In recent times, thank God, sexuality went under the microscope and splintered into a million sub-divisions. What we call vanilla sex between two heterosexual people is still happening in bedrooms all over the world, but so are various other modes in various other permutations. People are people and sex is sex, but who gets up to what with who is as and when they do.
I have always maintained that I would have eloped with the backyard tree of my childhood home if my mother had strictly banned any eye contact with the said tree. A lot of affairs and marriages owe their haste and origins to parental, societal, legal or caste hostility. Rebellion is arousal at a certain age. If God forbids a fruit in Eden, the serpent is sure to sing its praise. Turn-on and temptations are an internal systemic process while the laity kneels in the pew only in external discipline.
The church has come under considerable criticism for selective prudery when it came to its accused priests. A reluctance was generally perceived by the public when it came to actual persecutions even after proof was available. Like any other organisation, religious units too would rather keep any misdemeanors under wraps. After all, scandals hit the clergy where it hurts the most, their purse.
The Catholic Church’s blind eye to goings-on and deaf ear to allegations of predatory behaviour in the past did lend it a dated look. The image of the local celibate parish began to suffer. Were they not in step with the times?
The gay community who wanted to stay with the church had to by default turn hypocritical. They had to pretend or feel like pervs or pay lip service to what their hearts told them was a lie. Not to mention the many who suffered in cascade effect as spouses or partners. Therefore, Pope Francis’s recent statement in support of the gay community is a step in the right direction for all of humanity, gay or not.
This is what the 83-year old pontiff said: "Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it."
The papal pronouncement comes in Francesco, a newly released documentary film. That the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State has said this is like cool raindrops on a sweaty brow.
Antonio Guterres, the UN's secretary-general and a Catholic, said in response: ‘This is a clear demonstration of a fundamental principle, which is the principle of non-discrimination. And one of the things that has been very clear in the UN doctrine on this is that non-discrimination is also relevant in the questions of sexual orientation.’
That same-sex unions seem to have survived yet another lens – a faith one this time – goes a long way in normalising desire itself. As @TheTweetOfGod said, ‘Marriage can only be between a man or a woman and a woman or a man.’
Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bangalore. Her books include The Girl Who Couldn't Love, Barefoot and Pregnant, Planet Polygamous, and the anthologies Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman, Boo. Winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Asia Prize for her story A Dog’s Death in 2003, she is the co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and director of the Bengaluru Poetry Festival.
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