Is mere tolerance enough?

So in our deeply homophobic society there are many like me who are calling for tolerance but it dawned on me what happens if and when such tolerance ever comes, the tolerance I speak of is of course not limited to just mere ignoring gay or other lifestyle practices and choices but freedoms as well. I have often hinted in previous posts here and on Gay Jamaica Watch (see the tolerance tab for related posts) in questioning aren’t we already a tolerant nation but just don’t realize how much we are?

Stereotypical gay characters dot our pantomime and arts sections of our society and the public sometimes pay top dollars to see these plays and skits knowing fully well what they are getting as entertainment. To stretch it a little further we accept gay icons in entertainment from other cultures like an Elton John or George Michael even Rupaul whose songs are played on radio daily and we slowly digest soap operas that have gay characters in them as well so what is holding us back from the realities on the ground that gay people exist here?

Persons maybe aware of gays living near or beside them but will be tolerant as long as they don’t show it or display the stereotypical expectations that of effeminate behavior or regular and rapid same sex visitors. So what drives this underlying need to beat or hate LGBT people especially men when they are fingered or allegedly caught in the act is still unclear?

We have a myriad of religions and faiths such as Rastafarianism, Jewish faiths, Muslim (save and except for a few crackpots),Seven Day Adventists, Church of God, Pentecostal etc. while they may all disagree on certain principles and ways of worship we have never in our history had holy wars or any semblance of that between the groups.

So maybe the level of tolerance has to be deeper and not just passing permissions because someone is asking for or demanding it or its done just to keep the faggots quiet so they wont complain too much, it has to be real then, but how de we measure real?

Tolerance or acquiescence?
The Prime Minister during the Sexual Offences Bill debate did exactly that, a kind of patronizing to gays where he hinted that while gays are free to live without being harmed the police must protect all citizens the buggery law will not be repealed or gay marriage will not be allowed, bearing in mind no one asked for gay marriage here in Jamaica. In other words gays and gay groups should shut up because we are lucky to be alive so just deal with it. If we are a nation with a motto that says “Out of many, One People” then why aren’t we really living it to the full extent of the words? There are so many other kinds of intolerant behavior, political, gender, class, religious (towards gays) and even within the LGBT community.

Acceptance of differences maybe a key lesson that has to be introduced to the young and re-taught or reintroduced to the adult population but when this presented as a solution the critics of gay rights and tolerance say gays are trying to force the gay agenda to the population and particularly the young. The notion that homosexuality can be caught or is contagious is a reality for some they are terrified of anything that remotely gives or hints to the gay lifestyle thus again lets go back to the Sexual Offences Bill and the Charter of Rights Debate as well where several clauses that hinted to gender discrimination or equality were forcibly removed by seemingly paranoid religious groups who were bent on making sure that LGBT people saw no chance of ever gaining any hold to rights or freedoms. Religion is often used as divisive and a way to justify imposing sanctions of lifestyles and behaviors that others find offensive, the church which is supposed to be the body incorporating love and acceptance is guilty of this use of divisive rhetoric to keep control of moral authority.

The famous six references that hint to homosexuality in the bible are often used with the greatest of ease to push gay lifestyles into a corner or to cover the closet queens hiding among their midst while heterosexual sins such as premarital pregnancy or fornication are viewed as mistakes and easily forgiven and life goes on. But yet the message of love is contextualized to push religious individuality and nothing else, where is the message of tolerance church? What about the line that God is love or is he considered love only after you have accepted him as Lord and Saviour and throw tides then he loves you?

Mere tolerance therefore may not be enough based on the above reasoning but you may have a different take on it, maybe a deeper appreciation for human beings on a whole and a certain selflessness that makes one open to all, to grow into that being in our context may not be so easy.

Public comments please.

Peace and tolerance none the less

H