So... Sexuality is a Choice...

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by Étienne

I'm never invited to the cool parties

I'm not gay but I'm sure I can emulate enough gayness to be the token ITG for a week or two.
Go native:

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

Yaaaay! You're hired.

And of course you are invited anytime. In fact, some of the SF resident Homos are trying to work out a trip to Paris at some point in the year and would enjoy meeting you for some Creme brulee and a trip to the Goyard store for some Fuschia Hot stamping on our luggage!
If you like fuchsia, shoes and Paris then a visit to the French Alan Flusser, Marc Guyot, is in order. He even has fuchsia gloves and can run up a nice hot pink 3-piece seersucker suit with cran Necker for you!

 

[GQgeek]

connemakes a choice to be gay every time he posts.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

connemakes a choice to be gay every time he posts.

g33k is proof it is not a choice.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by RJman

g33k is proof it is not a choice.
this is true. edit: you bastard. good thing i didn't end up taking the LSAT.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

this is true.

finally an admission.

 

[Sucrose]

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

Just give it up, guys. Let gays just be gays, the same as you let straights be straights without having to "explain" or "justify" their behavior. Trying to "help" us with such justifications is actually just as damaging or counterproductive in the end as using it to hurt us. Just let us be what/who we are. If it ain't broke (and it ain't) don't fix it.

Does it make you straight guys' life more valuable or beneficial to know that some protein MAKES you love your wife? Or, would you rather just LOVE her?

Try to remember that gays aren't a monolithic group... we're individual people. If you REALLY want to help us, instead of resorting to science to "defend/save" us, just tell someone about a gay friend you have who is a wonderful person and worthy of getting to know. Science isn't going to get us all on the same page; it's going to be friendship.


I don't think the real issue is about homosexuality, rather the real issue is more about the nature of heterosexuality.

Viewed objectively, homosexuality isn't very remarkable. In fact, it's rather dull. What is remarkable, however, is the intensity of the reaction so many heterosexuals have to homosexuality. The reaction many heterosexuals have to homosexuality -even just the concept of homosexuality -is completely disproportionate to any actual consequence homosexuality could ever possibly have. So why are so many heterosexuals so obsessively fascinated by homosexuality? Why are so many heterosexuals so fiercely hostile to homosexuality when that hostility is baseless and irrational? I think these are the real issues.

So I agree that the investigation of the causes and origins of homosexuality isn't very compelling. However, I do think that investigating the causes and origins of homophobia and ****-obsessiveness is compelling, since homophobia is such a dangerous and destructive force.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by RJman

finally an admission.

I admit it. I am totally straight and was born that way.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by rach2jlc

I agree and this is more or less my view as well; I'm just worn out as these discussion have popped up a lot lately and I don't want to be the "token militant gay" around SF anymore (haha). I think GoSurface should take over for the month of March; SoCal gets April; why gets the first half of May (since his sexuality is more ambiguous).

Anyway, to add something both pithy and woefully unclear to your excellent remarks, I'll just add what a certain French philosopher said (you know the one)... something to the effect of "It's not so much about understanding homosexual desire as it is in making homosexuality itself desirable."

Thanks. I am always surprised by how obsessed people are with the gay, but I imagine that comes from having grown up around it. Also, I think your French friend is right, though I don't find his statement obscure.

 

[brlfvr]

Originally Posted by Sucrose

I don't think the real issue is about homosexuality, rather the real issue is more about the nature of heterosexuality.

Viewed objectively, homosexuality isn't very remarkable. In fact, it's rather dull. What is remarkable, however, is the intensity of the reaction so many heterosexuals have to homosexuality. The reaction many heterosexuals have to homosexuality -even just the concept of homosexuality -is completely disproportionate to any actual consequence homosexuality could ever possibly have. So why are so many heterosexuals so obsessively fascinated by homosexuality? Why are so many heterosexuals so fiercely hostile to homosexuality when that hostility is baseless and irrational? I think these are the real issues.

So I agree that the investigation of the causes and origins of homosexuality isn't very compelling. However, I do think that investigating the causes and origins of homophobia and ****-obsessiveness is compelling, since homophobia is such a dangerous and destructive force.


This is very well articulated.


iammatt I'm not sure I agree with the concept that people will be more accepting if they feel that you choose to be homosexual in the long run. It just continues to mislead parents of gay youth as well as others who have problems accepting it. Too many parents will still want to send their kids to various "change my kid back to hetero facilitys". I agree with Rach that most folks who want to push the issue of choice have an agenda and it's usually not for acceptance.

 

[binge]

Originally Posted by RJman

I think being left-handed is a choice. There are people who have learned how to write with their right hand, the correct hand, through training. Left-handers are disgusting and against nature. It is a fetish.

You've just made the list list buddy. But then again, I'm sure you'll die feebly and quickly in the first wave of the Great Sinister Take-over.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by brlfvr

This is very well articulated.


iammatt I'm not sure I agree with the concept that people will be more accepting if they feel that you choose to be homosexual in the long run.

That isn't really what I was trying to say. I think people will be more accepting only if they are convinced that there is nothing "wrong" with homosexuality. I just don't think that overreaching on the predetermined angle is going to get anywhere other than to create a new thing to argue about. The average person needs, I think, to learn that it is OK, not why it happens.

 

[Tck13]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

I'll bring the ornamental neckwear.


A pearl necklace perhaps?

 

[ysc]

Clearly not all heterosexuals are against homosexuality, or fascinated by it.
The strong reaction to it is a cultural thing, science, by explaining the causes of sexual preference can undercut a lot of the arguments of the commited homophobes - "its unnatural" or whatever, and help persuade the "casual homophobe" who is only against it because of what they have been told, not any reasoned position.
Ultimately it is a cultural thing and to think that the reasons for homosexuality vs heterosexuality, whatever they may turn out to be, have any bearing on whether it is right or wrong is naturalistic fallacy.

 

[hossoso]

Originally Posted by Tck13

Unfortunately, millions of people in America hold the position that homosexuality is a choice and one can just be heterosexual if they choose. (See Ted Haggard)



Who are you calling dumb, exactly?

Tck13, your signature, I don't know how much (or if) you care for accuracy. It was Chief Sealth. There has never been a tribe member named "Seattle". Probably could have PM'ed this but couldn't waste an opportunity to try and derail this thread, which is stupid.