Hafaygelah: Homophobia in Reglious Life

In honor of the LGBT Pride season, topics are springing up in my head left and right. I chose to talk about a topic that is very relevant not just in our daily life but in our religious one as well; homophobia. Many religious sects use a verse in the bible to aim their disapproval towards gay men and women: Vayikra (Leviticus) 18:22 which reads in Hebrew is:

וְאֶת-זָכָר--לֹא תִשְׁכַּב, מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה:  תּוֹעֵבָה, הִוא

{Ve-et zachar lo tishcav mishkevei isha to'evah hi}

Translated means 'A man shall not lie with another man as he would lie with a woman, it is a to'evah'. The word to'evah has been misunderstood and incorrectly translated to 'abomination' when it does not mean abomination at all. To'evah means basically 'foreign'. The term to'evah is used almost a hundred and three times in the Tanach (bible) in regards to foreign practices. This is why there is no Hebrew word for homosexual, homosexuality or gay (in the meaning of the latter). The acts of gay sex were foreign and believed to be apart of idol worship. I mean, how many times have you told your kids not to watch something on TV until you researched the show yourself and made sure it was okay for a child? But as time progressed, so did the laws. Homosexuality was seen as a work of Ha'Shem as was heterosexuality. There became a word for gay men and women. Judaism itself does not prohibit or in any way look down upon homosexual love. And in the eyes of Judaism the love between two men or two women can be as natural as the love between a man and a woman.

In other parts of the Tanach was the word to'evah used: Bereshit (Genesis) 43:32 states that eating with Israelites is to'evah for Egyptians. Bereshit 43:34 states that shepherds are to'evah to Egyptians—the sons of Israel are themselves shepherds. In Shemot (Exodus) 8:22, Moses describes Israelite sacrifices as being to'evat mitzrayim (foreign to Egypt), although obviously Israelite ritual is not an objective abomination. If to'evah means abomination, then eating with shepherds, eating with Israelites, and Israelite sacrifices themselves must be abominable! Since this clearly is not the case, to'evah cannot mean abomination. But this has been the case since King James translated Hebrew to his liking and homosexuals at that time were seen as demons and serious sinners who should be obliterated from the earth (or at the very least 'saved'). Many religions now use the King James Version of the bible as the solid truth and no other but G-d could have translated this. This lack of knowledge has birth the rise of homophobia and the unacceptance of gay men and women in religion today.

What is troubling to me are the many preachers and ministers saying Adonai is a being that is all loving and only hates a certain group of people. This is an oxymoron. Something that G-d is not. As stated in my last blog-drash, we are all created in the Divine image and according to Bereshit 1:27, G-d saw what G-d had made and it was good. Human beings, human nature and human sexuality were apart of this goodly sight. So why is homophobia and the unacceptance of homosexuality so relavant in religious life? Answer: The uneducated opinions of people who feel they may be raped by a three hundred pound gay "demon". This is even more sadly growing in the black community where being a homosexual is seen as being less of a man. This is why the 'down low' life is so shockingly alive and gay men and women are subject to abuse that may end in homicide or suicide.

People need to wake up and stop throwing their hateful opinions in with their religious views. G-d cannot dwell where hate (to anything and anyone, including self) resides. So this Pride season, whether gay or not, embrace love and enjoy each breath you take. Stop hating yourself and the people around you because you don’t understand. Don't let something that is to'evah become an abomination. Educate yourself, love yourself and enjoy the peace that was handed to all of us.

Baruch shebara ahavah v'achavah v'shalom v'rei'ut: Blessed is the One who creates love, harmony, peace and companionship. Ken yehi ratzon, may it be G-d's will.

The 11th Plague

Passover is a weeklong festival that we recall the exodus of the Jews from Egypt slavery and remember the famous event that took the nation by, well what else, storm. The ten plagues. You may know them as; blood, frogs, lice, flies, disease on livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the death of the first born. All of these events would be fatal and catastrophic if they infected our nation as a whole. But there is one plague that is not mentioned but is very relevant and affecting our nation in a very negative way; homophobia.

By definition homophobia is described as 'unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality'. By action it is seen as beatings, negative slurs, threats and/or discrimination. As all homosexuals, both lesbian and gay men, are susceptible to this hatred, transsexuals are targeted more frequently. As is shown by recent events on April 18th in Baltimore Maryland when Chrissy Polis was brutally attacked by a 14 year old and an 18 year old female in a McDonalds Restaurant. This infuriates me to the fullest because in 2007, a dear friend and old roommate Katrina was shot to death for being a transsexual. This homophobia, especially high in the south, needs to end and be obliterated. What shocks me next is the fact that a McDonalds employee stood by and videotaped it instead of helping, which I was told many employees cheered the girls on.

I blame the parents, fanatic churches who preach homosexuals a sin and society as a whole. If kids are taught to accept and coexist with everyone at an early age, there wouldn't be any type of hate crimes. It is like the time of segregation: the kids couldn't tell the difference between skin color until the parents told them it was not okay to play with the nigger child from Macon. There is no excuse for ignorance and death don’t cure stupidity, so as we live then things need to change and change now. I shouldn't have to look over my shoulder when I hold my boyfriend's hand in Compton, or kiss my husband in Atlanta, or hug my girlfriend in Dallas. I shouldn't have to be harassed at Gay Pride by idiots who think it's okay to miss church service to hold up signs saying 'G-d Hates Fags' and 'Homo sex is a sin'. There shouldn’t be protests at military funerals saying 'Fags Doom Nation'. But when it happens, when it is encouraged, then it's the hatred that dooms the nation.

Miss Polis and other transsexuals, homosexuals and lesbians shouldn’t have to live in fear in places that lynch people that aren’t blonde hair, blue eyed heterosexual Christians. We shouldn’t have to stay in our houses because we have a rainbow flag in our window and the torch wielding villagers are outside yelling 'Kill the monster!' And while I am on this notion of homophobia as the 11th plague, our OWN gay community needs to grow the fuck up and get over their 5th century fears of effeminate men.

How can we expect change if WE don't change. Posting words like 'no fats, no fems' when looking for a mate doesn’t make you a man, it makes you a punk. It shows how little you know about the people outside of your world and only by what you see on TV. People who say 'Men should act like men and not women' shows the self-hatred in themself because they fear someone might 'mistake' them as gay. Well, guess what honey, YOU ARE GAY. This Down Low life is just the gas station for homophobia to stop, fill up and get a coffee on the way.

Stop the hatred, both to yourself and to others. Change your mindset and then we can change the world. One gay at a time. One girl at time. One person at a time. Ken yehi ratzon: May it be G-d's will.

Donnie McClurkin Gay Rant

How surprising was it that none other than the infamous Miss Donnie McClurkin gave a sermon on how being gay was the same as being a vampire? And how surprising was it that this said sermon was held at a Church of God in Christ convention? Not surprising? I didn't really think so. Since the COGIC business is ran by closeted and self hating queens, not to add homophobic heteros. It appalls me on how easily these words just flow from his mouth, just how much a black person who lives on Wisteria Lane can talk bad about a black person living in Florida Evan's apartment appalls me.

Donnie became famous (and more confused) when he went public to say that he was delivered from his homosexuality. Now, I won't talk about that, but I will say, being a person of the Christian faith, I will say that he is a liar. Jesus doesn't just take you from something and let's you swim in temptation, as Donnie has CLEARLY voiced he

goes through. When you are freed of a pain that is hitting you, whatever it may be to you, Jesus completely removes it...as much as you want it removed.

Conclusion; Donnie is still a homosexual that hates his life, mad at other gays who are doing well (that are out), and needs to feel better about himself by getting a group of people who feel the same way around him to keep love from entering. Sit the hell down and shut the hell up!

Fear

Whether you are homosexual or not, You should know that love is not defined by color, creed, or gender:

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday.

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didnt have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the girl scared to tell my friends I’m a lesbian because they think i will hit on them.

I am a warrior for my country serving proud, but can't be my true self because gays aren't allowed in the military.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I'm a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them.

I am that son, that was disowned by my mother and father, because I was. But loved by other member's in my family.

I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to "teach me a lesson."--