The right to not be gay
2011-03-25 09:21
The plethora of iPhone and iPad apps out there is astounding – there’s enough to entertain oneself from a bank queue at month-end, a Buthelezi speech or even an episode of Idols.
There are myriad game applications: apps which tell you what song is playing, what stars you are looking at, where the nearest station is, or how many net calories you burned (or failed to) that day. But no longer will there be an app to cure gays after Apple pulled one this last week which promised “freedom from homosexuality”.
Much like the creams which are supposed to lighten one’s skin, “cures” for homosexuality have been about as successful as Western Cape toilet enclosure planning. However, as there is no one scientifically proven and accepted cause for homosexuality, there is no proof that invalidates any of these “cures”, outside their dismal rates of success which isn’t taken seriously enough to be measured by anyone who’s upgraded from abacus to calculator.
Gay rights not felt everywhere
Our liberal stance in South Africa toward sexual orientation is an excellent one. One has the right to consensually bang away at whomever one chooses, and not face discrimination because of it. It’s one of those rights that is enforced and regarded for rich people who live in big cities, but it doesn’t always trickle down to protect every last South African.
So while those of us that live in Urbania may screech at these fools who use the word “cure” while implying that being gay is a disease, it is not a sentiment that just anyone living anywhere can express. While lots of us may delight in our freedom of sexual orientation, knowing that our neighbours probably aren’t going to come and castrate or rape the gayness out of us, many don’t.
Which is why the freedom of sexual orientation applies as much conversely. This freedom means that homosexuals and heterosexuals have rights equally. It means that anyone has a full human right to be gay.
While a combination of campaigning, riots, protests and the Struggle have awarded us the right to freedom of discrimination regarding our sexual preference, it does not mean that this right needs to be exercised in any one specific way. It means that while people have a right to be gay, they also have a right not to.
Just like right to abortion
Just because a right is present does not mean it needs to be enforced. In South Africa pregnant women have the right to an abortion if they so choose. The right in no way compels them to do so. The same principle applies to homosexuality.
There are communities in South Africa where living as a homosexual can be difficult, if not terrifyingly dangerous. Denying anyone in these communities the right to be or “convert” to straight if they want to would be as unconstitutional as homophobia. And until there is evidence that these gay-to-straight products are irrevocably incorrect or harmful, they should be allowed within the public discourse.
Personally, I believe these “cures” are about as useful as Morne van Wyk’s bat, but it is not the role of the protected homosexual in Green Point or Sandton to decide - morally or otherwise - whether or not other people are allowed to want to or pretend to bump uglies with someone who might not satisfy every impulse they feel.
While it is lovely to be loud and proud and know that, legally, gays are protected, not everyone has to enforce it as socially as it may not always be the case. The right to be gay and the right to be straight are equal and personal.
If someone thinks their life may be better because a religious leader throws some water at them, or a shrink can talk them out of a physical impulse, then there’s no reason for them not to be able to try should they so want.
Until we have scientific evidence that these treatments do not work, or that they are harmful, we should all be allowed to waste our time and money by downloading whatever iPhone app we like.
- Simon Williamson is a freelance writer.
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