Homossexualismo

I had one of my more satisfying Portuguese lessons, where Ilidio and I chat for the duration, rather than revert to the grammar book to learn the difference between indirect and direct pronouns.

He was making a point about something when the subject of homosexuality came up. He’s firm in the idea that homosexuals could switch their sexual preference at will and that because of our sexual organs, nature intends males and females to be together. Homosexuals opt to sleep with same-sex partners through some form of personal experiment that works against nature’s goal of procreation. Male and female gay couples always assume more masculine and feminine roles, presumably with one of the females always wearing a pair of dungarees. When I responded that many gay male couples like to ‘switch it up’ in the bedroom and that I have seen lesbian couples who both might be wearing lipstick, this was complete news to him and I like to think some of the stereotyping eroded slightly.

I’d like to study this more but I’m adamant that in natural populations of species, including humans, there is a minority percentage of individuals with homosexual tendencies. The ability for those individuals to display their preference openly depends on the progress made within a group to recognise the legitimacy of homosexuals’ feelings. In the UK this is relatively advanced but not as advanced as in say, downtown San Francisco or Sydney. In Mozambique due to various historical trajectories, it’s less acknowledged and there are barely any protections for homosexuals, so people are less free to openly act on their natural attractions.

In wild species with no capacity for processing, a male wildebeest who finds himself sexually charged by the horns of a handsome beast may be displaying homosexual impulses by rubbing himself against the sleek coat of his herdmate. Baffled as to why he is persistently rebuffed, he reverts to a parallel goal of competing for and procreating with a female member of the herd, even though he could take or leave the act of mating with the cow. He never really is satisfied and is left with a feeling of things not being ‘quite right’ but lacks ability to analyse so continues to chew the cud, after which the cycle repeats. This defaulting by homosexuals to opposite-sex partners is a result of both group norms (this is absolutely the case in humans) and the natural impulse to procreate, which isn’t necessarily lost because someone pans out as homosexual.

This might all sound rather fanciful, but I’m adamant about the logic.

I found it fascinating to process the discussion with Ilidio. If I’d had the same conversation in the UK, a more open and equal society where we subconsciously hold others to more progressive standards, I’d no doubt draw the conclusion that Ilidio is a homophobe as he simply doesn’t see homosexuals as equal as heterosexuals and his thinking is completely riddled by stereotypes of homosexuals (male ones at least) being transfixed on the act of sex itself. He can’t conceive that homosexuals are simply attracted to the mind and body of a person who has the same gender as themselves, and that this is chemically totally natural.

However I don’t think it’s helpful for me to label him as a homophobe as I’d be doing it for 95% of Mozambicans. It reminds me of how I felt in very traditional areas of Indonesia when quizzed about my marital status, which I would gloss over. A society has to be ‘ready’ to embrace a cultural shift, which I firmly believe is needed in Mozambique and pretty much everywhere. When people can’t be free about who they are, the productivity and happiness of all of us suffer.

One clear conclusion applies the world over. People with no personal experience of homosexuality should really refrain from telling homosexuals how they think and feel. Whilst we of course have a choice about who we go to bed with, this notion of a ‘choice’ in who you are attracted to really needs to be buried now.

Rear view of my apartment building from the patch of wasteground that will presumably be built on. It’s the one immediately to the right of the large one.