Same-sex marriage is becoming very prevalent within different societies/ cultures today even though the debate still exists relating to the rights of same-sex couples to get married. But what is same-sex marriage? “This is also called opposite-sex marriage, the form of this institution under which a man and a woman have established their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies” (dicionary.com, n.d.). It is said that there is approximately 21 country where same-sex marriage is legalized such as The Netherlands (2000), Belgium (2003), Canada (2005), Spain (2005), South Africa (2006), Argentina (2010), Iceland (2010), Portugal (2010), Denmark (2012), Brazil (2013), England and Wales (2013), France (2013), New Zealand (2013). (Waxman, 2015). There was no mention of any Caribbean countries that legalized same-sex marriage, Jamaicans are viewed as being homophobic because of excessive violence and hate crimes against gays and lesbians, but mostly gays. Even though they are protected and supported by the GLBT- lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, they speak against discrimination and implement policies to protect their rights. Nevertheless, some Gays do openly discuss their sexual orientation in the hope of enlightening another individual on their lifestyle because there is considered a huge difference among those who feel sexual attraction to others of the same sex/gender. For someone in the counseling profession, it is important to understand the cause for an individual to become a homosexual, even though it is scientifically that there isn’t any single identified cause for this lifestyle, however falls under two broad kinds. The psychological/environmental which because of past experience may have an effect in developing homosexuality and the biological/genetic where one could be affected by hormonal or chemical that could show contributing factor to homosexuality Most research show it’s not a lifestyle people choose intentionally every individual come to the realization of who they are attracted to whether male or female.
When we seek to understand Christian counseling, when a Counselor chooses to counsel a homosexual individual they should not hold any form of stereotypical thinking towards that individual, or even hold biases and myths. Because we are all human and how we think may have an effect on how to understand and help these individuals who experience same-sex attraction. The Bible says that God loves each and every one of us, however, he hates sin. And we have all sinned and come short of the glory and goodness of God. And helping these individuals with one’s homosexual orientation is how a Christian counselor should operate especially if the counselee has a strong desire to change their lifestyle because change is never easy and the reality is that changing one’s sexual orientation may well be impossible for some, which will eventually lead to same-sex marriages. same-sex marriage in this type of marriage union they are of the same gender even though these couples don’t see themselves from that perspective One is usually seen as the male and the other female and this is known as Gender dysphoria which “involves a conflict between a person's physical or assigned gender and the gender with which he/she/they identify. People with gender dysphoria may be very uncomfortable with the gender they were assigned, sometimes described as being uncomfortable with their body (particularly developments during puberty) or being uncomfortable with the expected roles of their assigned gender” (Parekh, 2016). In most Christian worldviews this lifestyle is not accepted as 'From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh...' (Mark 10:6-8, and Genesis 2:24). Each individual as moral and value in which they live by, I believe that if a Christian counsel (Seventh-day Adventist) should choose to counsel same-sex couples this would defiantly be going against that individual belief, because you would be giving advice on how to help these person when deep down you know it going against what you believe in and most time it can be very difficult to find way on how to help them for example using the scripture to help this kind of couple because, God spoke against sodomitish practices which brought the judgment of God upon the world and which caused Sodom to be destroyed by fire (Genesis,19) this show that God is not pleased with this kind of lifestyle, there may not be a scripture that speak directly against the lifestyle but God is not the author of confusion thus he thought it not good for man to be alone so he provided Adam with a mate Eve, which was taken from Adams rib. God celebrated the first marriage. Thus he sanctioned marriage, recognizing it as an institution that He Himself had established. God loves what is beautiful. He has given us unmistakable evidence of this in the work of his hands. He planted for our first parents a beautiful garden in Eden. What we must not forget is that there is a force that is trying to work against God and he makes a counterfeit for everything that God does because he wants to be like Him and in doing so he also wants our souls but nonetheless God still loves each of us however he hates the sin. Society however has now changed the idea of what god was originated to suit their own belief, believing it ok for males and males to be married or vice-versa females, but God would never put us in the position to think that it ok for us to marry same-sex individual, that’s why he set the example of Adam and Eve, because he knows us more than how we know ourselves and that we would, at some point get lonely and also the facts that both counterparts contribute produce children, so this cycle can carry on for other generation.
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Some counselors may choose to help these individuals while others may choose not to because of their personal beliefs or what they stand for, another implication is that counselors may have to make referrals when they don’t feel as though they can help individuals with this kind of lifestyle, homosexual may feel as though they are being discriminated against, if the Christian counselor should live in an area where this practice is legal they may at some point have to deal with these cases has this lifestyle is becoming very prevalent and if they can’t deal with it, they may very well have to change their job because has any helping professionals if these are the type of cases that are mostly being presented it is not possible for you to keep referring individuals all the time that would be seen as bad for business and may end up losing your job also.
References
- Parekh, R. (2016, February). American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria.
- Waxman, O. (2015, June 26). time. Retrieved from http://time.com/3937766/us-supreme-court-countries-same-sex-gay-marriage-legal/.
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