Homophoebia justified?

Debate topic: The house believes our Society is justified in being Homophobic

I spoke against the house. And the following is what I spoke:

Good evening men, women, gays and lesbians (if any).

The moment you are told that the guy or the girl sitting next to you is gay, you start feeling uncomfortable. Oh, don’t you? Talk about homophobia! I ask you one thing, just have a look at the person sitting right next to you, right now. Yeah do that. What if he/she really IS gay? Should that fact change anything? He is not a psychopath who is going to rape your mother and then leave you a mail, saying he enjoyed every moment of it. She is not an insane criminal who will shoot your entire family in cold blood and be proud of doing that. He is just gay and she is just a lesbian for heaven’s sake. These are normal people whose sexual preferences don’t match with the so called normal majority.

I am a man, you can see that. I don’t have to unzip my pants to prove my gender. I AM a man. I am man coz I act like a man. Like say, drool over those big sized curves that are supposed to excite every man. But lemme ask you this: how did I become a man, when did I become a man? The moment I took birth, is it what you say? No, you are wrong. My birth determined my sex, and your birth determined yours. After that society took over. It was ready with two broad categories where it would throw you into. Be a male or a female, merely based on your sexual organs! Now, I grew up to be a great man, and most of us fit into these two categories. But not all of us! And those who don’t fit should not be blamed or feared of!

You call homosexuality disgusting? You wanna know what really is disgusting? Unfair discrimination based on sexual preference is DISGUSTING my dear friend.

So far, nobody’s been able to show that homosex causes harm or is unnatural or warps the fabric of society, or whatever. All that people are able to show is that some people don’t like it, and think that God thinks it wrong. But that’s not good enough for winning an argument in a multi-cultural, democratic society committed to constitutionally protect individual rights. In such societies, you can do what you want as long as you don’t cause harm to others. Everything else is a matter of taste.

And as I end my debate, here’s my last bit on those who say it’s not natural. Bruce Bagemihl’s 1999 scientific study, Biological Exuberance: animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity lists down all kinds of animals which display homosexual behavior. Go read it, the list is endless: African Buffalo, Australian Sea Lion, Asian elephant, Sperm Whale, Vampire Bat, Indian Rhinoceros, Wild Goat, the long tailed hermit hummingbird, the side blotched lizard, the speckled Rattlesnake, the fruit fly, the house fly, red ant. (In hush voice)- I myself have seen gay monkeys having a blast right there sitting on the parapet wall, in front of my room.

Give them a chance to be happy and gay. Thank you.

PS: My two member team (myself and SDK who spoke for the topic) cleared the prelims, waiting for the final. (This was an inter hostel debating competition held in IIT Madras for which 18 teams turned up. 8 of them made it to the finals, which shall be held some time later)