Being gay and pro-life

You might think that being gay and pro-life might be an oxymoron and for some us impossible. But in reality being pro-life comes naturally to a person like myself who has studied, defended, and lobbied for this community far and wide. The reason I am a gay activist is because I value life in the form of every single human life.

When an oppressive majority makes laws to degrade a vulnerable community like ours it is an anti-life move,  it becomes a collectivist revenge against the "evils" of a unpopular minority. But when we take a step back and actually have heterosexists talk to us one on one they began to change their minds. They realize the value of each person, including gay people. We are persons whose dignity should be valued and respected. This of course used to be a value of the Catholic Church, now they are engaged in a full on war against gays as a diversion from their own in house troubles.

But like being gay, I am not the stereotypical pro-lifer. Just as we reject prejudice against individuals in our community, we must not make the same mistake when somebody announces that they are pro-life. We must not assumed that every pro-lifer is obsessed with the fetus and uterus - I, of course, am not. For me life starts at the moment of conception and continues on. But I learned so far is that life itself is on going and is a cycle that we are a part of. Yes some fetuses die prematurely by natural processes or by abortion. But in most cases life is born again as many other babies come into the world. And to be honest with you, I am fine with that. I have accepted that reality. And even though some other pro-lifers might cringe when reading these words, they are in essence not pro-lifers, but anti-abortionists. That I am not. In fact many of these people are also for some reason anti-gay as well.

I am against abortion if I were a woman. But I am not. But if I were a woman I would never have an abortion myself. Even if I was raped as a woman, the child has no fault in that criminal act, so why should I blame him/her? Again I must stress, this is my own opinion and these are my thoughts and the way I view this issue if I were a woman, and that would be MY choice. Lets not forget that choice also means, no abortion as well. It seems that we have forgotten that part. So in part I am also pro-choice. Not just in the legality of this issue but on many other issues, especially marriage.

For whatever reason some gay activists think that abortion is somehow a thing we should support, not just legally, but morally. That I cannot accept. I can accept that a woman has a legal right to an abortion, and I am in no position to stop her, and I do not want to stop her, that is her legal right and her choice. But is it a moral one?

The community has never really discussed the life issue in depth, instead leaders of the community think that every gay man and woman has fully embraced the act of aborting unborn children as  a moral good. Going further, this good is a fight that somehow involves us gays who for the most part cannot procreate the usual way that women who get abortions can. The problem for me is not that women are getting abortions, the problem is why do we as the gay community fight for such a thing that is already a constitutional right anyway?

These questions have not been brought up. Nobody has asked gays what they think about abortion in a moral context, but rather assumed that everybody was on the same bandwagon. My fear is that our community instead of embracing real women's rights issues (like equal pay) are embracing this dummy issue for the sake of looking good for the political talking heads.

To me, gays should in fact do the opposite and embrace life instead of ending life. The majority of gays in our community do not support the death penalty because to many of us killing a human being is something that is immoral. While the death penalty question is not an issue we carry on our back like abortion, we have made a moral statement in some form. Why can't we do this with the abortion issue? Instead of saying that abortion is a necessary right, why not say that life is necessary for our community to be replaced with the next the generation of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders?

We can go beyond the legal question. This is about what kind of society we want to build. What kind of community we want to maintain. If the current statistics are correct one in every ten babies born are going to be gay. That is fresh blood, new bodies, new life, new diversity that can be celebrated by our community. Sure keep abortion legal, in fact if it was up for a vote I will vote to keep it legal. I do not want government to do the job that we as individuals should be doing - to encourage more life and human diversity. Life is not just limited to heteros but many new technologies now make it easier for gay couples to have their own children as well. This to me is a positive. This to me is the community contributing to the circle of life. And what is wrong with that? What is wrong with being pro-life and gay? Absolutely nothing.