Culture and Homosexuality…

Arguments about culture and homosexuality can become a bit chicken and duck, rather than chicken and egg (see link, below). If like me, you accept that our sexuality is something that we are born with, then culture can become either an enabler or an impediment to the free expression of that sexuality. If, on the other hand, you believe that sexuality (homo- if not hetero-) is learnt behaviour, then the question becomes: what part does culture play in that process? A knot in which many commentators get themselves tied is to always give ascendancy to culture in a collective, homogenised sense. Hence to say, that a particular culture considers homosexuality to be taboo is to delimit the possibility of diversity and dissent. Moreover, as the author of this article reveals, culture is subject not only to change but also to contamination. Christian missionaries, for example, with their repressed sexuality and their sick, evil ways, caused immense harm to every culture upon which they foisted themselves. I would argue that since homosexuality is natural, and homophobia a learned behaviour, we all need to reflect on where our attitudes and behaviours toward GLBTI people came from, and how we might change those attitudes and behaviours for the better…

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/23/homophobia-africa-gay-rights