Believe it or not ...
By grandpa_lash
@grandpa_lash (5225)
Australia
September 5, 2012 11:28pm CST
Tasmania, Australia's smallest and currently only "liberal" state, has just passed a gay marriage act. This is ironic, in that Tasmania was the last state, by some margin, to decriminalise homosexuality, but a welcome development.
In the debate prior to passing the Bill, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby declared that statistics showed that it was healthier to smoke tobacco than to practise homosexuality. He based this pontification on the figures which show a high degree of drug and alcohol abuse and suicide among gay men.
Perhaps it might be wiser of him to consider that the pressures of being a gay man in a culture which harbours fools like him is a major factor in their behaviour - the hopelessness, for instance, of not being allowed to publicly declare their love and committment in the same way straight Australians can, and not being allowed to practise their form of sexuality without the threat of beatings (or worse) by homophobic men, including, sadly, a lot of police.
Bigotry will probably never die, more's the pity. And ain't it odd, how often bigotry and religious belief go hand in hand.
Lash
2 people like this
1 response
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Sep 12
Anthropology attracts people who are interested in knowing how to understand the balance between differences and similarities among cultures, but the main thing it taught me is that there is no substantive difference between races. Lots of cosmetic differences, lots of different ways to do the same things, but the end result is that it is the same things. All cultures have the same balance of needs and wants, strengths and weaknesses, intelligence and stupidity. A fundamentalist Muslim is not one iota different from a fundamentalist Baptist, or Catholic, or Jew, or Economic Rationalist - they are twins under the skin. Unfortunately, I have also learned that most people are stupid, which is embarrassing for someone who has tried to fight elitism most of his life. But yes, it is the same all over.
Lash
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30953)
• United States
7 Sep 12
I love it...Brownie, just a week ago you accused me of discrimination for calling you Brownie and here you are. Awesome!
Grandpa, I could not agree with you more. We have the same issues here in the states pretty much only maybe not as severe as where you are. And yes, religion all too often is a factor in the argument. Try to get them to leave religion out of their argument and most of them can't. In fact, I have never been able to get one person who is against it to give me a solid reason as to just why it personally bothers them so much that they feel these people should not have the same rights as a hetro couple. Just give a reason without resorting to religion...they can not. here's an interesting article which I may have shown you in another discussion.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1815538,00.html
I had a conversation with a doctor about this issue and if you do some research, it seems there have been several studies done on this. It's pretty interesting reading.@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Sep 12
To be honest, he is just one of a small but powerful Christian lobby, and on the whole religion tends not to be a political issue in Australia. This last 3 or 4 years is, in fact, the first time it has ever been noticeable. Watching both political and religious forums here, I would say that the problem is ten times worse in the US.
Lash
