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 “If you are not with us, you are against us,” is the war cry for unity against a common enemy.
But gays cannot afford to be so picky. As long as the biggest homo-monolith is ‘gay pride’, many won’t be joining in.
About 95 percent of the world’s population believes in a god of some sort, and at least some gays must too. At the moment, any god-loving gay has to discard piety and take pride. I don’t think so.
Some people like religion. They may not like some of its past, but the Ten Commandments and Seven Virtues are more valued you might think. Just look how well The Passion of the Christ did.
For some, pride just does not work. It has been their life long struggle to keep that line in the sand from washing away. Just because homosexuality happens, pride does not have to coincide.
It may be said that going to the gym is Vanity, or a three-course meal is Gluttony, and many do both (sometimes seven courses, with a snack of left over pizza when you get home). For doing so, you do not automatically become a narcissistic pig, or are you required to accept such accolades as a life-long label.
Gays are a community that, by some, are thought the worst of at the outset. Claims of Sodom, Gomorrah and hellfire plague the lacklustre innuendoes of all anti-gay press.
To affiliate with pride is just adding another straw to a task no camel could bear.
More often than not, gays are ranked below others on stereotype alone. Peter Griffin from the Family Guy summed it up: “I'm abstinent Lois, it's all in these pamphlets Meg brought home from school. Sex turns straight people gay, and gays into Mexicans. Everyone goes down a notch!”
Stereotyping is not to blame. It is what humans do. It makes everything easier. The stereotype of a chair is that it is sat on.
It says a lot about an individual if they choose pride as their bedfellow, but gays are a group of millions.
I heard one student say recently, “they’re like mosquitoes: good for nothing, and spread disease.”
I sincerely wanted to punch him square in the face. Does that mean I should label myself with Wrath?
Or that anyone who thinks Channing Tatum looks apples in his underwear should change their screen name to Lust?
One off moments like these are happenchance. Adopting a permanent brand, to many, is betraying your beliefs.
Pride and proud simply say too much. If someone is called body proud, you get the image of a macho moron.
For Jane Austin it was one of the qualities that nearly destroyed Mark and Elizabeth. Pride has never been a virtuous quality, and now it has been enlisted to hinder gay progress.
It may even be depriving young men of options; pride is just as unforgivable as suicide.
Contrary to bigoted boastings, God favoured gays are in the bible (Samuel 18). There is no reason to give religions a documented dagger for digging at gays, especially when they seem thoroughly content splitting hairs.
If a phrase is sought to sum up homosexual unity, there are a quarter of a million English words. Antagonising religious belief should be avoidable.
Tucking tail and accepting pride is simply laziness -- another of the deadly sins, Sloth.
Paul Holt is a post-graduate psychology student and aspiring author.
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Not the proud
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