HOMOSEXUALITY AS A LIFESTYLE
Homosexuality is neither a sin nor a pathology, it is an alternative life-style; yet in many Western societies homosexuals continue to be harassed, discriminated against, or, at best, barely tolerated. The fear of persecution, the guilt engendered within a homosexual by societal attitudes, and (as Dr West writes) ‘the intense and irrationally motivated hostility of Anglo-American culture to homosexuals, is to blame for many of the attendant social evils’ which beset homosexuals, shape their identity and distort their lives.
Societal attitudes towards homosexuality, whether overt or covert, although modified in recent years, are still strongly hostile. To be a homosexual is to risk oppression. The oppression may take the form of persecution or harassment by the authorities. It may take the form of discrimination in employment, as employers are reluctant to employ a known homosexual and often sack a homosexual employee who ‘comes out’ and acknowledges his homosexuality. This is especially the case in the teaching profession, although the seduction of children by homosexuals is unusual, as I have mentioned. Even those people who say they are tolerant of homosexuality add to the oppression of homosexuals, as they fail to distinguish between tolerance and acceptance. Homosexuals are victims of the oppression which results from a minority group being treated as figures of fun, to be mocked or derided (as in most films, plays, and ‘fag-stories’). While a homosexual may realize that the gibes of heterosexuals hide deep fears and an irrational hatred of homosexuality, the effect may be to make him insecure or flamboyant.
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