Homosexuality, Compatibility and Mothers' Day

As we explore the essence of motherhood, it is critical that we take to time out to respect all the hardworking mothers who have worked assiduously to ensure that their children get the best possible care and are successful in their various endeavors. However to talk about what makes a mother worthy of honour would be endless. As we explore the issue at hand, let us consider a brief history of mothers’ day.

Brief History

“Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service. Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.”

“The roots of the modern American Mother’s Day date back to the 19th century. In the years before the Civil War (1861-65), Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children. These clubs later became a unifying force in a region of the country still divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

“The official Mother’s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her mother’s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908 she organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Mother’s Day event at one of Wanamaker’s retail stores in Philadelphia.

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is simply attraction to the same sex. Many times, these people’s lifestyles are considered as unnatural and they continue to be despised. Hatred towards them have led to many of them being abused and many use violence against them. The Christian religion is one of the biggest challenge to homosexuality. Those who are strictly against them are considered as fundamentalists. Today, we have homosexuals in the very church that despise them. In some countries and or states they are allow to get married. Tolerance towards gays have been slightly on a rise in some countries and or states. They should not be allowed to be abused, they should not be subjected to violent treatment or discrimination, they deserve better because they are humans first and homosexuals second.

I do not wish to bring my personal beliefs in this discussion but must I say that I am a fundamentalist so I need not to say more, but I wish to see them being treated for the human beings that they are with dignity and respect. They are different, we might not agree with their lifestyles but that does not mean we should treat them as less human. We might try to convince them otherwise but it’s their choice so let them live how they want to. In Jamaica, violence against homosexuals do exists, but I refuse to believe that we are homophobic as portrayed in the international community. Sometimes these gays take it too far, and I would implore them to behave better. Some of them harass people and think that they can get away with certain things. Not so! They hide behind the buggery law claiming it stops them from accessing health care – rubbish!

Gay marriage compatible with mothers’ day?

Can homosexuals (gays) factor in the celebrations of mothers’ day? Are homosexual relationships a direct threat to the traditional concept of the family that we have accepted for years? When we have two men in a relationship with a child, which does the child consider as the mother? Is that family structure robbing the child of that motherliness structure and comfort that they should receive? The typical dictionary definition will tell you that ‘mother’ is a “term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent” can that definition apply to the current and new trend that we have been exposed to?

The flip-side to it is equally important about women and fathers’ day, but I would not get into that, exploring one side should convey the idea. Many people question the idea of such a family structure and the arguments range from religious to secular. Why do gay couples have to depend on straight people to have access to a child? The mere fact that they have to be dependent does that mean that something is dead wrong with the concept? With respect to lesbians, they are able to have children, be biological mothers, but don’t they have to depend on men for that to happen? The gay couple without women cannot have access to children and the lesbian couple with men cannot have access to children, is that enough to show them something must be wrong? Why the dependency? If something is the natural order of things, does it have to depend directly on other factors for it to work? Maybe, maybe not. Regardless of how feminine a man is in a gay family it can never to be equal to that bond that a child would have established with a female mother, however, it is the way it is. These are some thought provoking questions to a real issue worthy of discussion. The questions are asked, what is your answer? 

Note: The brief history is extracted from History.com Url - http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/mothers-day