The H word

I spent about an hour last night having a fabulous debate over one of my recent postings. Unfortunately the start of the phone call involved my friend almost wanting to lynch me given the first line of this post in question. Since it took me about 70 minutes to assuage my friend's fears that I'm not some sort of fascist I thought I would take the time to deliver the same defence on here in case similar readers were put off, and some of them decided to return.

Put simply (and with the blood issue to one side), I count myself as "a little bit homophobic" as I am aware of gay people more than a reasonably liberal person should be, I notice them more on the street/stare too long at such couples holding hands/etc etc, but that extra awareness does not come with prejudice, suspicion or judgement of any kind.

Maybe I am holding myself to a higher standard compared to others and I've actually got nothing to worry about but I believe that to be truly free of prejudice be it racism, homophobia or ageism is to see other people entirely based on criteria that we all share. At the forefront of a liberal's mind when talking to anyone should be are they happy, friendly, worried, whatever and not do they wear glasses, are they a bit camp, tall, do they have ginger hair etc.

I freely admit that I fall a little bit short of that self-imposed ideal and for that reason I count myself as a little bit homophobic, a little bit racist and a little bit of everything else that may contribute to prevent old people, disabled people, short people and other 'minorities' from being truly equal.

It is discriminatory but if it's not acted on or shown in anyway then I at least like to believe that it is not harmful.


As a separate issue, I also think that full homophobic views have a right to be respected just as much as any other personal views. Arguably, a homophobe offends a gay man just as much as a gay man offends a homophobe. And while a quick dismissal of the full-homophobe is tempting for most of us, it's not going to solve any of the underlying problems.

The main group I consider when thinking of homophobes are the religious right whose views stem from the Bible, their faith in a God and a belief that we will one day be judged with the vast majority of us perishing in hell for our 'sinful' ways. There is a perfectly good chance that this regularly mocked and abused group will have the last laugh from their heaven if our judgement day does actually come to pass. Thankfully, I don't see this world or the next world in the same way as they do and my fears of languishing in hell for the rest of my days are not as potent as they once were.

Personally I have mixed feelings on the classic Christian belief system, I guess attending a Catholic school and then attending a Protestant Sunday School at weekends would do that to anyone.

I do believe there is a God or higher being and that this life isn't the last one for us but I also believe the Bible was written by mere mortals and is therefore fallible. Consequently, in my view the more extreme philosophies, particularly the inability to accept homosexual lifestyles, need not be followed by Christians. I also cannot envisage a Hell with the much wailing and gnashing of teeth. For me, this merely produces a fear which fuels the belief system that many Christians are unable to shake off.

So, I suppose all in all, respect is the key. A Christian's faith stops them accepting homosexuals while a homosexual's understandable desire for equality reduces the likelihood they can accept a Christian view. This impasse can only be solved with an understanding of the other side's history and way of life.

But then, I'm preaching to the converted here as, given the complex views and various outlooks on the numerous blogs I've read, narrow-mindedness and premature judgement has been something of a rarity.