The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in challenges to marriage laws this week, which has the whole country talking about same-sex marriage. Maia Duerr of The Jizo Chronicles found a testimony given in favor of same-sex marriage by the late Robert Aitken Roshi, in 1995. Here is just a small bit --
"Over my long career of teaching, I have had students who were gay, lesbian, trans-sexual and bisexual, as well as heterosexual. These orientations have seemed to me to be quite specific, much akin to the innate proclivities which lead people to varied careers or take paths in life that are uniquely their own.
"We are all human, and within my own container, I find compassion--not just for--but with the gay or lesbian couple who wish to confirm their love in a legal marriage."
I recommend reading the entire piece.
There's a lot of misinformation on the Web about, well, everything, including what Buddhism teaches about sexuality. Some anti-homosexual rights sites flat-out lie about what Buddhism teaches so they can argue Buddhism opposes homosexuality (here's one example). But for the most part, it doesn't.
I've already written a blog post explaining whatever there is in Buddhist teaching about homosexuality, which is not much. In brief, in the absence of specific teaching, over time the Third Precept's vague precaution about "not misusing sex" came to be interpreted according to prevailing local mores, whatever those were. I believe the only firm prohibition of homosexual sex is in a centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist commentary that has no authority whatsoever outside of Tibetan Buddhism.
From what I can see, Buddhist institutions in the West accept same-sex relationships as they do opposite-sex relationships. It's not a Big Bleeping Deal, in other words. There probably are exceptions to that, but I'm not personally acquainted with any.
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