Faith And Homosexuality
Religious Rejection Is Tough Obstacle For Gays
By Michael Lanza

Faith And Homosexuality Religious Rejection Is Tough Obstacle For Gays By Michael Lanza For many people, the issue of gay rights is an issue of faith - and in most cases, sexuality and religion are at odds.

The issue of sexual preference is not addressed in Buddist texts. Most sects accept homosexuals.

Despite gains in much of the secular world, homosexuals face an uphill battle in places where religion plays a prominent role in public policy.

Of the world's four major religions, both mainstream Christianity and Islam, the two largest, vehemently oppose homosexuality - while Buddhism and Hinduism are mostly indifferent.

In the Judeo-Christian and Islamic religious traditions, homosexual relations are considered sins - and same-sex relationships are therefore condemned by the faiths at large.

While many eastern religions do not address homosexuality directly, practitioners of the religions are also influenced by lingering social stigmas.

In India, the world's Hindu center, homosexual acts are illegal - legislation largely driven by prevailing cultural taboos.

"If they're there they suffer silently," Ram Mohan, a religious educator with the Hindu Temple Society of North America in Flushing, said.

Although Hinduism doesn't address the issue in terms of morality, like the Judeo-Christian and Islamic sects, centuries of Islamic rule and western colonialism have influenced modern-Indian culture, Mohan said.

Despite the cultural stigmas associated with homosexuality, gender ambiguity has a surprisingly large role in the Hindu faith and Indian culture.

Shiva, one of Hinduism's primary deities, is often depicted with both male and female attributes, Mohan said. Sexual ambiguity also appears in some scriptures, with stories of male warriors being reincarnated as women and facing rivals from their previous life.

In Indian society, transsexuals, known as Hijra, have ancient roots in India's royal courts and have formed their own social groups and communities. Hijra are traditionally involved in Indian ceremonial birth rights and have divine powers in Indian folklore, Mohan said, although their social clout has been eroded over the centuries.

Hinduism is indifferent, but homosexuality is taboo in Indian culture.

Buddhism and many of the cultures where it is practiced generally take a more open approach on the issue of homosexuality.

"In Buddhism, sexuality is put on the side," Tong Chai, a religious instructor with the Wat Buddha Thai Thavorn Vanaram, a Thai Buddhist temple in Elmhurst, said. "We don't care if you're homosexual, we look at what you're doing - your actions."

Although many Buddhists do not view sexuality as a moral issue, homosexuals can be excluded from becoming Buddhist monks and nuns, Chai said, and all monks and nuns must take a vow of celibacy.

In some Buddhist dominated cultures, homosexuals have gained widespread acceptance both socially and legally.

In Thailand, an androgynous group of transsexuals, known as katoeys, have occupied prominent positions in Thai society, especially in entertainment.

"There's no discrimination at all compared to America, it's totally different," Chai, who lived in Thailand for 30 years, said.

While it's still unclear where the gay rights movement in the United States will go next, legal victories on the issue of gay marriage in California and Massachusetts have given activists cause for hope.

But each victory comes at a cost, as religious activists and social conservatives grow louder in their resistance - making calls for constitutional amendments. It seems that as long as people form opinions based on strict religious interpretations and cultural norms, homosexuals will continue to struggle for real acceptance.