God loves everyone. I think “everyone” must include anyone with different race, religion, background… But admittedly, in our daily life, there are still commonly more or less prejudices rooted from different reasons everywhere.
According to “Queen to Sign Equal Rights Charter”, the Queen would sign a 16-point document which was in purpose of eliminating discrimination, such as those rooted in gender, race, religion. And the document covers democracy, rule of law, international security and freedom of expression.
This news reminds me that prejudice about sexual orientation in China, which as important as gender, still exists in our life. Denise Ho, the first mainstream female Hong Kong pop star came out of the closet publicly in HK gay pride last November. She stated that there was still discrimination and prejudice and decided to stand out for something. That was one of the biggest entertainment news in Hong Kong last year.
Actually, homosexuality was deleted from the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders quite a few years ago. In first tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, people tend to be respectful to a gay or lesbian. That’s because people there are more open minded as they have received more information about homosexuality. Whereas, in smaller cities in China, many gay men are forced to marry women by the pressure from family and society. Traditional Chinese believe that “there are three ways to be unfilial, the worst is to not produce offspring”. As a consequence, Chinese gays/lesbians still face some prejudice. But in terms of religion, maybe Chinese gays/lesbians are luckier than those in religious countries.
On the other hand, due to the lack of common sense about the channels for sexually transmitted disease(STD), some Chinese people consider gays/lesbians equal to suspected STD patients. As a result, in career or daily life, some gays/lesbians don’t want other people know their sex orientation status so as to avoid any trouble caused by it.
What should we do to eliminate the discrimination of sex orientation? This is a vital issue as more and more gays/lesbians “emerge” in China nowadays. Actually, some people in China such as parents of “homo” have endeavored to tell people that “homo” is natural and cannot be adjusted by any method and persuade people to accept this group as a normal one. But this sound is still very weak in this country. I think more and more gays/lesbians standing up for equality of sexual orientation is the only way to eliminate the prejudice of homosexuality.
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Reference
Interestingly, the document my queen, the impeccably made up Liz 2, has signed does not explicitly mention discrimination on the basis of sexuality. This is interesting because in many of the Commonwealth nations, homosexuality is still illegal, and traditional cultural attitudes are strongly anti-gay and lesbian, for example in Uganda, Malawi and most of the other African members of the commonwealth, the law prescribes long prison sentences for homosexuality and families are likely to disown their own gay or lesbian children if they come out as gay.
ReplyDeleteSince these laws, and even more so the traditional cultural attitudes, are evil, are wholly immoral, this seems to me an excellent example where traditional culture and thinking should be abolished as quickly as possible.
Not surprisingly, these unjust laws and immoral cultural heritages are strongly supported by the Catholic and other Christian churches with their anti-Western, anti-democratic, unreasoning and immoral cultural traditions behind them.
A very thought provoking post by Daniell. I wonder how others feel about the serious issues he raises for discussion.
I checked the full document, which is very short, to see whether or not it does explicitly mention discrimination on the basis of sexuality: it does not. It may or may not be covered by the rather vague and meaningless phrase "other grounds" ("Charter of the Commonwealth", 2012).
DeleteMy guess is that in member countries where immoral social beliefs and unjust laws are anti-gay that the law makers will decide homosexuality is not covered, and continue using the law to commit grave injustices against their own citizens.
References
Charter of the Commonwealth. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.thecommonwealth.org/files/252053/FileName/CharteroftheCommonwealth.pdf
I have a couple of other things I'd like to say on this topic, but I've already done my morning comment quota, and my coffee is finished, so I'll wait to see what others have to say on these issues.
DeletePerhaps this evening I'll come back and contribute to the discussion, with some comments on other points in the the charter as well as its failure to expressly protect against discrimination based on sexuality.
This response is interesting. I think that whatever discrimination is unfair especially sexual discrimination. Gay or Lesbian is a normal person and I think if they could choose, they would choose to be straight. However, many famous people in the societies are homosexual ;for example, "Sir Elton Hercules John, an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor told the magazine that he was "comfortable" being gay" and now he is still being acceptable in the society because of his music talent. I also like the last sentence in your response that "I think more and more gays/lesbians standing up for equality of sexual orientation is the only way to eliminate the prejudice of homosexuality." , because I think this is a good way to tackle problem.
ReplyDeleteReference
Elton John Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John
Poom,
DeleteWhen you write that "Gay or Lesbian is a normal person", what do you mean by the word normal?
A common argument against gays and lesbians is, I think, that they are abnormal. So, what does normal mean?
Although the question about the meaning of the adjective abnormal was in response to Poom's comment, it is really addressed to everyone, so please feel welcome to share your ideas on what the word means.
DeleteAnd why do people make so much about whether homosexuality is normal or abnormal?
discrimination is one of the biggest problem in our society, especially in Asia. Apparently,People judging others by outside things such as races, reputation, sex and so on. Although,nowadays, discrimination of sex is not so harsh in Thailand, those gays have been fighting for along time to get more respect. Gays and lesbians used to be unacceptable in our culture, but now it has been changed because those people have proved themselves that they are quality and productive people. Many of those who are gays or lesbians are now working in a highest level in their field including CEO of a big company or event super stars. Therefore, I think the best way to change conservative people's mild is proving themselves like Barack Obama had done with racism.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I often email myself articles that I find interesting and might later respond to. One such was "Gay Afghan defies tradition to expose identity", in which Tahir Qadiry describes the severe repression and horror of homosexuality that exists in the traditional society of Afghanistan and how it forced one man to flee that society and his own family for a better life in Canada (2013).
ReplyDeleteIn the end, it got a bit old, but it seems relevant to this discussion, and also to our readings both for the last essay and the coming readings in Quest, so you might like to follow the link and quickly read the article, unless your happy with my summary above.
Reference
Qadiry, T. (2013, February 20). Gay Afghan defies tradition to expose identity. BBC News Asia. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21426632
And in this case it isn't the Christians who are teaching and practising great immorality, but Islam and its sacred texts that are unjust and unreasoningly intolerant as they seek to kill and destroy.
DeleteI think discrimination in gender in Thailand is acceptable now but we do have any law to support these people so they can not married legally.However, in some airline now allowed transvestite work in flight attendant. But foreign labor such as Burmese or Loas people still be treatment inequal in Thailand unlike most western or White people.I heard many time from the news that this labor is treated unfair both working very hard and get pay less than Thai people which is very sad for them. Sometime their children if they born in Thailand I never seen that they have an opportunity to go to school.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Pin that the abuse of foreign workers who contribute so much to the economy is a grave injustice; Thai law sadly contributes to this injustice. In fact, the morally wrong laws largely create the injustice that Pin has brought to our attention.
DeleteI think my own country also does badly on this issue. It would be far more just to allow far more foreign workers in to contribute their labour and consumption to the national economy of Australia, and by doing the morally right thing, the economy would also be greatly stimulated to grow. I am ashamed to say that many Australians do not want to welcome workers from other countries to come and work in Australia, which is both unjust discrimination and economically irrational. Free open markets are not only morally superior to closed, non-competitive markets, but I am sure they create more wealth. The US example seems to me to support this: that country became so powerful based on accepting everyone, no matter what their origins, religion (or lack of religion) or political beliefs, and by largely allowing free market operation, with some reasonable regulations against monopolistic behaviour, as Bas has written about in his blog post on Microsoft, which has previously also fallen foul of US laws for engaging in anti-competitive stategies.
This topic is still controversial. It's up to the personal view, for me, I think being gays or lesbians is not their fault, it just genetic make up. Moreover, being gays or lesbians, they does not hurt anyone else. Therefore, it is not a really choice that you cannot blame or judge people base on their sexual orientation. In addition, all people should have equal rights, so gays/lesbians should be treated equally just like everyone else and we should not discriminate against them.
ReplyDeletePeter, I mean that gays or lesbians are normal in physical condition ;however, they have mental disorder which may causes from genetic disorder or the way that they are raised up. Mostly, these people are more sensitive and emotional because they are discriminated in the society. Therefore, I also agree with tape that "all people should have equal rights, so gays/lesbians should be treated equally just like everyone else and we should not discriminate against them."
ReplyDeleteA mental disorder? What do you mean, exactly?
DeleteDisorder sounds like a problem. But is being gay or lesbian any more a problem than having an instinctual lust for people of the opposite sex and all the mess that can result from that?
"Mostly, these people are more sensitive and emotional because they are discriminated in the society." I agree that they are often discriminated against, even in countries where immoral religious teachings like the despotic command principles of Christianity are no longer able to exert political power to harm citizens, but are gay or lesbian people really more sensitive or emotional than heterosexual people? It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if there is evidence to support. There might be, I just don't know of any.
This article is interesting for me a lot. Talking about discrimination of sex orientation, nowadays we almost get use to see the gay,not only for men but also women.They show their identity more and more.Besides, they also have RIGHTS to do everything. In fact, we shouldn't discriminate them at all because they can't should when they were born what they are going to be. It depends on his or her genes form their parents. Everyone has rights equally.
ReplyDeleteAlthough not worth a full blog post, "Vatican department shares Rome palazzo with gay sauna" is a nice bit of fun and seems to fit well under Daniell's post. That longish title pretty well summarizes this short BBC News story.
ReplyDeleteThe only other noteworthy point made is in a quotation showing the ignorance and immoral beliefs of the pope's man in charge: "Cardinal Dias has previously said that gays and lesbians can be cured of their 'unnatural tendencies' through the 'sacrament of penance' " (2013).
Reference
Vatican department shares Rome palazzo with gay sauna. (2013, March 12). BBC News Europe. Retrieved March 13, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21753860
I was also thinking about adding a question to the list of essay topics on same sex marriage. But the more I thought about that, the more complex it seemed. But in case anyone is interested in this as a topic, let me know.
ReplyDeleteThat question would be something like:
While same sex marriage is becoming legal in increasing numbers of countries, with France being the most recent to legislate for it, there remains strong opposition from conservative groups such as the Catholic Church, and American's such as former president George Bush, who argue that marriage is, by definition, between a man and a woman. Who is right? The French law makers or the Pope?
This is a rough, provisional draft of the question on this issue. Like all of the other essay questions, it requires you to take a stand on the definition of a term, and persuade us not only why you are right, but why your strongly disagreeing opponents are wrong.