The bitter row over homosexuality sparked by Bishop Samuel green earlier this year erupted again last night as a leading gay rights campaigner launched a ferocious attack on dysfunctional “patriarchal” families.
Outspoken Ms. Helen Klonaris said Bishop Green and people like him were afraid of homosexual unions between women because it removed them from the control of men, as exercised through conventional marriage.
Referring to Bishop Green’s remark that the conventional is “under siege”, she said, “Yes, the ‘family’ you speak of is under siege. But not by homosexuals. the patriarchal family has been under siege for some time, because it is human beings struggling to survive within a poisonous structure that is not useful to any of us, not even you.
“It is dysfunctional because it thrives on control instead of mutual respect and empowerment of all its members. The patrirchal family is riddled with sexual and physical violence, mental and emotional abuses.
“It is a place in which difference is ignored at best and severely punished at worst, where control and obedience are valued over and above truthfulness, compassion and love.”
Ms. Klonaris acknowledges there are exceptions – the softspoken grandmother or the gentle father who never raised a hand. “It is because of these exceptions to the patriarchal rules that we have survived.”
She added, “the change that is coming is a deepening of our humanity. It is a radical transformation of our social structure at every level to enable all human beings to experience dignity and respect for their being.
“It is a widening of our ability to love one another on this planet, respecting our differences, understanding finally that we are all family and that family cannot be simply defined as a father, mother and children.”
Source: The Tribune
