Civil Rights, Race, Sexual Orientation, and Religious Beliefs

I write this Hub as a response to a random question I encountered on the Site, from someone whom I presume is a resident of the United States. Though defending civil rights for gay, bi, lesbian, trans, and queer folks is not exactly the same as defending them for "skin color," they are comparable. Defending civil rights for queer people is also similar to defending the right to practice one's religion.

Race is not just about skin colour, but is meant to make a moral comment on the suitability of an entire group of people's way of life. White missionaries and soldiers, starting about 600 years ago, created the category of race in order to justify an allegedly Christian right to own the world. Anyone who resisted was demonized and sub-human. Darker skin tones were associated with moral debasement, physical ugliness, and sexual license of all kinds. Still to this day, there are stereotypes associated with Black men about aggression and sexual violence, and with Black women about loose morals. In healthy situations, "race" denotes not just skin colour, but honours both beauty of human biological difference and the choices that humans make to sustain their common lives, nurture the vulnerable, and curb social chaos. As a Caucasian male, I would certainly not argue that all of the communal choices of "Whites" have been healthy--not by a long shot. But I do believe that I should be allowed to honour my ancestors and the gifts that my community gives me. That is part of what "race" is about.

Sexual orientation and gender identity have much the same influence. For the purposes of this argument, it doesn't matter whether sexual orientation or gender identity is biological or environmental--most wise folks argue some combination of the two. Just as "race" or "biological sex" have quite a lot to do with how an individual views the world, so too does sexual orientation and gender identity. Sexual activity with the same gender-sex is only one part of the picture. Queer identity also has to do with culture--with the ability to nurture the vulnerable, with finding where one belongs in a hostile world, with curbing harm and injury.

You might, for religious reasons, object to homosexuality. I am a Christian, and I think I could give you good reasons why Christian objections to homosexuality are misguided. But if we make a distinction between the right to believe as you wish and your right to enforce those beliefs upon people who disagree, then surely civil rights--including marriage--for queer folks would tend to follow? We do not believe that we are less than heterosexual people or immoral simply because we have intimate relationships with people of our own gender-sexes. Just because many people believe that we are inferior, doesn't mean we are. Or just because some think that our ways of life are inferior, doesn't mean they are.

The right to civil protection for queer people is probably most equivalent to freedom of religion in our society. But even religions are communities that form meaning, like race, sex, and sexual orientation are. Civil rights for queer people is about allowing people to find the meaning of their own lives without the pressure of needing to conform to ideas of which we are not persuaded. And it is about allowing access to institutions like civil marriage that many people feel give increased meaning and stability to our communities, and to society as a whole.

There are, of course, all sorts of other things to say--but the problem with a conversation like this one is that I can't say everything I believe about all the relevant factors at the same time.