Jon at the Pensito Review raised a very interesting point today about all the wingnuts who stubbornly insist that homosexuality is a choice, which is the underlying admission: if homosexuality is a choice, so is heterosexuality.
What fascinates me about rightwingers' belief that sexual orientation is a choice is that, while they project this decision making onto those of us who grew up to be gay, they are apparently blind to the converse decision-making that it implies about themselves.(This could explain a lot about Rush Limbaugh, who, as I'm sure you've heard by now, was recently caught coming back from the Dominican Republic with a stash of Viagra.)
If homosexuals "decide" to be gay, then the corollary must be true: Heterosexuality must be a lifestyle choice, too.
What this means is that, at some point in their lives, these conservatives seriously considered becoming gay but then decided to pass.
This decision must have been wrenching. And over time, their suppressed desires turned into self-loathing — a disgust which they came to project onto others who, they believe, did not have the fortitude to conquer their attraction for members of their own gender.
This internalized homophobia is like bulimia of the spirit. Its victims starve their psyches by regurgitating their self-loathing.
3 comments:
These dipsnots who think homosexuality is a choice aren't worth responding to, but I have to question the logic of the response. What if we were Long Hair Fundamentalists, and we said that short hair was a choice. In most cases, we would be right, and it would not imply that long hair was "a choice". Without making the choice to cut our hair, we will have long hair. It's only our perversion and falling away from God that make us choose to depart from the natural choice of long hair by going to a heathen barber (ever notice that "barber" and "barbarian" have the same root word?)
Look at it from another perspective - for me, personally, heterosexuality was not a choice. I was born this way. In theory, though, I could have decided only ever to have sexual relationships with a man. This is what these freaks think *every* gay person does - and they also believe, ridiculously, that making such a choice may lead to eventual inability to enjoy anything but man-sex. They believe that *if* gay people really don't like straight-sex, it is because they have conditioned themselves a la Pavlov's dogs - or that they have invited demons into them that have sabotaged the natural circuitry.
They're wrong and stupid, but they don't necessarily imply that heterosexuality is a choice.
Ok, that was very un-Unitarian of me. Let me correct that: their ideas are wrong, and they have fallen victim to some stupid modes of thought. They, themselves, are persons due dignity and respect, and who should be gently educated on the matter. Man, sometimes being a good UU is hard work.
Yeah, you might have a point (one that was raised in the comments of the linked post), but, OTOH, this theory only applies to people who DO believe that there is a choice involved... how can they be so sure? Because they experienced that choice themselves. Otherwise, they're just making this stuff up, and projecting a choice on homosexuals where none exists.
Now - there's a point. lol.
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