They declared, “If homosexuality is a crime then we are going underground.” You cannot write on anybody’s forehead that he is a homosexual; neither are there any signals that show that a certain person is a homosexual. And they said, “Right now, we have our homosexual clubs, homosexual restaurants, homosexual meeting places. We will go on being what we are, but no longer in the open.”
A problem becomes more difficult if it goes underground. It is better to know that a certain person is homosexual. And homosexuality itself is only a symptom. But nobody in the world has the courage to say the right thing – that it is celibacy that has created homosexuality. Nobody can say it, because it goes against all the religions. Nobody wants to be condemned, like me, by everybody in the whole world. But I have really enjoyed this condemnation.
No animal in the wild ever goes homosexual. Why? – there is no need. But in zoos it has been found again and again that animals become homosexuals, because the female is not there. What are you supposed to do with your sexual energy? It is a natural phenomenon. It needs some outlet.
All the religions have been teaching celibacy as one of the greatest religious qualities, and all the societies have been respecting virginity as something spiritual – these are the causes which have created homosexuality and lesbianism. And out of this homosexuality has come the disease AIDS, for which the scientists are finding no cure.
But still, no priest in the world, no political leader in the world, no man who has any international status has said clearly that celibacy should be the crime, not homosexuality.
But I want to say it: Celibacy is the crime. Homosexuality is only a symptom.
And if you repress the symptom, then the possibility is that something worse may happen, because the same energy that has turned from heterosexuality to homosexuality can turn towards sodomy. People can start making love…they have been making love for centuries, there are descriptions even in the Old Testament and other scriptures about people making love to animals, particularly shepherds who are living in deep mountain forests where they don’t have anybody else except their animals. And animals are not going to report to the police. If homosexuality has created AIDS, then sodomy – making love to animals – can create something far worse.
Medical relief is good, but it is very superficial. The man of real charity will try to find out the causes that are creating so many diseases, and those causes should be removed. They can be removed!