Homosexuality - Contemporary Issues

Homosexuality

Speaker: Dr. Abu Aminah Bilal Philips

Series: Contemporary Issues

Introduction: The Principle of Consenting Adults

And continued to be a crime until modern times when, as we said, the principle of consenting adults became the discerning principle for what is acceptable in human sexual relations. As long as people are consenting, and they're adults, then it's okay. Rape is out. Sex is out. Consenting adults, whatever they do, it's their business. Society has no right to interfere.

So, homosexuals held this is also the case.

The Argument from Nature

In defense of their position, they argued, because people commonly argue that this was unnatural, they argued that it isn't unnatural. And they went around the world trying to find, you know, examples of some in nature of some insects or fishes or whatever that displayed what may be described as homosexual type behavior.

And sure enough, they found some fishes some place off the coast of Japan, exotic kind of tropical type fishes that the male does after mating with a female will take on some of the characteristics of the female to discourage other males from mating with his female. This is practice that they, some fishes, do. But they said, okay, here, this male fish is trying to act like a female. You know, there is homosexuality in the animal kingdom.

And they found some butterflies some place off the coast of South America exhibit some kind of behavior. They say, hey, these butterflies acting like the female butterflies do. Why they do that, God only knows. But they say, here it is. Another example of it. So, it must be okay.

But of course, this kind of argument, I mean, this is fine where one believes we're just animals. You know, and we can judge our behavior on the basis of what animals do. But if we look at ourselves as being more than animals, as being higher than the animals, yes, there is an animal aspect to ourselves, but we have choices, the ability to make choices, et cetera, et cetera. You know, we are not to be looked at just merely as animals. Then, this kind of argument really doesn't hold water.

The Fallacy of the Animal Comparison

Furthermore, if we are to accept this as a basis for human behavior, then what do we do about the black widow

spider? You know, black widow spider, after it mates, it kills the husband. You have the praying mantises, will do the same. You have other spiders, et cetera, you know. They finish, the female, when she finishes mating, eats the husband.

This is now okay for a woman when she gets pregnant to go kill her husband. We're going to use that as basis for that kind of behavior. It's natural. It's there in nature, so it's okay to go and do it. So, this kind of argument really is fallacious. It really doesn't have any sound basis.

The Brain Gland Argument (1980s)

Now, back in the eighties, another argument developed, which was that there was a gland in the base of the brain, which they claimed it is small in the case of females and large in the case of males. But in the case of homosexuals, it was smaller than that of males, though larger than that of females. It seemed to have changed. It was of a different shape.

So, they argued, hey, here's proof. Biological proof that homosexuals have a different makeup. So, it means that they're homosexual not by society, learning these practices from society, but by natural inclination. So, it should not be considered a crime.

However, we have to look at the realities of these studies. The study was based on whom? Dead people, dead adults. They cut open dead brains, dead people's brains, and they looked at this. Who is to say that the child was born that way? Who is to say this? There's no evidence for this. That this decrease in the size of that gland, or whatever, was a result of the activity and not the cause of that activity. Who is to say that? So, this kind of argument, you know, again, didn't hold, doesn't really hold water.

The Gay Gene Claim (1993)

However, in the nineties, a new argument developed, and that was that it was biological. A researcher by the name of Dean Hamer, Dr. Dean Hamer, at the National Cancer Institute, claimed in 1993 to have discovered evidence, concrete evidence, for gay genes. Of course, he's pointing out that this homosexual orientation was transmitted to males on the X chromosome from the mother.

And his findings was published in the Journal of Science, it's a prestigious journal, and this publication transformed his colorless career as a government scientist into a dynamic media personality. He wrote his own memoirs and everything. He was shown on television talk shows. He even went to Colorado. They were having a decision about the law which was being introduced. It was called Proposition 2, which is an anti-gay proposition. He gave expert testimony in the, you know, for the genetic origin of homosexuality, you know, to put down this law.

The Debunking of the Gay Gene Research

Now, the reality is that though his study was published in the science and was on the front page of newspapers all across the country in the West, nobody followed up what happened after. Actually, when University of Western Ontario tried to repeat his experiments, they could not find any linkage whatsoever between the X chromosome and sexual orientation.

This was their own research. Furthermore, it was pointed out that Hamer's study lacked a control group, something which is a fundamental principle for scientific research. How could that article have been published in science? Because this is something which sells magazines. You know, so without following their normal procedures, they publish his article, he's given fame, well, he's a scientist, cancer research, whatever. But the reality is that it lacked basic elements of scientific research. Among them, he did not have a control group.

And the Chicago Tribune, in 1994, this is one year after publication of Dr. Hamer's findings, reported that a junior researcher in Hamer's laboratory who assisted in the gene mapping in his homosexual studies said that he selectively reported his data. She was then dismissed. Though she was a PhD student, you know, in her postdoctoral fellowship at, sorry, she was doing a postdoctoral fellowship at Hamer's lab, she was kicked out because this was not popular.

This was not something which people wanted to hear. And even this report in the Tribune is no longer front-page news. This is reported, you know, some pages down the line. So when the study came out, initially, it was front-page news. Everybody knew about it. And that's what stayed in people's minds.

The different challenges that came to it, people didn't hardly know about it. So till today, you'll find people coming and saying, hey, it's been proven genetically. Because they remember that. They remember that his assistant said, hey, he doctored his data. And so much so, her claims were substantiated by the National Institutes of Health when they investigated her claims, you know. And she was given another position in a different lab.

And Hamer, who was himself very coy about his own sexual orientation in his memoirs, he later admitted that he himself was gay. He himself was a homosexual, you know, promoting this. So his scientific study was shot down within a year. But the vast majority of people, even till today, six years later, don't even know about it.

AIDS as Divine Consequence

The other point that should be noted is that when, as a consequence of this practice, AIDS spread through the society. And it spread beginning with the homosexual element. And people wanted to say, well, hey, this is, you know, divine retribution. You know, this was thrown aside. No, how can it be? No, no, no, no, no. We cannot say this. This is something which happened. We don't blame it on, you know, God is punishing people.

But from Islamic perspective, yes. The prophet (may God's peace and blessings be upon him) had said that when, you know, fornication, adultery, and homosexuality become widespread in the society, that there will appear amongst the people ailments, sicknesses, which were unheard of before, which their foreparents never knew of. And this is exactly the case of AIDS.

Yes, it began with them. Of course, it did spread to bisexuals afterwards. People were involved in both heterosexual and homosexual activity. And then it also spread now amongst the heterosexuals. Of course, because they're the majority. So it's going to spread amongst them.

Spread amongst who amongst them? Amongst those who are involved in illicit sexual relations. Those people are married, stay within marriage. This doesn't spread. Even people who practice polygamy, who have more than one wife, it doesn't spread. It only spreads when a man or a woman has sexual relations outside the bounds of marriage.

The Issue of Inclination vs. Choice

Now, another point which needs to be addressed, is that if one were to consider homosexuality to be not a result of choice, that means God made them that way, then it is inconceivable that God is going to prescribe a punishment for an inclination which people have no control of.

So, no matter what evidence is brought, and there may be some scientific evidence brought in the future, which actually does establish some kind of inclination, but we can find people arguing that there are inclinations for pedophilia, inclinations for rape, inclinations for murder. You know, you find scientific research saying, hey, you know, maybe it's related to genes and this, that and the other. People have these inclinations, but we can't run a society on this basis, that people are excused simply because they have inclinations.

A person, we all have a variety of inclinations. All kinds of circumstances can bring these things out. When people get intoxicated, et cetera, these inclinations come out even more so. However, we still have the ability to say yes or no. And that's what the punishment is for.

The Islamic Punishment for Homosexuality

In Islamic law, the punishment for homosexuality is no different from the punishment for adultery, fornication. If it's, it's the death, it's looked at as a deviation, just as if somebody's involved in bestiality, that's sexual relations with animals, things like this. It's death, this is a deviation, adultery is death. So, it's not, it's not any special punishment.

It is a punishment for deviant behavior, which threatens the family structure of the society. To protect that, that, that family, Islamic law is very severe. But, of course, it requires four witnesses.

So again, the application of the law, and this is because a person, a person may have these inclinations, so they tend, some among them may be effeminate. One cannot say, oh, he's a homosexual, look at him, he's acting like a woman, he's womanish, and you're going to apply the law, no. Only unless a person confesses, or they're witnessed by four witnesses in the act, then we cannot apply the law.

It's very severe, but its application is only going to be in certain circumstances, where a person is so open in their practice, four people have witnessed them, or they confess, because they're caught under some circumstances or the other.

Islamic Preventive Measures

Now, what we find in Islamic law, some principles to, to, to discourage this tendency for the building of these kind of inclinations. We find that Prophet Muhammad (may God's peace and blessings be upon him) instructed that children be taught prayer at the age of seven. And he went on to say that when they reach the age of ten, they should be spanked if they're not coming to pray, learning to pray.

Furthermore, they should be separated in their beds. Most people think that it's just separating the males from the females, but no, from Islamic perspective, the males from the males, and the females from the females, they should not sleep in the same beds, under the same covers, etc.

This is why, for what purpose? To prevent incest, as well as homosexual activity. Because children are children. They may have inclination, they may experiment. And if they experiment and they find something pleasurable, and then later on when they go to school, they find somebody else who's going to reinforce that, this is where we find the basis for homosexual, lesbian activity, and inclinations developing in people.

So, from Islamic perspective, from the family, within the family itself, with regards to the children, these principles are applied to prevent the kind of birth of these kind of feelings.

Maintaining Gender Distinction

Furthermore, Islam stresses the distinction between male and female, to be strongly maintained. Males don't dress like females, females don't dress like males, it's forbidden. Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Allah curses those men who dress like women, and women who dress like men. So, again, not allowing a blurring.

You know, fashion industry today, which is controlled mostly by homosexuals, they have promoted the blurring of the lines between males and females. So you find women now wearing three-piece suits, you know, with bowler caps, you know, looking like men, men's shoes cut and made just like men's shoes, slightly smaller, whatever.

Men wearing flowery garments, in fact, just recently, you know, they had these new fashions which are coming up for the summer, fall fashions, you know, men's dresses which are virtually female-style dresses, of men's, you know, jackets and pants and things with all kinds of flowers and lines and things on it, which are typically female-type dress, is now becoming promoted for male dress.

So Islam stresses a distinction between males and females, that this be reinforced in society to prevent the blurring of the lines and opening the doors for these corrupt kind of activities. And this is for the purpose of protecting the family as a whole, maintaining the family. It is the building block of the society.

Conclusion: Protection of the Family

When that family falls apart, whether it's through adultery, fornication, or homosexuality, or, you know, pedophilia or incest, these kind of things, all of this is a threat to the society as a whole. And so Islamic law takes a very strong stance against it. And it prescribes very severe punishments for those who are caught, where there's clear evidence in it.

Closing

With that, dear viewers, I'd like to thank you for being with us in this segment of our program, Contemporary Issues. And if you have some issues that you would like to share, that you would like us to address, you know, you're welcome to suggest them. And if we're not already planning to cover them, we will cover them, if they are of general benefit.

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