Posted by G. Student on 10/20/2004, 12:31 am, in reply to "Re: Protest Against Homophobia Results!!!" As to your commenting upon the gene, I never established that there is a gene that causes us to be gay. We are born that way, but it is neither genetics nor environments that cause us to desire who we desire. Did you ever come-out to your parents as straight? Have you always known that you were straight? Probably we would give to you the same answer to the question but as gay. Most of us have always known or felt different, even before knowing what that actual feeling meant, just as you have always felt one way yourself. Concerning you comments as to us not having our definitions straight
well, not to get all literal on you, but according to most circles: Homophobia: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. I believe what you were seeking was: a. if they actually are gay, then self-denial; b. if they arent actually gay, then confused, with serious issues. You say that we are quite flippant (as opposed to just flippant?) in our usage of the term hate. Mayhap this is a cause of our feelings and not cold analytical thought processing and we all experienced what happened differently. Towards the end of your message you indicate that you believe homosexuality is wrong. Buddy, youre on a L.G.B.T. message board. Statements like these really are offensive (even if you dont see it as such it doesnt invalidate our feeling of it), if not, dare I say, hateful, be it by the book definition or not.
69.212.44.27
Homosexuality is not a lifestyle; rather, it is the manifestation of the love or desire that one person of some sex shows to another of the same. There is not a homosexual lifestyle because not all gay people are homosexuals (all homosexuals are gay (including lesbian), though), there are gay people who have not had sex and even if they did, sexual encounters happen in both straight and gay communities and it is not the sexual encounters that form the lifestyle. There is not a straight lifestyle or a gay lifestyle: we are all different people living different lives. I cant underline this any more clearly. Sexual encountering does not constitute a lifestyle. For example, there are some in the straight community who rape or have babies in middle school; this does not mean that heterosexuals are living a degenerate or abhorrent lifestyle. Likewise, just because gay people encounter each other differently than (and oftentimes like) heterosexuals does not invalidate their love or desire or the manifestation of it. More anthropologically and/or philosophically, there is not such a thing as a lifestyle; we all lead our own lives independently of each otherremember the Borg (?)-that would be a lifestyle.
Concerning your comments as to us being, essentially, criers every time someone disagrees with us, not to seem arrogant here, but we kind-of know what were talking about here. There are esoteric feelings, history, and cultural items that the L.G.B.T. community have that those outside dont (and no offense, couldnt) realize. Our position in re this event was reactionary. We were responding to them. We didnt put forth a notion that Homosexual Behavior is not changeable first. We protested this anti-homosexual workshop because it was discrimination and our feeling of it is not dependent upon others but ourselves. Acknowledging the fact that sexuality is fluidic, a choice and changeable, that it should flow in one way (towards straight, and is a direct assault upon us and our feelings. It says: look, your feelings are not important, lie about who you are and youll be okay; deny yourself and youll be okay. They claim to use psychological effects to change people and, really, those can change anyone to do anything, does it make it valid just because it can work? What Im saying is that therapy can change anyone to anything to do anything; the human mind can be fragile under certain circumstances. Perhaps I digress, but only to make other points. That we felt that there was bigotry, discrimination, hate, did happen and it is not annulled by your observation; our perception of the event will far differ from that of your own and that of another 3rd party neutral.
