Homophobic Minorities?

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Why do minorities turn to their oppressors' religion?

Have you ever noticed that many racial/ethnic minorities seem to cling to the religions of their oppressors? The African-American community, for example, is often a big opponent of same-sex marriage. Many Native American tribes, which are generally sovereignty nations, have also come to outlaw same-sex marriages. In many parts of Africa, homosexuality can get you raped or even killed. But why?

Several of my friends that are of a racial/ethnic minority have told me that they’ve had comments directed to them such as, “You can’t be gay, you’re black” and “But that’s a white disease.” No one is apparently doing a history check before making these really ignorant statements. Guess what, homosexual behavior can be found, and could always be found, everywhere.

Most tribal people didn’t have a concept of “orientation.” They also weren’t always quite as strict when it came to what gender someone was despite their sex. Many cultures could have a male woman, for example, or a female man, or maybe even a completely different gender, and in most of those cultures these people were considered a powerful, positive asset to the community. Sometimes these male women were allowed, even expected, to marry a male man. Sometimes they were allowed, even expected, to have same-sex relationships outside of their opposite-sex marriages. Were they ‘straight’ transsexuals? Just a ‘gay’ feminine male? Who knows. And it didn’t matter. It was irrelevant that their sexes were the same. I know of tribes in both the Americans and in Africa that had these traditions. There are probably many more.

So, why are these racial/ethnic groups now denying their fellow human rights to marriage or even exist? Why is there physical repulsion or violence? They’ve clung to the religions of their oppressors, maybe to fit in,maybe for their own survival. These religions, man-made, oppressive, and the same ones that gave the green light to Europeans to rape, pillage, and murder, are now the security blankets to many minority groups which use them as a weapon to oppress just as they were oppressed. It’s a way for them to shout out to the majority, the current or past oppressors, “Hey, we believe in the same things you do! We’re not the enemies! But hey, look, there’s one! We’ll help you get them!” Consider it deflecting one target for another.

Closed minds can’t be opened by facts and logic. But some of those people out there really are just ignorant and are going by what they were told. Maybe they’d really be interested to know about their history. If we educate ourselves we can educate others. Other times it’s just fun seeing the look on the faces of the hard core religious when you throw out a fact that they didn't know, and then watch them scramble.

Here's a good interview from a Daraga (African tribe) man that blames Christianity for the oppression of “gay” gatekeepers, which are responsible for the connections between humans and the spirits:



Originally posted by:
Xen Haas

Photo:
Faitful To The Lord by RayBanBro66, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license.