Opponents of same-sex marriage are widely found in religious or conservative groups of society. Peoples tending to the so called left wing part of the population, seem to have less problems with the development of a modernizing and always changing society. Conservative peoples want to defend traditional life styles and forms, but when looking deeper into this, I find many things questionable in these thoughts.

First of all, and based on my observation, many homosexual living couples live a very conservative life. They are committed, they share a household, and even bring in children through adoption, or family tragedies, whereby the homosexual person in the family, may have been the only remaining clan member, willing to take care of the child of his or her brother or sister, that may have died unexpected. Heterosexual couples do not automatically have children, and still they enjoy the full rights and protection of “family”. It is true, that in our recent and documented history, and I am talking about several hundreds of years, couples were formed out of a man and a woman, ending up founding a family with children. Conservative peoples mostly reflect on that, as they claim, that this was the standard of our past, valid up till now. Yet our history holds more than that. In ancient Rome or Greece, same sex couples have lived a life of acceptance, free of fear and threat. If I am now following this thought, am I no longer a part of conservatism? I would or could call myself a double or extra strong conservative, as I have gone even further into our history and origins of mankind. Democracy was invented long before the churches were even a thought of human establishments. So does conservatism begin with the forming of religious institutions like Christianity?

As homosexuality is not a new time phenomena, regarding the many documentations over the last 8000 years, it is therefor not a new age temporal movement, like the “Flower Power” movement in the 70s, or the time when it was tried to raise children anti authoritarian. The monotheistic religions were, in their time of establishment, newly set up “authorities” and formations, one can even call them movements, using their power and political influence to wipe out, some at that time existing conservative life forms, declaring for example homosexuality a sin and abomination, leading into the torture, castration and killing of the unwanted minority in society. And now that religion is losing grip in many parts of the world, still opposing LGBT’s, conservatism is used to defend the “traditional family” in their words, forgetting about a tradition already existing before their declared tradition.

What we call modern nowadays reflects through technical achievements, and changes in rights established to show and action support towards all members of a countries population, but certainly not in the biological natural differences of us humans. It is not modern to be an LGBT; it may be up-to-date to discuss and grant rights to a minority. But even using up-to-date may be far taken; it is maybe a recycled up-to-date progress, as the law just gives back something to certain peoples, that they have lost hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

Pointing out majorities and minorities is also something done in arguments. Saying that because there are for example 20 million straight marriages, and maybe just 50.000 same-sex unions, it is not worth, or there is no need to give equal rights, as it just concerns “a few peoples”, is a very selfish and disregarding statement of speakers of the majority. Majorities should not forget, that minorities are the product of majorities, there acting and their sexuality. It took very long, and in some countries is still in the beginning stage, for woman to no longer be discriminated, and this is not even a minority. I carefully dare to say, that it seems, giving more rights to minorities, is not the whole issue. When it comes to minorities that majorities pity, it seems easier. Peoples with handicaps, certain sicknesses or disorders are more likely to be strengthened in their rights faster. This could be the case, because gays and lesbians, are still too often portrayed as peoples living their choice of life, forgetting that being a homosexual person, is not a matter of choice, but a natural born fact.

LGBT’s are also claimed not to value or even know family values. Family values being violated, can be observed in exactly those families that fall under the protection of law. Child abuse, violence against wives, and other situations we may think of, as we see and hear them happening. Family values are not static, to-do-list or check-list, values, as a family, in what ever form it may appear or have being formed, function in their respect and love to all members. It is certainly not the basic sexual act of a man and a woman, producing an offspring, making this family a value respecting unit. There will always be a majority, and of course it will be the most common constellation, but minorities don’t destroy majorities, as they are not even able to, regarding to their biological rareness. Religious statements, verbally punched out, saying that gays and lesbians, or the granting of same-sex marriage rights is a threat to the entire human race, is absurd, irrational and totally illogical. Absurd also, as it makes a minority, that they describe as incomplete and weak, look on the other hand strong and powerful enough, yes even having the intention maybe to destroy the human race.

I think conservative peoples should over think their position on conservatism, and rebellious or labeled “New age movement” peoples should think if their ideas are really so new or extraordinary as they promote. Our society is a mixture of conservatism and modernism, but we can’t treat our fellow humans like tools or new technology invented or developed. There are values that have been swept away or lost, by movements of the past, and our present time should find back to what makes us human, our differences, our intelligence and our biology. Human rights and with that LGBT rights are as conservative as modern; they are universal timeless rights, thrown from right to left and from left to right, giving it the label of bad or good, black or white, natural or unnatural. Even following all attempts of regimes and religions, having tried to wipe LGBT’s of the platform of our earth, they have not succeeded, leaving a path of blood and hate behind. Our human nature cannot be selectively or partially ignored or even destroyed. It is either all of us or none.

By Thomas Fleckner