Forget the 0.1%

Here's an interesting fact. Did you know that race is a man-made concept? Studies have proven that race doesn't exist in humans.

Our genes are actually colorblind. All humans are 99.9 percent identical to one another. Race is just used as an excuse to make it OK for us to think of each other as different -- which is, in turn, another excuse for people to discriminate.

People have come along way since the civil rights movement. But we're still not very accepting as a whole. We still find ways to point out each other's differences and categorize each other as "normal" or not.

Today, we find our differences through sexual orientation. To justify this, people turn to the Bible. According to Leviticus, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."

Fine. But the Bible also says that you shouldn't get tattoos, eat pork, eat shellfish, get round haircuts, wear polyester or play football. If you've done any of the things I just said, you're living in sin. So what gives you the right to say that homosexuality isn't OK because the Bible says so?

Leaving religion aside, there are those who say homosexuality is a lifestyle choice; that it's up to each individual to choose whether or not they are gay. And that if you are gay, you can go to therapy to be cured.

To say that homosexuality can be cured, as if it were a disease, is implying that 10 percent of the population is suffering from an illness simply because they found love with someone of the same sex.  Scientists have proven that there is a gay gene, meaning people are born being gay. You can't change that, fix it or cure it. That's who they are, and there's no need to treat it like an illness.

Setting aside religion, science, race, color or sexual orientation, can't people just accept others for who they are? Stop focusing on the 0.1 percent of differences among one another, and focus instead the on 99.9 percent of our similarities. Because like racism, homophobia is a man-made concept, and we can do without it.

And if you still can't accept, at least respect.

With a perspective, I'm Maribel Carrazco.