Nate Whitley

Everyone has heard of the gay rights movement. The news, social media, and word of mouth has made it nearly impossible to be over the age of 15 and not have some sort of opinion on the matter. Just as with all social and political issues the nation and world is divided on the matter. There are those who adamantly oppose the idea of gay marriage, or for that matter all sexual activities or lifestyle choices which don't revolve around a classic sense of the word family. There are also those on the other side of the issue advocating for a more progressive idea of family and sexuality. This issue has blown up in pop culture and has been a huge debate in political campaigns. While there are many questions packed into this revolutionary  social uprising, the only one I ask is, who cares? Why should we care who has sex with who? Why do some people get so defensive and uncomfortable when spoken to about gay sex, while others get excited about a chance to discover themselves? When I consider these questions, I think of two things, evolution and religion. Religion is an obvious consideration in regards to sexual oppression. It has been discussed in class a lot, and while it is a far from exhausted subject, I would prefer to delve into the evolution of sexuality. Now, I don't mean the biological evolution. When I say sexual evolution I am referring to the social evolution. I understand that religion oppressed sexuality, but I don't understand why. Sexuality does not seem like low hanging fruit for the church to use as a means to control its members. It seems as though the members of the church could still get away with whatever dastardly things they wished behind closed and locked doors. So, I think that sexual oppression came on naturally and that the culture at the time was pro- sexual oppression, and that the church used this wave of thought as a means to control its members as an afterthought.