Chapters
Free-market capitalism
The Hidden Cause of Homosexuality · Dr. Alaa Alsalem
10. Free Market Capitalism and Homosexuality
Starting in the 21st century, governments began legislating in favor of same-sex marriage, and the majority of these countries, if not all, follow free market capitalism. Some of these countries are listed below, along with the year in which their legislation passed:
The Netherlands (2001); Belgium (2003); Spain and Canada (2005); South Africa (2006); Norway and Sweden (2009); Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, and Mexico (2010); Denmark (2012); France, New Zealand, Uruguay and Brazil (2013); Britain and Scotland (2014); America and Luxembourg (2015); Colombia (2016); Germany, Finland, Malta, and Australia (2017). At the time of writing this paper, other countries such as Austria, Taiwan, Nepal, and several others are on the way to legalizing it.
Does free market capitalism have any hand in the push towards homosexuality or the preparation of the appropriate ground for its spread among people in today's world?
Capitalism is an economic doctrine that emerged after Feudalism, which prevailed in Europe until the sixteenth century AD. Since its inception, it has encouraged private ownership of property by individuals. It soon transformed into a system whose foundations extended to human social and political life. Thus, capitalism directly impacts human life in many aspects. The capitalist system advocates complete economic and personal freedoms. To allow a free market economy, it rejects economic restrictions and restrictions on individuals. Thus morality will become a victim of this arrogance.
Adopting democracy as a political approach that dominates the people and countries is one of the reflections of the capitalist economic ideology on politics. They go hand in hand. According to Francis Fukuyama, the American political philosopher who wrote The End of History and the Last Man, "liberal democracy may constitute the 'end point of mankind’s ideological evolution' and the 'final form of human government.'"79
Concerning our research on homosexuality, John D'Emilio80 sees the emergence of homosexuality in the late 20th century as connected to capitalism: “It has been the historical development of capitalism-more specifically, its free labor system-that has allowed large numbers of men and women
in the late twentieth century to call themselves gay, to see themselves as part of a community of similar men and women, and to organize politically on the basis of that identity.’"81
According to him, the reason for homosexuality emerging is the emergence of capitalism, which weakened the role, function, and bonds that the family is based on, as can be seen from the below paragraph:
“In divesting the household of its economic independence and fostering the separation of sexuality from procreation, capitalism has created conditions that allow some men and women to organize a personal life around their erotic or emotional attraction to their own sex. It has made possible the formation of urban communities of lesbians and gay men and more recently, of a politics based on a sexual identity.”82
Despite his infatuation with and warm applause for free market capitalism, which, in his own words, "gradually undermined the material basis of the nuclear family by taking away the economic functions that cemented the ties between family members," John D'Emilio also observes that "on the other hand, the ideology of capitalist society has enshrined the family as the source of love, affection and emotional security, the place where our need for stable, intimate human relationships is satisfied."83
Thus, capitalism did not completely uproot the family unit because these functions (source of love, affection, emotional security, etc.) will help it to continue functioning and guarantee its survival.
He says the relationship between capitalism and the family is fundamentally contradictory: “On the one hand, capitalism continually weakens the material foundation of family life, making it possible for individuals to live outside the family, and for a lesbian and gay male identity to develop. On the other hand, it needs to push men and women into families, at least enough to reproduce the next generation of workers.”84
The disintegration of the family is the environment keeping homosexuality alive. D'Emilio concludes his lecture by inviting homosexuals to support all issues that lead to living outside the family and destroying the familial entity: “We do need, however, structures and programs that will help to dissolve the boundaries that isolate the family, particularly those that privatize childbearing. We need community- or worker-controlled daycare…as we create structures beyond the nuclear family that provide a sense of belonging, the family will wane in significance.”85
Perhaps if this push toward normalizing homosexuality were only at the individual personal level (i.e., mere citizens), it would not be that bad. Because international governments are trying to normalize homosexuality, the stakes are much higher. What is the end goal for humanity?
The following section is a recent example of world politics interfering with the issue of homosexuality at the Oscars and Golden Globes.