Gay genetics, slash and the right to hate

[Queer as John]

meira_q <mb2910 at hotmail.com> said:

> Me:
> If being gay or straight or bi isn't about personal taste and preference, then
> what *is*? Be it genetics, personal choice or whatever you'd like to think
> makes someone gay or straight or bi, it *is* what you prefer. It's who you are
> personally attracted to.

I am momentarily stunned at the lack of knowledge and understanding that
your words suggest. Sexual orientation is not a "preference". It is
determined before birth. It is genetic. There is utterly incontrovertible
scientific evidence for this. I'm happy to provide links and verification,
but I thought it was clear.

Does a black person *prefer* to be black? Does a person with brown hair have
brown hair because it's to his personal taste? No, we say, that's
ridiculous. Just like a black person cannot suddenly wake up and decide to
be white one day, an exclusively gay person cannot suddenly wake up and
decide to be straight or bi.

Being gay is not a lifestyle. It's not a choice. It's genetic. I probably
sound very vehement about this. That's because when people attempt to deny
gay people the same human rights as everybody else, they use words like
"lifestyle", "preference", "choice".

>>> Meira:
>>> No, she said "slashy or sex-filled [whether gay or <hetero>]"
>>> (emphasis mine). I agree with Diane.

>> Laura:
>> Okay.  She said slashy OR sex-filled.  So, she objects to all slash
>> AND sex-filled het.

> Meira:
> AARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.....
> (sorry)
> OR is *not* the same thing as AND.

Meira, you stated that you come from Israel. I know that in general the
_sabra_ style of speaking is more blunt and straightforward than most other
English speakers, but please do try not to use words like
AARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH. They tend to raise the flame quotient in a post, which
sometimes leads to the Mods stepping in and stopping what can be interesting
discussions. The fact that you felt the need to insert "(sorry)" means that
you should probably have deleted the AARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.

There is obviously an issue of communication here. Shouting
AARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH does nothing to attempt to remedy that issue. In fact,
usage of AARRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH tends to turn discussions, whether on- or
off-line, into shouting matches.

I think the communication issue is that there are multiple clauses in
Diana's sentence, which in my experience can often cause confusion. Let me
try to explain.

If we remove the words "or sex filled [whether gay or hetero]" from Diana's
words, she says: "I would not like to see unsupervised children stumble upon
a slashy...fanfic." This is the objection which Laura and I are raising.
Diana refers NOT ONLY to keeping kids away from sex-filled fanfics BUT ALSO
from slash. This gives the impression that she equates slash with sex-filled
fanfics in terms of explicitness and undesirability. That is what we object
to.

> Me:
> I respect that there are many people who don't like me, or even hate
> me in this world (I'm Jew, I'm Israeli, both of those reasons are
> more than enough for people to hate me, methinks;)). That doesn't
> mean that I accept *violence*, genocide, murdering others, or
> enslaving them, or just being nasty to them because they are
> different or that I accept what the Nazis did to the jews in the
> Holocaust. 

That's nice. I don't accept that people have a valid right to hate me -- or
you -- on the basis of my genetic makeup. It's prejudice, plain and simple
-- judgment about me before encountering me by people who I have done
nothing to.

Do we accept "Jews are babyeating Zionists"? No. It's not true. How about "I
would keep my children shielded from stories about black people, because
black people are criminals"? No. Ditto.

Why then, do people accept "Gay people are a danger to children", or "I
would keep my children shielded from material with gay people in it, because
gay people encourage promiscuity and deviance from the norm."

I know, that's something of a strawman, but it's a relevant one.

> John should really decide who's opinion matter to him.

I don't understand this in the context. Can you explain, please?

--John

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Queer as John || john at queerasjohn.com

AIM, YM & LJ @ QueerAsJohn || www.queerasjohn.com

"There's nowt as queer as folk."  --English proverb
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