Ajahn Brahm: “Unacceptable” That Religion Has Been So Cruel to LGBTI People

Last updated on: July 30, 2014 at 2:05 pm by dannyfisher

Ajahn Brahm: “Unacceptable” That Religion Has Been So Cruel to LGBTI People 2014-07-30T14:05:28-07:00 dannyfisher

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Ajahn Brahm. Image via Goh Kuan Seng of the Buddhist Fellowship.

Ajahn Brahm is in the “Buddhist news” again! This via Gay Star News:

Ajahn Brahm, Abbott of the Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia, and Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore has urged followers to show respect, compassion and fairness to LGBTI people…

He told the audience, ‘Buddhism teaches us to have compassion for all sentient beings. Aren’t gay people sentient beings? They should be respected like everybody else. There is a principal of compassion and fairness for everybody.’

He added that he was very proud to have been able to perform a same-sex marriage blessing for a couple in Norway, and stressed that Buddhist teachings doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

‘There is nothing in the sutras, in the teachings of the Buddha, which discriminates against anybody no matter what race, religion, or sexual orientation. I do ask all Buddhists to show compassion and respect for everybody.’

He further warned against LGBTI people suppressing their natural sexuality as doing ’causes huge psychological and health problems’ and harms their community.

‘If you discriminate and suppress a person’s natural sexuality, it causes terrible, terrible harm. It is recognised in many places in the west that this is harming the whole community. Morality does not fall apart when we don’t have discrimination.’

He also explained that while he could not understand homosexuality as a layman his views have evolved since becoming a monk.

‘Many years ago, a leader of the gay community in Perth came up to me and he said with such pain in his heart, “Religion has been so cruel to the gay community.” And when he said that, you could feel his pain and that went right into my heart. I never forgotten that. How it hurt him to the core for years. That’s unacceptable.’

Read the rest here. You can also watch video of his remarks below.

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