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Gay Marriage
I have seen no discussions on the topic of gay marriage here. Other forums with thousands of people I visited have had good debates about this issue. I will lay down several points and feel free to criticize, commend, comment, or threaten me. :orange:
First of all, I know of buddhists on other forums who have come to Buddhism because it is much more accepting than the stricter western religions. Although I am not friends with any gays personally, I became very sympathetic of them around elections last year. I have no problem with someone being gay, and other than bible quoting, I have seen no evidence of such lifestyle being immoral in any way. And I have nothing against them joining the military or getting married either.
Am I too liberal here? Non-traditionalist? I am taught in school that homosexuals should not act upong their impulses.
Do gays choose who they are attracted to or are they born like this? Input appreciated...
First of all, I know of buddhists on other forums who have come to Buddhism because it is much more accepting than the stricter western religions. Although I am not friends with any gays personally, I became very sympathetic of them around elections last year. I have no problem with someone being gay, and other than bible quoting, I have seen no evidence of such lifestyle being immoral in any way. And I have nothing against them joining the military or getting married either.
Am I too liberal here? Non-traditionalist? I am taught in school that homosexuals should not act upong their impulses.
Do gays choose who they are attracted to or are they born like this? Input appreciated...
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Comments
Look, what purpose does it serve to tell others who they can and cannot "marry"? The whole marriage construct is just something created by either religious or legal entities anyway. If you pare it down, marriage ultimately means nothing.
Asking "what does buddhism say about gay marriage" basically creates an assumption that some nebulous body called 'buddhism' has anything to say about any sort of behavior that individuals participate in. It is not in anybody's best interest to tell others what to do or how to live, most especially about personal choices. In fact, for a buddhist to tell somebody else what they can and cannot do is the antithesis of the buddhist path.
On a side note: What in the hell kind of a school do you go to where they talk about homosexuality like that? That's completely disgusting that they would dare say homosexuals "should not act upon their impulses." I weep for my country when I hear things like this
It's just another label. White, black, gay, straight, goth, prep, hippie, good, bad, pro-this, anti-that....etc. Just another word for another way to separate ourselves. We are all humans. We are all trapped in samsara. No difference at all when you really think about it.
There is nothing in Buddhism that says anything negative about same sex partners, and I don't waste my time worrying about how to separate people more from me than they already are. I could care less. I think that anyone should be able to marry anybody else that they are in love with (as long as they are mentally competent and of legal age of course).
What I don't understand is why these big stuffed shirt politicians are concerned about who marries who and yet we have no problem in having hundreds or thousands of nuclear missles that could destroy the world and we sell these nuclear materials to people overseas.
I was called many harsh names last year about my essay final when I chose to write about this topic. But many famous people are or were gay...Alexander the Great, Ian McKellan, Ellen Degeneras, and many more. Not to mentions the several 100,000 homosexuals murdered in the holocaust. That's why you see the pink triangles in their parades. They were forced to wear these in the camps. Of course you were even worse in Nazi Germany if you wore a pink star of David in the camps.
I agree with everything you've said. The great thing I've found about Buddhism is no one cares really what your sexual orientation is or your color or your age or whatever. That's not what Buddhism is about. Those are impermanent things that will someday go the way of all impermanent things. A lot of the monks and nuns at our temple are gay, and the reason they're Buddhists is because of that fact. They don't have to worry about being condemned or judged or looked down on. They're just members of the sangha like anybody else. Now, sometimes a sangha member will come out with some anti-gay slur or something, but that is their deluded mind talking. Generally when that happens we'll talk about it and "correct" the attitude. We've had very good success doing that because it has come up a few times with the straight sangha members who probably didn't even realize they had the prejudice in the first place. Once it's pointed out to them, they're almost always receptive and glad to talk about it because they just didn't know.
As for gay marriage, I have no problem with it nor am I particularly for it. Marriage to me is just another form of attachment, and Buddhism is about cutting attachments to achieve liberation. But hey, if it makes someone happy, no problem. I don't think it'll destroy the moral fabric of the West. Nowhere near as much as George W. and his cronies are anyway! :winkc:
Palzang
Basically, I don't care if gays get married or not. I don't care if it's legal or not because I don't think it hurts gays if it is not legal and I don't think it hurts straights if it is legal.
Much ado about nothing.
As for whether it's genetic or a choice, or whatever, I figure that sexual tastes are a lot like other tastes. For instance, I absolutely hate fish, but I love chocolate. Some of that's hormonal and genetic - my tongue might pick up some tastes others don't and vice versa, and my dad was a chocoholic. But a piece of it's environmental - I didn't start having nausea at the sight of some foods till they were literally forced down my throat. Whatever the exact combination of nature and nurture, I don't ask to crave chocolate and at times I do wish I liked fish since it would be healthier to eat some seafood. Coincidentally, many religions have codes about eating that are just as judgemental as those about sex. I both cases, I think everyone needs to make their own decisions about what they want and what they believe is right, and then let others make their own decisions. Can you imagine if they outlawed chocolate where you live? That's hard enough. Now why should we outlaw two adults from having the relationship they want?
It's too bad that your personality and beliefs are being so stifled in that environment.
And I'm all for gay marriage. My best friend is gay, and he's one of the most moral people I know.
They don't receive the same tax breaks, insurance benefits, laws that protect the spouse in case they become widowed, etc.
I honestly think that most gays don't really care what we think about them. I don't think they worry about labels or acceptance in society. By the time they've come out in the open and stated their sexual preference - their probably long past worrying about what someone else thinks about them.
But I could be wrong
They just want the same protection that hetrosexual marriages have enjoyed for a long time.
-bf