The origins of LGBT+

ONE OF THE MOST contentious bills to be publicized this year is the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression (SOGIE) Equality Bill filed by minority senator Risa Hontiveros. If passed, the bill would prevent and penalize “discriminatory acts” against a person’s sexual orientation.

Now, before I share my thoughts on this matter, it’s important to point out that transgenders, transexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, and other “LGBT” types have appeared across different cultures and civilizations over the course of human history.

One of the most interesting examples is the Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite fighting force in Ancient Greece made up of homosexuals. There’s also the “bacha bazi” in Afghanistan, pederasty in Ancient Rome, the Aravani transvestites of India, Samurai pederasty and so on and so forth. You may also be surprised to learn that highly theocratic Iran has a sizeable gender reassignment industry. So it’s important to remember that “LGBT” has always existed in one form or another throughout time, and will most likely continue to exist in the foreseeable future.

However, different societies also have different attitudes towards “LGBT” persons. Traditional Christian, Islamic and Jewish societies generally condemn the whole thing, while other cultures simply see it as a harmless sexual aberration. Modern secular culture, however, views LGBT issues with a certain level of veneration and this is because of the marginalization myth of neo-liberalism.

Classical liberalism aimed to liberate the human individual from the social and religious rules of traditional, pre-modern society. It created the myth that man was an oppressed creature who needed to be liberated from the supposedly evil and antiquated traditions of his own society. By liberating man, he is able to realize his full potential and transcend the limits that were established to oppress him.  

From this myth emerged other myths. Marxism and communism turned man into a worker – the working class who had to be liberated from the capitalist. Nationalism (the ideology, not the tribalism inherent in all human groups) turned man into a national who must be liberated from foreign oppression and subversion. And secular humanism/neo-liberalism turned man into marginalized persons – I.e. immigrants, refugees, persons with disabilities and most pertinently “LGBTs.”

So as you can see, the “LGBT” cause is really an outgrowth of a kind of mutated liberalism. The rationale is this: All persons must have rights, but victim groups, marginalized persons and disadvantaged persons – like refugees, minorities and “LGBTs” – are disadvantaged by virtue of their unique qualities, and therefore they must be given more rights, so as to establish proportionality with the rest of society.

The “LGBT” debate is ultimately about rights and the victim myth of late stage liberalism. It is a myth that is based on optimizing the rights of the human person. However, liberalism is also a decaying ideology and sooner or later, it will die out. When that day comes, one wonders what will happen to “LGBTs” all over the world? (jdr456@gmail.com/PN)