Changing Attitudes on Gay Rights

A crowning characteristic of the term “culture” is fluidity.  Although a culture consists of a society’s traditions and customs, it never truly remains “traditional.”  Culture is always moving and evolving with every generation. An obvious example of a shift in Panamanian cultural beliefs stems from the country’s current gay and lesbian rights movement.  Within the past several decades, Panama has become progressively more accepting toward homosexuality, which reflects the society’s changing cultural attitudes.  The rights of homosexuals was brought to national attention in 1996, when the first Panamanian gay/lesbian association was formed under the title Asociación Hombres y Mujeres Nuevos de Panama (AHMNP)[1]. Over the years, the group has petitioned for partnership rights and hosted several gay pride marches.

Although homosexuality is legal in Panama, there are countless restrictions enforced on the homosexual minorities that threatened their rights as individuals. Beyond the inability to marry one another, homosexuals are not allowed to join the military or police. Other typical discrimination acts involve being evicted from apartments based on sexual orientation and losing custody of children. In recent years, gay rights activists have taken steps to put an end to these discrimination issues. In May of 2010, Ricardo Beteta proposed Law 50, which attempted to legalize gay marriage. Although he had little hope for it being passed, he figured that simply “getting the issue on the legislative agenda and having hearings and a debate…would be an advance for the cause.[2]”

 Opponents of gay rights often associate it with pedophilia and claim that gay marriage would destroy family values. Personally, I do not understand how a gay marriage can destroy a heterosexual marriage. It is important to realize that each family has a unique value system that should not be clumped into a generic model.  Some families favor a hierarchy relationship between the spouses, whereas others seek egalitarianism. In addition, some families support or resent polygamy. The list goes on. The point is that there is no standard and ideal set of family values to destroy because marriage, across the globe, has too many different definitions.

Back to the focus. The views on homosexuality in Panama are slowly becoming more accepted.  Like all evolutionary processes, the concerns and rights of homosexuals will not immediately be embraced, but will slowly become more recognized and tolerated by the larger population until few people have a problem with it. Similar to how most young Americans are shocked that Caucasian and African American individuals were not allowed to marry each other prior to the American civil rights movements, I believe that future generations will eventually feel the same way about gay marriage.

Photo Source: http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_16/issue_10/news_05.html

[1] http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/Hotspots/GayGuide-action-Country-countryid-752.html

[2] http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_16/issue_10/news_05.html

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