What's morally wrong with homosexuality?

INTRODUCTION

What’s morally wrong with homosexuality if anything? And if nothing... what's all the fuzz about?
This is a wonderful, beautiful part of a human experience!
If we're going to deny this to a whole group of people saying "you can’t have that – that’s wrong" we better have a good reason.

THREAT TO NATION'S INFRASTRUCTURE

"Homosexuality is a threat to the moral fabric of our country"

"Its a threat to the nation's infrastructure"
How does what I do in bed threatens the nation's infrastructure?
I might think I'm powerful in bed, but -wow- that’s a crazy claim.

THE PARTS DON'T FIT

They have these arguments in their minds, that the parts don't fit.
...Yes they do!
How do I know? Because if they didn't, people would try it, it wouldn't work and they’d go do something else...

THE WORDS WE USE

When we talk about heterosexuality we talk about that wide range of activities.
When we talk about homosexuality, we focus on the sex part of it!

We say:
"Heterosexual people have relationships".
"Homosexual people have sex".
"Heterosexual people have lives".
"Homosexual people have lifestyles".
"Heterosexual people have a moral vision".
"Homosexual people have an agenda".
The words we use to talk about these things really affect out way of thinking about them.

BIBLICAL CONDEMNATION

When we look to the Christian Bible, we find some things that actually sound pretty negative with respect to same sex relationships.
"Man shall not lie with man as with woman, it is an abomination on to God".
Of course the book calls a number of other things abominations that we don't tend to pay attention to, quite as often.

THE END OF SOCIETY?

There was a priest who wrote to the school paper. He was very upset that I have been invited to give this lecture, and he wrote this long letter to the school paper.
And in his the letter to the school paper one of the things he said, was:
"Of course homosexuality is bad for society.
If everyone were homosexual there would be no society".

I wrote an open letter to father and it said:
"If everyone were roman catholic priest, there would be no society either".

DOESN'T HOMOSEXUALITY CAUSE AIDS?

"What about AIDS"? "Doesn't homosexuality cause AIDS"?
Erm... no!
Virus causes AIDS, and that virus can be pass along by homosexual activity ...by heterosexual activity ...by some activities they are not sexual at all!
And further more, if AIDS risk were somehow supposed to be the barometer of morality ...lesbians would be the most moral people in the world! Because of the stand point of AIDS risk, lesbian sex is the way to go!

ANIMALS DON'T DO THAT

"Homosexuality is unnatural. Animals don't do that".

Since when did animals start providing us with our moral standards?
Particularly in the area of sex?
...
Animals do not provide us with our moral standards, and even if they did, then homosexuality wouldn't be a problem, because not only do animals engage in homosexual sex, some actually form homosexual pare bonds.

WHY DO HOMOSEXUALS FLAUNT IT?

Heterosexual people do this all the time. They talk about their wives and their husbands, their boyfriends and their girlfriends, people they have crushes on ... perfectly normal.

We do the exact same thing, and we're flaunting it. We're making an issue out of it.
And that’s a double standard. And it's not fair.

THE SOLUTION: GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER

I think a big part of this solution, is for straight people to actually get to know gay and lesbian people ... because only then do we come to realize that we have many of the same hopes and dreams, fears and challenges us everyone else.

CONCLUSION

I think the way gay and lesbian people are treated in our society is wrong. Not just irrational but morally wrong.
I think there's something perverted about the fact that we hate people because of whom they love.
We do violence against people, because of the affection that exists in their lives.
And the effects of that treatment are a far greater moral tragedy than sex between consenting adults could ever be.

I'm asking you to put your selves in people's shoes before you judge them.
And I'm asking you to judge people, not on whom they love, but on whether they love.
That's my moral vision.
That's my "agenda".

Dr. John Corvino
http://www.gaymoralist.com/

Dr. John Corvino, a.k.a “The Gay Moralist,” is a writer, speaker, and philosophy professor.
For over 15 years he has been traveling the country speaking on gay rights. Combining philosophical rigor with sensitivity and humor, he challenges all sides of the debate to rethink easy assumptions about homosexuality and morality.
Dr. Corvino holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wayne State. An award-winning teacher, he is also the recipient of a 2004 Spirit of Detroit Award from the Detroit City Council for his work on behalf of GLBT rights.
He has written over 100 articles and opinion pieces, which have appeared in regional and national print media, at the online Independent Gay Forum and in numerous academic journals and anthologies.
Corvino’s column “The Gay Moralist” appears bi-weekly at LOGO Online’s 365gay.com, “America’s Most Read Gay News Source.”