Diversity is something people have had to deal with through out all of history. In class we learned about the Requerimiento in 1514 by Charles V. The document was read by the Conquistadors to the Native Americans living in the Americas, and in it is described all the reasons why the New Worlds land belongs to Spain. We also learned about a document written by Sepulveda, who describes the Natives as evil. The Conquistadors strongly believed that the Native Americans were barbaric and uncivilized. There were many differences between the Conquistadors and the Native Americans, which led in to the many judgements being made about the Natives.
Gay protests and the judgements people make about gay marriage have a big connection with the Requerimiento and the relations between the Conquistadors and the Natives. You may wonder how? While visiting my cousins who live in the city of Chicago, I witnessed a gay protest. There were various signs being held, but I noticed a recurring topic..Christianity. Although I didn't snap a picture then, here is a picture of a sign being held up about gays.
The Requerimiento references Christianity many times while trying to persuade the Natives that the New World belongs to Spain. For example it states "One of the past Popes who succeeded Saint Peter, as Lord of the Earth gave these islands and Mainland's of the Atlantic Ocean to the said King and Queen and to their successors, with everything that there is in them." This is saying the Pope gives complete ownership of the land to the Conquistadors, which is inaccurate, they twisted words of their own religion to get their way.
Like the sign above, Gay protesters use so called "quotes" from the bible to make people think that gay marriage is against the Bible. Using religion to make points can be very persuading, but all in all it is wrong to twist words. Here is another sign against Gays..
This sign really shows a connection between how some people see Gays and how the Conquistadors saw the Natives. Sepulveda, who had never even been to the Americas, describes the Natives as "barbarous, uncultivated, and inhumane little men.. who worship the Devil as God." The sign above shows what that man thinks of homosexuals, yet you may wonder how many homosexual people he has even met, just like how Sepulveda had never met the Natives. Judgements are easily made and can spark tension between different types of people, back in the 1500's and now.
This was interesting because I had never really connected the argument over gay marriage to people just not liking people that are different, like Europeans not liking the Native Americans. I've noticed that a lot of history involves persecuting people because of religion. In that aspect, you also could have made a connection to the Protestant Reformation, where Protestants were tired of being persecuted, and the Pilgrims and Puritans, since they were persecuted in England for their religious beliefs. I like that you used pictures of people holding up protest signs to show how they didn't approve of gay people. Great post!
ReplyDeleteSam,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post because it made me think. I never would've thought of a connection between The Requiremento and gay protests. But, once you pointed it out, your trail was very easy to follow and made complete sense. I've also noticed that you're right, and Christianity always seems to play a role in the judgment of diversity. Great job!