G-ay rights

Homosexuality (lesbian and gay), bisexuality, and transsexuality (LGBT) rights - or as most people say it, gay rights - is equal civil and social rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual people. Governmental laws related to LGBT are drastically varied depending on the country and territory.

(Source: wikipedia.org. To read more about LGBT rights by country or territory, click here.)

In my country, same-sex sexual activity is legal but same-sex marriage is not. And you can still clearly see social discrimination. This is most probably because homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality is considered a taboo. Apart from that, around 85% of the population are muslims, and homosexuality and bisexuality are strictly forbidden in Islam.

I understand how Indonesian people can be so against homosexuality and bisexuality, but in my opinion, people should be open-minded enough to understand that transsexuality is a medical condition in which a person feels the desire to be the opposite sex and although they tend to become homosexuals, it's not their fault because it's a condition. People should respect them and the condition in which they are in instead of discriminating them.

I myself have personally known a transsexual all my life. There's this woman who has been working for my grandmother ever since before I was born. Her physical appearance is of a woman, but she has an intense desire of becoming a man. She dresses like men and acts like men and etc. and now she looks so much like a man that most people wouldn't believe me if I told them she was a woman. She is also a lesbian. My family and I live just across the street and we know her quite well.

I am very grateful that my entire family respects her and has never discriminated her. Because of that, ever since I was little, I never thought of transsexuality or homosexuality as something you can make fun of. I realized that people are different and that we should just accept that difference. As for the fact that it's strictly forbidden in my religion, it's not my problem. I'll leave the punishing to God. Besides, since Islam promotes equality to all human beings, discriminating them would just mean you're sinning.

What I'm trying to say is, stop discrimination to homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. The world would be a better place if we could just accept and respect other people's differences.

-diralien-