Last month the state of New York legalized gay marriage. Polls show a majority of New Yorkers are fine with this. Here in the New York metropolitan area, people seem much more worked up about Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter skipping the All-Star Game.
In other parts of the U.S., however, many politicians are vowing to "protect marriage," by which they mean recognizing heterosexual marriages only. Much of this opposition to same-sex marriage is coming from conservative religious groups. In cruising around the Web, I see many websites proclaiming that Buddhism opposes homosexuality also (just one example). So let's set the record straight.
In a nutshell -- homosexuality doesn't appear to have been an issue in early Buddhism. As recorded in the Vinaya-pitika, the historical Buddha taught his monks and nuns to practice celibacy. All sexual practices were equally off limits.
Laypeople were given the Third Precept, which is often rendered into English as "Do not engage in sexual misconduct" or "do not misuse sexuality." But the Buddha did not elaborate much on what acts are "misconduct." As Buddhism spread through Asia, the Third Precept often was interpreted according to local mores, and "misconduct" became whatever the prevailing culture said it was.
Thus, in some parts of Buddhist Asia homosexuality was frowned upon, and in other parts, it wasn't. And to some extent this is still true. Attitudes about homosexuality coming from Asian Buddhist institutions, and even within those institutions, vary quite a bit, and also have changed over time.
The exception to this is Tibet. In matters of sexual ethics for laypeople, Tibetan Buddhism places great importance in the writings of a 15th century scholar named Tsongkhapa, who drew on earlier Tibetan and Indian sources.
Tsongkhapa's views on sexual morality are exceedingly odd to a 21st-century westerner. For example, sex between men was forbidden, but not sex between women. It was all right for a man to use a prostitute but not to have sex at all during the daytime, even with his wife. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said that if these rules fall outside accepted norms it is possible to change them, but he cannot change them by decree. The Tibetan sangha has to come to some kind of consensus on the matter before the rules can be changed.
And even while these odd rules are still observed, it's important to understand that Buddhism doesn't consider the Precepts to be absolute rules that all people must follow. They are personal commitments made by people who have taken the refuges and are engaged in practice.
So where does that leave us? I have found commentaries by modern monks and scholars who have researched the early texts to glean what the Buddha thought about sexuality among laypeople. There appears to be a growing consensus that for laypeople, "avoiding sexual misconduct" requires mutual consent, affection, and respect; avoids harming anyone; and avoids breaking marriage vows or commitments -- no "sneaking around." And that's about it.
Unlike in some other religions, in Buddhism there is no imperative that a relationship produce children. The chief issue surrounding sexuality is sensual desire, which is one of the Five Hindrances. But for laypeople, there is no rational reason to think this issue differs depending on sexual preference.
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