what exactly is wrong with gay marriages?

An Opinion by Michael Okema in the East African

June 27, 2005: Nairobi - Homosexuals continue to have a tough time. Last week, some Spanish citizens took to the streets of Madrid to protest a move to legalise gay marriages, while in another part of the same city, there was a pro-gay demonstration. Although Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic, and the Church has thrown its weight behind the anti-gay lobby, the legislation is expected to sail through both the lower house and senate.

What problem exactly does the community have with gays? Perhaps gays are needed by society as a kind of scapegoat for its failures and frustrations.

Homosexuality is regarded as immoral. To confirm or deny this would entail a definition of morality. That which is moral must be good for the "human person" and be accepted as such by the community in question. It must be kind and loving.

When homosexuality is measured against this, we find that it fails only on one count: that of social acceptability. Even then, they gain acceptance in some instances. It would seem those holding protests want to pre-empt that acceptability by blocking the will of the majority.

We should bear in mind that the Spanish parliament is democratically elected. Should it pass the law legalising homosexuality, then it implies the majority of the Spanish people are prepared to tolerate the practice.

Another argument is that the moral voice rarely belongs to the majority. Henry Thoreau, a famous American philosopher, once said that if one man alone be moral, he is already a majority of one. And by the time the majority accepts a change, there is nothing more to hange anyway.

Actually the more plausible argument against homosexuality is that it is unnatural. To an extent, this is the line taken by those who see it as a threat to the family as an institution, although, again, it can be argued that gay marriage is a new form of the family. The gay partners can then adopt children, thereby reducing the number of orphans.

No, the issue goes well beyond the family. Once you talk of nature, you must be prepared to go beyond the human race. Sexual differentiation was the second major leap in the evolution of life after photosynthesis. Sex, if you like, started with plants. It was nature's way of improving its lot.

Genes form two entities coming together, tend to eliminate the weaknesses of both parents while retaining the best of both. Thus the quality of the species improved with each successive generation. This was the sole purpose of sexuality. By the time evolution had reached the human race, pleasure was thrown in as an incentive, so people may continue to reproduce.

From this, it can be seen that homosexuality is not the only problem in society. It may not even be the most unnatural practice.

Incest defeats the very purpose of seeking different genes to produce a better offspring. By contrast Homosexuality merely blocks nature's endeavour to reproduce.

Michael Okema is a political scientist based in Dar es Salaam.