Equality, Neurology, Multiculturalism, Religion, and Legislation

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the common law." -- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

     We are not all "created equally."  We do not get born with a blank slate, in a state of original sin, or in a state of innocence.  A blank slate is quasi-psychology.  Original sin vs. innocence is a religious vs. philosophical debate.  I will have none of that.  We just get born.

     Our Apgar scores are different at birth.  We are not all born with the same one.  We are not born in identical states of health.  Some babies are sickly.  Some are robust.  Some are in-between the two.  As babies grow, their personalities, behaviors, reactions to stimuli, likes and dislikes all become increasingly evident.  

     We humans vary from each other in intelligence, abilities, personality traits, and neurology.  Whether our differences are determined by genetics or environment or some combination, we do not all have the same chances in life.  One child excels in mathematics at school.  Another struggles.  One child is able to manipulate pens and pencils and art supplies with skill.  Another not so much.  A third has perception problems which renders their work in art class as slovenly or jumbled.

     In our awkward haste to assure ourselves that we are all human beings underneath the scariness of our differences, we are subject to shoving aside those differences and join in the chorus of the litany of "Why won't theys?" sometimes asked in slightly different formats:  Why won't they get clean?  Why can't they snap out of their funk?  Why don't they do something else when after all they themselves admit that what they are doing is not working?  Why do they refuse to get off welfare/disability/the public dole and get a job like everybody else?  Why don't they just get over "it"?  Sometimes I get tired/ don't feel like working/ drink too on weekends but I take care of my responsibilities/ go to work/ control my drinking.  What's wrong with them?  

     And hey, this nation was founded as a christian nation.  Women should not abort ever.  Kids ought to pray in school.  It's majority rules.  Atheists/ muslims/ hindus/ blacks/ whites/ drug addicts/ those crazed tea party folks ought to.  Such a shame she is fat-- she has such a pretty face.  When I get old and incontinent, that is the time to smother me with the pillow.  Death panels.  [Note:  We already have them-- they are called insurance companies.  When an insurance company denies coverage for certain conditions or medical procedures, yeah sometimes the patients die].  Political correctness.  You think you got it tough now do ya?  When I was young. 

     As individuals, we are alike enough to [hopefully] recognize each other as human.  But we retain our differences which ensure that we do not all have equal chances at success.  Some folks may give in to their laziness [yes, I've been there but now I can call myself on it and then go do what needs doing].  Some folks with traumatic brain injuries have malfunctioning frontal lobes which cause them to not be able to initiate activities.  Some folks may have lesions in the left side of their brains which [dependent upon the location] may dictate limited insight.  If you possess insight into your problems, you can thank the left side of your brain.  You can set goals and take steps to achieve them?  Thank your functioning frontal lobe.  Sometimes some of us make excuses for our bad behaviors.  Sometimes there is an underlying neurology at work.  I know what I don't know today.  And I know what I know.

     Anchoring-- the act of deciding what is correct and what isn't-- is an attribute or action that occurs within our brains.  This anchoring has evolutionary value.  When a group of people are able to decide what is acceptable, what isn't, and consequences for those who don't follow the protocol, there is a society, a civilization, a culture, and a legal structure.  When anchoring is not working as well as it should in a person, that person is apt to try on many different behaviors and values.  When anchoring works too well, a person will hold on to old explanations long after they have been found to be inadequate.

     Not every culture is worthy of admiration all of the time.  On one hand we have advances in mathematics and medicine, architecture and the arts, education and electricity.  On the other we have child brides,  forced marriages,  genital mutilation of females, genocides,  politicians who excel at being reckless with the truth, and shady governmental agencies whose function is to spy on everyone everywhere.  Cultures are neither equally admirable nor are they equally humane.  In the rush to embrace multi-culturalism, we ignore the truth that not all cultures are "equal" at our own peril.

     Any group that thinks of itself as elite or possessing special knowledge and thereby desires to impose its' cultural beliefs and values upon "everyone" is capable of evil.  Besides the obvious example of the German Nazis and the Holocaust, there is the conflict between two artificially created tribes in Rwanda, one buddhist sect warring with another buddhist sect in Cambodia, the roman catholic church desiring to impose it's stand on abortion and end of life care upon everyone to the point where hospitals are being bought up all over various communities in the United States by catholic organizations.  And the kicker-- now corporations have "feelings," borrowing a phrase from Stephen Colbert.  

     Catholic employers don't want to have to pay for birth control for its' women employees via employment-based healthcare plans.  It doesn't matter that these same catholic employers accept public funding for payment of some hospital bills.  It doesn't matter whether or not the women are themselves believers.  And yeah there are other reasons for using birth control [pills]-- to control abnormally heavy menses and in the treatment of certain estrogen-stimulated cancers to name two of them.  Politicians and employers and religious entities, please remove yourselves from my vagina.  What I decide regarding birth control, a morning after pill in the case of rape, abortion in order to save my health or my life or in cases where the fetus is not viable [such as one without a brain stem] is quite frankly none of your damn business.  All of those things ought to be between me and my medical doctor.  And since when is the life or the health of a woman of less value than the life of a fetus?

     With the repeal of D.O.M.A., Governor Huckabee expressed his butt-hurt on Twitter (registered trademark).  That is his right.  Folks responded by tweeting their agreement or non-agreement, as is their right.  In expressing my disagreement with his views, I did not engage in name-calling.  Respectful disagreement does not require such.  Part of my expressed opinion involved the idea that as adults, we [ought to] get to choose who we love [as long as the lover is another adult].  Some folks are monosexual.  Some folks are bisexual.  Some folks are asexual.  My niece married her [female] lover recently.  We came together as a community to publicly affirm and support their marriage.

     We are not enslaved by our sexual orientation.  Those non-straight folks who are committed a religion which forbids homosexual activity can certainly decide to remain celibate if they choose to do so.  In a state of celibacy, the attraction to one gender is not acted upon.  [Voluntary celibacy is certainly financially cheaper than attending certain ex-gay seminars and treatments].  Other non-straight folks, along with some straight folks, choose to work within the framework of their chosen religions in order to effect change.  Thus we now have Dignity, Integrity, and other groups within the bodies of some religious bodies.

     Yeah, I think our government should get out of the marriage business altogether.  If two adults are granted legal recognition of their partnership by a judge, that should be referred to as a civil union.  If two adults are married by clergy-- catholic, baptist, buddhist, pentecostal, hindu, pagan, jewish, b'nai, muslim, unitarian, or other-- that marriage should be referred to as a marriage.  Both should have the same rights and responsibilities.

     Whether or not the United States ever was a christian nation, it certainly isn't one now.  There are people here of every belief and of no belief.  Yet, there are times when the rights of people to practice the religion of their choosing are protected over the rights of people who do not practice a religion.  

      The removal of bike lanes from a heavily hasidic populated area of Brooklyn so that hasidic  men would not be subjected to scantily clad women on bicycles is a law that put religious beliefs over public safety. [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/bike_war_paint_g7EizkFEZktV3IlNUJosQM].  In another known incident, an attempt was made to apply an anti-sodomy law to two same-gendered adults who were allegedly having anal sex in the privacy of their own residence.  [Lawrence vs. Texas, 2003.  http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_laws4.htm].  The actual alleged incident occurred in 1998 and was allegedly reported by a neighbor who may have allegedly harbored ill-feeling toward the two men.  A protracted legal battle resulted.  

      Yes, Rick Santorum [and Governor Mike Huckabee], I certainly do support the right of two consenting adults to engage in sexual expression of their choosing within the privacy of their own residence.  I support the right of a woman to abort a fetus-- especially if her life or her health is endangered by the pregnancy.  I support the right of two adults to be recognized as a legal domestic partnership or as a marriage-- their choice.  I support laws which are lobbied for by religious people so long as those laws do not infringe upon the rights of non-religious people.  [Hasidic jews do not "own" the streets of Brooklyn.  If they do not wish to be subjected to the ranks of un-modestly garbed bicyclists, they can avert their eyes or better yet, build and reside in a gated hasidic community].  I support the existence of public education as a secular education.  [Those that wish a sectarian education can home-school or attend a school which is run by a religious outfit].  I have no desire to force my non-theism on others.  I am willing to respect the fact that you believe.  Please respect the fact that I do not share your beliefs.  

radical sapphoq 
      




  

To Matt Barber, To All Teens Everywhere

To Matt Barber,

Quite frankly, I am glad that you are not my father.  My father never would have told me that I am other than who I am.  He respects my autonomy.  He knows that he does not own me.

It is the height of arrogance to assume that you can define your children as "gay" or "not gay" regardless of their sexual attraction.  While it is true that a gay man or a lesbian or a bisexual can decide not to act on physical urges for a sexual relationship with others of the same gender, they do not cross over into heterosexuality by doing so.  They will be who they are-- gay, lesbian, or bisexual-- even if and when they choose celibacy.

Our children will always be our children.  If our children are fortunate, they will grow into adolescence.  Those teens who are lucky will survive into adulthood.  Part of the parenting process involves letting go of our children as we perceive them.  Whether or not we "allow" our kids to be who they are, they are going to be who they are.  Whether or not we "believe" that a few of our kids are not straight, they are going to be who they are.  When my niece came out as a lesbian, I celebrated her willingness to live her life in an honest and truthful manner.  I love my niece exactly as she is today.  Her parents do also.  She is quite lucky that you are not her parent.

Your non-acceptance of non-heterosexuality in teens who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual is your problem.  If you are ever faced with this issue within your family, I hope that you will attend several meetings of P-FLAG.  You will still be a Christian after P-FLAG with your same objections to non-heterosexuality.  Of that I am sure.  The parents in P-FLAG have been where you are.  They learned how to accept non-heterosexuality in their family members.  So can you.  You can accept that your family member is not straight while still maintaining a warm, loving relationship with that family member.

I am not going to even attempt to sway you from your religious stance against homosexuality, lesbianism, or bisexuality.  You have a right to believe as you will.  And yes, you have a right to express your beliefs in the manner that you have expressed them in your open letter to gay [and lesbian and bisexual] teens.  I have a right to express my opinions.  And I have done so, without attacking you as a person.

Your argument that the world's major religions all condemn homosexuality is not satisfactory.  Some of the responses to your blog post indicate that neither the Hindu religion nor the Buddhist sects condemn homosexuality.  Your attempt to throw biology into the mix within the same argument is also not satisfactory.  Strawberries.  Strawberries reproduce in two ways-- sexually and asexually.  Homosexuality does in fact occur in nature.  Ask any farmer who has ever had the misfortune of owning a bull which turned out to be gay.  And even if all of the religions in the universe deny homosexuality a place at the table of salvation in the afterlife, it does not follow that homosexuality should be forbidden to us in this life.  There was a time when the vast majority of people believed that the earth was flat, that the sun revolved around the earth, and that affliction is the result of sin.

Your argument that AIDS is an affliction of gay men is old and tired.  AIDS is a virus, not a sin.  People who have intimate sexual contact with those infected by HIV run the risk of becoming HIV+.  People who share needles with infected people run the risk of becoming HIV+.  People who receive blood transfusions of infected blood products run the risk of becoming HIV+.  Contact has to be made with an infected individual in order to contract the virus.  Heterosexuals do become infected by AIDS.  AIDS is not a disease that is limited to gay men.  We would do better to teach our teens to use protection-- rubbers for the men and dental dams for the women-- when having sex than to tell them that AIDS is a disease of the gay community.  We should also be teaching teens not to share needles.  Addicts who use injectables should have their own set of works if they are not willing or able to decide to quit.  The risk of infection is not limited to needles while using street drugs.  We should also be teaching our teens to insist that any tattoo artists use fresh needles and unopened bottles of ink when getting any future tattoos.  

You did not address transgenderism or inter-sexed states in your open letter to gay teens.  I will do so here even though you did not. A compassionate society would ensure that transgendered folk who wish to transition to their preferred gender could do so.  A compassionate society would also ensure that the medical needs of people born inter-sexed-- that is having characteristics of both sexes-- are provided for.  Those who are born with Androgen Insufficiency Syndrome are male by chromosome studies but are usually raised as female.  This is because AIS individuals do not respond to androgen.  Period.  An AIS female will need surgeries in order to correct genitalia  to an average appearance, estrogen in order to mature sexually, and competent medical services throughout her life.  While it is true that a transgendered person can choose to suppress thoughts and behaviors related to transgenderism-- it's called purging within the community-- this suppression is usually not a long-term "solution."

Again, Matt Barber, it is not okay for any of us to define who someone is.  Identity is personal.  Everyone has to do that for themselves.  You do not own your children.  Please allow your teens the dignity of self-definition.  It is a great tragedy to risk estrangement with your own children as they mature into adults because you could not or would not accept that gay teens, lesbian teens, and bisexual teens do exist regardless of your feelings about the issue.

Thank-you,
radical sapphoq 

 

To all teens everywhere, 

Not all adults and not all Christian adults believe as Matt Barber does.  Hopefully, your parents and families will accept you for who you are.  If they do not, it is their problem. However you choose to walk in the world-- whether straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-folk, intersexed, queer, or questioning-- you deserve not to live a lie.  Whether you choose to be sexually active in whatever degree that makes sense to you or celibate, you deserve to be who you are always.  Whether or not society or your family celebrates who you are, there are people who will.  You are the future.  You will be here after the rest of us are dead.  You deserve the right to define yourselves.  Not even Matt Barber can take that from you. 

Respectfully yours,
radical sapphoq 

 








http://www.wnd.com/2013/02/an-open-letter-to-gay-teens/