind hampered by a quagmire of evil and ignorance; rendering the “Blessings of Liberty” a curse, and in time, reducing the “Land of the Free” to the most abject slavery.

Same-sex marriage proponents are the vicious oppressors of liberty. They are the malevolent bigots driven by their own prideful prejudices into seeking vengeance; whether it be by slandering anyone with whom they disagree by labeling them a “homophobe”, demanding the criminalization of anyone who refuses them service, mandatory indoctrination of our youth by the State, or the destruction of religious charities and institutions; their agenda violates the very maxims of Natural Law leaving them only the tyranny of legislative oppression as their ONLY justification.

18 days ago report
1. Stephen John Ralph
  
  carer
  
  In reply to Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
  
  You certainly have a right to your beliefs, and I would not try to convince you otherwise.
  
  I may however judge you myself for your beliefs, in fact I already have - but that is beside the point.
  
  I have no quarrel with religion where those followers/adherents do not have any power over non-believers to persuade, cajole, legislate against, intimidate etc them.
  
  You can believe in pigs that fly for all I care, but as long as you don't hold me to account other than to personally judge me, I'm fine with your opinions.
  
  If you or your religion chooses to denigrate or judge me and others within the confines of your religion - please go ahead. But don't expect me to benignly accept your public declarations without protesting.
  
  You can condemn me to whatever "hell" you choose...it's a place you may believe in - but I certainly don't.
  
  18 days ago report
2. Michael Leonard Furtado
  
  Dr at University of Queensland
  
  In reply to Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui
  
  Bejasus, Jean-Jacques! This diatribe seems straight out of twelvth century Thomism. You might have taken a leaf out of your namesake, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Enlightenmentarian thesis, by bothering to inform yourself of major developments in moral philosophy since that time.
  
  If you had, you'd have discovered the development of an ontological morality that has left Aquinas's teleology for dead by pointing to its many fallacies, some of which are now accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, which…
  Read more
  
  Bejasus, Jean-Jacques! This diatribe seems straight out of twelvth century Thomism. You might have taken a leaf out of your namesake, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Enlightenmentarian thesis, by bothering to inform yourself of major developments in moral philosophy since that time.
  
  If you had, you'd have discovered the development of an ontological morality that has left Aquinas's teleology for dead by pointing to its many fallacies, some of which are now accepted by the Roman Catholic Church, which is the global institution most committed to adhering to Thomist reasoning, not simply on matters of bioethicism, but also social justice.
  
  I suspect that the antediluvian outrage with which you express yourself, and responsible for resuscitating this blog, relates to the recent success in the French Parliament of a bill to equalise same sex marriage. You might note in passing that the person leading the opposition to this legislation has the singular misfortune to be named 'Frigide'. (I might add that I'm not surprised;))))
  
  Vive La France! Vive La Liberte! Vive l'Equalite! Vive Le Fraternite!
  Vive La France!
  
  18 days ago report
3. Michael Leonard Furtado
  
  Dr at University of Queensland
  
  In reply to Stephen John Ralph
  
  Sacre Couer...pardon...Bleu, Stephane Jean! Please don't allow this fool get you down.
  
  There's plenty of evidence from good scripture scholarship that "hell" itself is a Greco-Roman import, which Jesus the Jew knew nothing and was even less concerned about. He need only pick up the scholarly research of Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong to learn that Jesus did not even consider himself to be God or the founder of a religion that came to be known as Christianity, itself the product of the…
  Read more
  
  Sacre Couer...pardon...Bleu, Stephane Jean! Please don't allow this fool get you down.
  
  There's plenty of evidence from good scripture scholarship that "hell" itself is a Greco-Roman import, which Jesus the Jew knew nothing and was even less concerned about. He need only pick up the scholarly research of Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong to learn that Jesus did not even consider himself to be God or the founder of a religion that came to be known as Christianity, itself the product of the feverish political mind-set and power-play of the Roman Emperor Constantine.
  
  Much of what we call Christianity is therefore socially constructed to take on a variety of sometimes contradictory meanings to suit politico-cultural impulses, realities, imperatives and contexts that are far removed from the little we know about the authentic Jesus. Even Aristotle himself, upon whose interesting but tedious legal teleology, Jean-Jacques bases his archaic judgments, knew nothing and cared still less about religion.
  
  The La Trobe sociologist, John Carroll, himself an agnostic, shows himself to be one of our better Marcan scholars and exegists. Carroll's book, The Existential Jesus, is among the best available and is currently the subject of a series of homilies at St Mary's-in-Exile, South Brisbane, to where the Catholic priest, Peter Kennedy, was ousted by his Archbishop three years ago for his determined efforts to demythologise religion and contribute to an understanding of a faith as a spiritual vehicle for exploring moral complexity and growth.
  
  Sadly the ignorance that pervades the rants of people like Jean-Jacques, does the very opposite of this and enslaves genuine searchers after complex moral truths. The greatest tragedy is that Monsieur Burlamaqui has evidently never read Feodor Dostoyevsky or Albert Camus, all the more easily through which to interrogate his own essentialist beliefs rather than dump a load of outdated, absurd and, as the author of this blog shows, disempowering and abusive invective on others.
  
  17 days ago report
4. Stephen John Ralph
  
  carer
  
  In reply to Michael Leonard Furtado
  
  Michael, I just let this guy get to me in a very shallow way - deep down I'm all calm.
  
  But I've had the Christian biblical quotes on homosexuality thrust upon me for a big part of my life.
  
  From people who don't go to church, never search their inner being for moral truths and in truth would not come close to being "christian". These are people that probably break 9 of the ten commandments on a daily basis, but choose to denounce homosexuality cos it says so in the bible.
  
  The hypocrisy is breath-taking.
  
  Most religions are so laden with myths that truths (if there are any) have been distorted and obfuscated to suit the ignorant.
  
  17 days ago report
5. Michael Leonard Furtado
  
  Dr at University of Queensland
  
  In reply to Stephen John Ralph
  
  Valiant Stephen, I agree with you completely. In case it isn't your forte, most of the mainstream Churches do not teach that the Christian Scriptures condemn homosexuality.
  
  In fact, the Sodom and Gommorah narrative is about inhospitality and the predatory exploitation of strangers and not at all about sexuality, while invoking Leviticus, from which the commandments are derived, provides no solace for homophobes because of its patently absurd proscription of almost everything. Indeed Jesus himself…
  Read more
  
  Valiant Stephen, I agree with you completely. In case it isn't your forte, most of the mainstream Churches do not teach that the Christian Scriptures condemn homosexuality.
  
  In fact, the Sodom and Gommorah narrative is about inhospitality and the predatory exploitation of strangers and not at all about sexuality, while invoking Leviticus, from which the commandments are derived, provides no solace for homophobes because of its patently absurd proscription of almost everything. Indeed Jesus himself wasn't too sure about ten but enjoined his followers to love God and their neighbour.
  
  For what its worth, scriptural injunctions against homosexuality are at best speculative - given several accounts, such as the story of David and Jonathan, that offer a precisely contrary view. Thus homophobic attitudes rest mainly upon a classical Greco-Roman philosophy, espoused by Aristotle, on the so-called laws of nature, as he observed them.
  
  These were appropriated by Thomas Aquinas to provide an all-embracing hermaneutic for Catholic moral philosophy that simply will not hold up any more to the many complex moral challenges of the modern world, which accordingly have shifted towards ontological (or situation ethics) assessments.
  
  There's also much guff in circulation about Catholic social teaching, especially popularised in recent times by the British philosopher and theologian, Phillip Blond.
  
  In fact, the teleological basis for Catholic social teaching provides almost no opportunity for addressing issues of injustice in the modern world, as a result of which liberation theology took its place in the hearts and minds of many, especially in the developing world, only to be stamped out by John Paul II and others, such as the conservative Anglican, Edward Norman, as too collectivist.
  
  Consequently Catholic social teaching has retreated into relative silence on social justice questions, to make way for the obsession with bioethicism that currently totally preoccupies the Catholic moral mindset.
  
  Indeed, homosexuality was an accepted mode of pairing in the Greco-Roman world, while natural law theory shot through with naturalistic fallacies, though after the Dominican scholar, Jerome Toner, pointed this out, such argumentation was subsequently quashed within the Catholic Church.
  
  The most scandalous example of this was when Paul VI overrode the advice of his own advisory committee during Vatican II and prohibited the use of contraception in marriage.
  
  Given the extent to which so many members of the Catholic clergy are now known to have been involved in child abuse, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Catholic Church is obsessed with matters of human sexuality to the exclusion of a wider and more pastoral teaching human relationships.
  
  The leading Aristotelian natural lawyer, Martha Nussbaum, has in any case often commented on the misuse and abuse of his philosophy by Thomistic canon lawyers, especially when they pontificate on complex matters of human relationship that they evidently have little or no experience of in the marital sphere. (cf. my first post in this blog about their absurd written opinionising surrounding my own marital annulment).
  
  Keep up the valorising commentary, Stephen. When good people don't speak up, evil obtains! For us gay people the most important task is to ensure that we never cede the argument that the only sexual morality is celebrated within heterosexual marriage.
  
  17 days ago report
6. Stephen John Ralph
  
  carer
  
  In reply to Michael Leonard Furtado
  
  Very interesting comments - thanks Michael.
  
  I agree that in many religions, but in this case Christianity, it not so much about what is written, but how people will choose only the parts that allow them to be smugly judgemental about other fellow humans.
  
  17 days ago report

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