Thursday, April 15, 2010

Let's step into a hornet's nest

I'm not a fan of gay pride parades.  They have a tendency to be noisy and lewd.  They promote a lifestyle which I personally have no interest in.  They attack some of the things I believe in and which are axiomatic to my way of life.


So you might expect that I would be joining the calls by Orthodox Christian groups and the Christian Democratic party to call off Chisinau's planned gay pride parade, scheduled for the week 27 April - 2 May?

Actually no.  What the anti-gay groups have failed to realise is that God's law and secular law are two different things and are intended to serve different purposes.

The law of God is intended to distinguish right from wrong, showing people what behaviour is according to God's will and what isn't.  It's extremely important to note two things here.  Firstly God has given us free will to choose whether or not to obey his law, and secondly, God himself (not man) is the judge of whether we have complied or not.  God doesn't stop us sinning if we want to, so what right do we have to stop others?

Secular law should have a very different purpose.  It's not about moral judgments, but should rather be about maximising individual freedom within the constraint that one person's freedom doesn't overly restrict another's

For example, secular law makes a judgement that your right to your property is more important than my desire to steal your property.  It doesn't, however, make a judgement that stealing is 'wrong' in any sort of absolute moral sense.  If I could steal your property without damaging your rights, then secular law should, in theory, let me do it.

Similarly, Moldova's homosexual community have the right to express themselves as much as any other political, social, religious or philosophical grouping in society.  So long as their parade (which only happens one day a year and takes place in a specific geographical area) does not overly undermine the rights of others, it should go ahead.

I, however, will exercise my right to ignore the parade and stay at home.
Posted by Zimbru at 1:51 PM

3 comments:

  1. dear zimbru,

    to a call a gay parade "lewd" in a country where sex tourism is booming and women are sold into sex slavery is rather cynical

    i can't wait to have a gay parade in chisinau for several reasons (i am happily hetero btw)

    1) it promotes diversity, creativity, indiviual freedom and non-conformity - not that you have a lot of that in md ;D - and it promotes tolerance and interest in different lifestyles in the audience

    2) the parades i have been to where great fun: colourful, with a lot of creativity, great parties and - yes - noisy ...

    3) chisinau is dull as hell - let's have a party that makes a difference!
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  2. Thanks for your comments, although I would maintain that it is not I who is cynical, but those who promote sex tourism and sell women into slavery.
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  3. You wrote “failed to realise is that God's law and secular law are two different things and are intended to serve different purposes. “

    I could not disagree with you more. “Do not murder” is a law from God and is applied in secular law as well. “Do not steal” follows the same lines. “Do not commit adultery” although not imposed by secular law to the extent that God intended, secular law does not allow adultery in public, there are public lewdness laws (perfect for the pride parades).

    God has given us free will and you can choose to damage yourself if you want through sin but when your sinful lifestyle damages others then the victims have the right to stand up and speak out against your sinful lifestyle. That is why we must speak out against immoral manifestations.
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