2025 IJRSE – Volume 14 Issue 6
Available Online: 10 April 2025
Author/s:
Nguyen, Thuy Bao Tran
De La Salle University – Manila, Philippines (tiensanho@gmail.com)
Abstract:
One ethical challenge confronting Vietnam today is the issue of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The existence of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) group is legalized in many countries but it is still not recognized in Vietnam. Such non-recognition is due to the Confucian traditions that frown upon same-sex union and homosexuality. The discussion of homosexuality is unattractive to the Vietnamese government. Such a discourse is also foreign to the present social reality in Vietnam. The discourse of this human condition takes on the aspect of difference. This paper grounds itself in the discourse of same-sex marriage and homosexuality. It considers the discourse from the Biblical perspective and the Church’s teachings. The discourse on homosexuality and same-sex marriage remains almost marginal in Vietnam. This paper aims to open a debate on the issues of same-sex marriage and homosexuality. It attempts to shed light on the possible ways to change for the better the ethical values of the Vietnamese insofar as the treatment of the members of the LGBTQ is concerned. We aspire for the ethics of openness and respect. This kind of ethics provides the venue in promoting solidarity with the marginalized of society. Religious educators face the challenge of helping students who are gays and of defending their human dignity. To meet such a challenge, this paper discusses Erikson’s theory on psycho–social development as a pathway for religious educators to assist and form the personal identity of their students.
Keywords: homosexuality, same-sex marriage, religious education, ethics of openness and respect, personal identity
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2025.25045
Cite this article:
Nguyen, T. B. T. (2025). The challenge of difference: Homosexuality and same sex marriage in the context of the religious education in Vietnam. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 14(6), 209-224. https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrse.2025.25045