Why is that? Might that not be an indication that there’s something wrong with the way we do business or build relationships? Could it be because our approach to business is too cut-throat and ugly? Should we not aim to improve our business practises or ethics to the point that this is no longer a problem? Or alternatively, might the problem be that our relationships with friends or family aren’t honest or direct enough, or too fragile, a house of cards that collapses under too much pressure?

People of the Jewish culture supposedly don’t have this problem. (Stereotypes… hmmm.) What do they do differently?

Today I heard a story of a family that was torn apart. Kids still in school, the father left the mother for another man. Apparently the one child heard at school that her “daddy now has a boyfriend”.

Now your “conservatives” will moan about the evils of homosexuality and complain that the father was “sinful” in being unable to exercise “self-discipline” to stick to the marriage. As much as I agree with them on how sad it is when families are torn apart, I have a slightly different take on the matter. In fact, the key element here is this:

Homosexuality is not a choice.

There are enough studies on the matter, I have enough friends that can confirm that fact. I can’t believe there is still any argument about this. How about this then: Former leaders of ex-gay ministry in U.S. apologize for “bringing harm”. Some more information on that can be found at BeyondExGay.com. I could even be politically incorrect and point out that sexual orientation apparently ‘affects map reading skills’ (I must skeptically wonder if this study was published in a reputable peer-reviewed journal).

So back to the point: I agree broken families is bad. But what is the cause of this brokenness? In my opinion, the greatest evil is society expecting of individuals to live against their own nature. (And I can quote Paul on this, you must realise.) The thing that split this family apart, in my opinion, was most likely the social pressure that forced a gay person into a straight marriage, forced him to live a lie. Yes, leaving your marriage is an ugly thing to do, especially when you have young children that needs a secure environment to grow up healthy, but I want to know, why was he in that marriage in the first place? All those people pointing the finger and saying “gay! evil!”, I blame those people.

With regards to Christian doctrine, I can lend you books by Christian theologians that disagree strongly with the anti-gay perspective, and argue their case from serious study of scripture. If that blows your hair back. I could argue from values such as compassion, which is what Jesus taught. I could point you at Another Look at Homosexuality and Christianity, on de-conversion.com, a site for people driven to apostasy by the wrongs committed and silliness claimed in the name of Christianity. Or I can sit back, throw my hands in the air and just call you hypocrites. What would be the most effective course of action? (And yes, I’m also a hypocrite. Please point out my hypocrisy to me, as you might be able to see it more easily than I.)

Furthermore, I could point you at a study performed on fruit flies, where they were able to turn homosexuality on and off at will, through use of a drug. (This was a study in Nature Neuroscience. Here is a summary.) This opens a can of worms: if you could choose your orientation through use of drugs or something like “gene therapy” or genetic engineering, would you or should you? Meddling with your own nature, um, “as ordained by God”, some would say? Of course, there is a huge difference between fruit flies and humans (with creationists even claiming they don’t share a common ancestor, grmph), and similar scientific advances on humans might be a very, very far way off, but it is thought provoking and potentially worthwhile to ponder. Has any Sci-Fi investigated this idea yet?

Let’s end off on a more humorous note (or it would be humorous if it wasn’t so sad): 12 Reasons Why Same-Sex Marriage will Ruin Society.