I shudder at the news that a number of church groups have, unsolicited by the government, collected a few thousand representations objecting to legislation to outlaw discrimination against homosexuals.
This makes me question whether the Catholic Church is sincere in its basic tenet of preaching about love, compassion and non-discrimination.
Would the church, or the anti-gay lobby in general, discriminate in this way against other underprivileged groups like the physically sick or handicapped? As a gay person myself, I can say that being gay is in every way as crippling to one's life as a physical disability - in fact, more so, as one is destined to be deprived of a normal family life.
The anti-gay lobby would say that it views gays differently from the physically handicapped because the former have chosen to be physically attracted to people of their own sex and refuse to 'reform' themselves. And, more important, because condoning homosexuality would induce more people (especially the young and impressionable) to become homosexuals, thus undermining the very basis of family life.
How wrong. I can say with authority that I was born with this sexual orientation, and would gladly give anything to be rid of it. Given the social stigma and discrimination, not to mention passing up a normal family life, would anyone in his right mind choose to be gay of his own free will?
All my life I have tried desperately to 'reform', but in vain. You cannot make a gay man straight any more than you can make a straight man sexually attracted to men, however hard you may try. The fear about this 'disease' spreading among the younger generation is groundless.
I do not only speak for myself, but for all the homosexuals that I know. Some of them may have 'come out', but more (like myself) are leading a closeted life, for obvious reasons. Still, we all have to deal with the same unspeakable anguish and stigma as long as we live.