State Senator Apologizes For Calling Homosexuality A 'Sickness'

[JI7]

<Sen. Thomas Colapietro, a Democrat, referred to homosexuality as "a sickness" in an article published Saturday in the Bristol Press on the legislature's debate over same-sex marriage and civil unions. Colapietro told the newspaper that allowing gays and lesbians to marry would not "cure" them.

Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who is openly gay, said he was disappointed with the comments of Colapietro and some other members of the Bristol delegation who were quoted in the article. He said the remarks were misinformed and insensitive.

On Monday, Colapietro said he used the wrong word, but still believes that homosexuality may be the result of a chemical imbalance. The legislator said he bases that belief on information he once heard from a physician.

"I feel bad that using the word sickness upset people like it did. It wasn't meant to hurt anybody's feelings," he said. "It's meant to show that I have high hopes of this becoming a curable thing."

Colapietro said he has always supported civil unions. He said he also has gay friends and relatives.>

http://www.nbc30.com/politics/4199407/detail.html

[Oreo]

1. What a dumbass

"I feel bad that using the word sickness upset people like it did. It wasn't meant to hurt anybody's feelings," he said. "It's meant to show that I have high hopes of this becoming a curable thing."


By saying that he pretty much reinforced his original statement and reemphasized it. He's no Dem

[LinuxInsurgent]

12. yeah...

what I meant to say was that I really just want to see them cured...you know...like wanting to see a baby cured of AIDS.

But...you still think it's a disease, right?

screw you asshole...

Zell miller...here comes another playbuddy.

[BR_Parkway]

2. I don't want to be "cured", asshole! n/t

[Puglover]

76. I agree...

what a nightmare it would be to go to bed with my partner and wake up straight.
:scared:

[sarcasmo]

3. What a nut. Does it suprise anyone that he is a Repuke?

[JI7]

4. huh ? he is a Democrat

[LinuxInsurgent]

11. zell miller was a democrat too

[UCLA Dem]

9. it wouldn't be nearly as surprising if he was a repuke.

[auntAgonist]

5. open mouth and insert BOTH feet!

"He said he also has gay friends and relatives"

wonder for how long he'll have friends if he keeps spewing like this ..

on second thought, with a friend like him ........... yanno?


aA

[TahitiNut]

6. Maybe he meant "hickory-smoked"?? Like a "cured" ham?

:evilgrin:

[Redstone]

7. He's not an evil guy in general...

According to the story in the Hartford paper, it really does seem this time that the remark was something that just popped out when he wasn't thinking.

Even the (gay) legislator to whom he made the remark has said he didn't think it was representative to Colapietro's real thinking, and thought it best to just let the matter go away after the apology.

Hasn't anyone here ever said something stupid without thinking, didn't know why they said it, and wished they could take it back?

I sure have.

Redstone

[Maven]

13. Absolute nonsense.

Did you not read the article? He actually clarified his statement and emphasized the same sentiment a second time.

Geezus. Stop giving people like this "the benefit of the doubt." They don't deserve it, clearly.

[Liberal Veteran]

15. BINGO. No apology...just said he thinks homosexuality is the result..

...of a chemical imbalance that he hopes can be cured.

And what is it that needs to be cured? The "sickness" he calls a "chemical imbalance".

[Redstone]

16. Oops.

I must not have been paying attention. Gotta dig the paper out and re-read it.

Maybe I should drink the coffee before reading the paper, not during.

Redstone

[UCLA Dem]

8. Who says anyone wants to be cured???

I know that being an assertive woman has also been dubbed at times a "sickness," but I never asked to be "cured" of who I am. Maybe I like who I am.

People are who they are and maybe they don't want to be cured!

Stupid ignorant arrogant shithead.


:grr:

[LinuxInsurgent]

10. excommunication from the party...please...

we don't need intolerant homophobes in the party...thank you very much

[Ian David]

21. If the Dems won't expell Zell Miller, then they wouldn't expell anyone

Heck, Fred Phelps or Satan himself could run as a Democrat if they had a big enough war chest.

[Liberal Veteran]

14. Um, that's not an apology...it's a clarification.

Basically he said the same damn thing.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. I glanced at this headline here this morning

but was shocked to find this was Colapietro right here in CT!

And he apparently STILL doesn't get it.

They'll find a cure for homosexuality right after they find a cure for blue eyes...

Unbelievable. And a Democrat, to boot. How embarrassing!

[JerseygirlCT]

18. Just wrote him -- for all the good it may do.

[Ian David]

22. A democrat and not even from a "red state"

He makes me embarased to be a Democrat and a New Englander.

[iamjoy]

19. I Keep Hoping They Find A Cure

for religious fundamentalism

[Ian David]

26. A cure for fundamentalism? Actually, maybe...

"I Keep Hoping They Find A Cure for religious fundamentalism"
Posted by iamjoy

----
God and the temporal lobes
This Is Your Brain on God
Michael Persinger has a vision - the Almighty isn't dead, he's an
energy field. And your mind is an electromagnetic map to your soul.

By Jack Hitt

<snip>

A few commands are typed into a computer outside the chamber, and selected electromagnetic fields begin gently thrumming my brain's temporal lobes. The fields are no more intense than what you'd get as by-product from an ordinary blow-dryer, but what's coming is anything but ordinary. My lobes are about to be bathed with precise wavelength patterns that are supposed to affect my mind in a stunning way, artificially inducing the sensation that I am seeing God.

I'm taking part in a vanguard experiment on the physical sources of spiritual consciousness, the current work-in-progress of Michael Persinger, a neuropsychologist at Canada's Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. His theory is that the sensation described as "having a religious experience" is merely a side effect of our bicameral brain's feverish activities. Simplified considerably, the idea goes like so: When the right hemisphere of the brain, the seat of emotion, is stimulated in the cerebral region presumed to control notions of self, and then the left hemisphere, the seat of language, is called upon to make sense of this nonexistent entity, the mind generates a "sensed presence."

Persinger has tickled the temporal lobes of more than 900 people before me and has concluded, among other things, that different subjects label this ghostly perception with the names that their cultures have trained them to use - Elijah, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Mohammed, the Sky Spirit. Some subjects have emerged with Freudian interpretations - describing the presence as one's grandfather, for instance - while others, agnostics with more than a passing faith in UFOs, tell something that sounds more like a standard alien-abduction story.

<snip>

Delgado's relatively coarse stunts were a long way from Persinger's quest for the God spot, but Persinger is not the first to theorize that the Creator exists only in the complex landscape of the human noggin. In his controversial 1976 book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes, a Princeton psychologist, argued that the brain activity of ancient people - those living roughly 3,500 years ago, prior to early evidence of consciousness such as logic, reason, and ethics - would have resembled that of modern schizophrenics. Jaynes maintained that, like schizophrenics, the ancients heard voices, summoned up visions, and lacked the sense of metaphor and individual identity that characterizes a more advanced mind. He said that some of these ancestral synaptic leftovers are buried deep in the modern brain, which would explain many of our present-day sensations of God or spirituality.

(I wish we didn't have the four-paragraph rule). More:
http://www.wireheading.com/brainstim/godbrain.html

I do not necessarily endorse the above material. It is meant only to refer to those who are "religious extremists," not all people who are religious or spiritual.

And if this were ever proved to be true, one could always argue that, "God put this in our brains to speak to us for the same reason he buried the dinosaur bones."

[JerseygirlCT]

28. I sincerely doubt he's a fundie

The odds are overwhelming around here that he's Catholic. I think we're dealing with some variety of just plain old ignorant here.

[mutus_frutex]

34. That was my first thought too...

It sounds like a very catholic comment to me.

And I don't know why some people are surprised here that a democrat can say something like that. We know that religion is a much, much stronger defining philosophy than political affiliation. He was probably indoctrinated and regardless of all his other positions he thinks that homosexuals are "not right"

[JerseygirlCT]

45. I don't want to insult anyone

by sketching this picture. Let me put my disclaimer right up front about the dangers of generalizations.

That said, I think what we're dealing with here is the guy at the other end of the bar after his shift is done at the plant. He's blue-collar, means well, missing some things in his education about the world at large. Has lived a fairly sheltered life insofar as things like homosexuality go. Almost certainly RC, strongly union, family guy... Democrat probably from birth.

I don't want to jump too hard on him, because I think he's simply ignorant. He needs education on this topic. Hopefully, he'll get it from many constituents and others.

[mutus_frutex]

47. I understand you, completely.. :-)

I have been a bit too harsh in the past and had my messages deleted. I hate it because I feel that my opinions are as valid as anyone else's, but.. well anyway, forget about that..

My despise of religions is pretty much equal opportunity, but I certainly differentiate between the followers. They are good, bad and horrible. My bad opinion of catholics is generally tempered by the fact that a very strong left/socialist undercurrent runs inside the catholic church. I think that is what you are referring to.

Regretfully, economical progressiveness dos not equate with social progressiveness.

Cheers..

[Laurab]

58. I think it's just ignorance, too

it's doubtful his "gay friends and relatives" are very close to him, because if they were, he'd probably be aware that it's not something that's "cureable", or something that should be cured. I think it's difficult for a lot of people who haven't been touched in some way personally to understand gays. The guy needs to sit down and have a talk with one of his "gay friends or relatives". He doesn't seem hateful, just ignorant.

[iamjoy]

59. There Is A Cure For Ignorance

It is called education.

Now if only there were a cure for willful ignorance.

[Catamount]

73. LOL n/t

[Ian David]

20. He's not sorry he said it, he's sorry people were offended.

Here's an imaginary "Morality Play" to illustrate Colapietro's attitude:

Colapietro: You're an asshole.

Me: I'm offended that you called me an asshole.

Colapietro: I am sorry that you're offended.

[Maven]

30. LOL. Thanks for the perfect allegory. ;) n/t

[KamaAina]

23. Cripes, even Lieberman's stronger than that on gay issues

that makes this meatball Conn.'s biggest DINO of all.

[Straight Shooter]

24. What if both heterosexuality and homosexuality are from chemical imbalance

What if we're supposed to all be bisexual?

One argument is as good as the other. I think he really stuck his foot in his mouth with this statement. Just goes to show what lies close underneath the surface.

[Ian David]

29. Bisexual people can both reproduce AND "bond" with the same sex

In some primate species, they engage in same-sex activities as a bonding ritual, or to demonstrate social dominance or submission.

You've all seen male dogs mount one another? It's not for sex. The dog on top is trying to demonstrate its social dominance.

Bisexuality has the greatest evolutionary advantage.

[UncleSepp]

36. You state that as if it is undisputed fact

I know you meant well, and that's OK - but there are other points of view. Observers of animal behaviour for years have explained away same sex behavior as anything from mistakes in identification to displays of dominance. That doesn't mean all or even most of it is such.

Check out, for example, _Biological Exuberance_ for an alternate viewpoint.

[Ian David]

43. Sorry, I should have added, "... in my opinion."

As in, "Bisexuality has the greatest evolutionary advantage, in my opinion."

There was a recent article that came out claiming that scientists have been aware of same-sex behavior and same-sex relationships in animals, but have censored themselves for fear of being ostracized.


From Salon:

Biology book says homosexuality is natural - many biologists covered it up

The scientist gasps and drops the binoculars. A notebook falls from astonished hands. Graduate students mutter in alarm. Nobody wants to be the one to tell the granting agency what they're seeing.

A female ape wraps her legs around another female, "rubbing her own clitoris against her partner's while emitting screams of enjoyment." The researcher explains: It's a form of greeting behavior. Or reconciliation. Possibly food-exchange behavior. It's certainly not sex. Not lesbian sex. Not hot lesbian sex.

Six bighorn rams cluster, rubbing, nuzzling and mounting each other. "Aggressosexual behavior," the biologist explains. A way of establishing dominance.

...

They've been keeping it from us: There are homosexual and bisexual animals, ranging from charismatic megafauna like mountain gorillas to cats, dogs and guinea pigs. There are transgendered animals, transvestite animals (who adopt the behavior of the other gender but don't have sex with their own), and animals who live in bisexual triads and quartets.

Bruce Bagemihl spent 10 years scouring the biological literature for data on alternative sexuality in animals to write "Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity."

More:
http://www.salon.com/it/feature/1999/03/cov_15featurea.html

DU Thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=221&topic_id=5131

See also:





There was a thread a while back where I discussed Biological Exuberance. I'll try to post it here if I can find it.

[Ian David]

44. Sorry, I can't find my post

The subject line was something like, "Read Biological Exuberance"

The first line said something like, "If you'll spend 45-60 minutes reading this stuff, I think you'll change your mind."

I just hope a moderator didn't delete it thinking I was trying to be anti-gay (because I'm not, and it was also a great deal of information, too).

[Ian David]

46. Found it: Check out Biological Exuberance

{The original message was in response to someone who thought that "gay genes" were an evolutionary disadvantage.}

I used to think that too, until I read more about it. If you are willing to spend 30-60 minutes reading about this, I think you'll agree that homosexuality is not a "genetic dead-end."

Biological Exuberance
http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/animals/love_that_dare_not_squeak.htm

There are plenty of reasons why homosexuality has evolutionary advantages.

I don't have time to go into all of them right now.

But here's a thought:

Why is it that so many gay people get married and make babies with the opposite sex?

What force can possibly drive them to fight their nature and "try to be straight?"

That would be homophobia, intollerence, and certain religious beliefs.

That would mean that the anti-gay people are encouraging gay people to pass along more gay genes.

Oh, and there may also be a genetic basis for "extreme religiosity." It's more controversial than "the gay gene," but there is some good evidence of "The God Spot."

In fact, genes for "The God Spot" and "The Gay Genes" may be related to one another. God Genes encourage the passing along of gay genes (in homophobic societies.)

Also, think about the "spectrum of sexuality."

You have bisexual people who are happy to reproduce with the opposite sex AND have relations with both genders.

You have gay people who forego reproduction (usually) in favor of same-sex relationships.

You have celibate people who forego reproduction in favor of propogating their religious "meme structures," compelled by their "god genes."

See:
The Meme Machine - Susan Blackmore
... Susan Blackmore's book, The Meme Machine, offers a solid ... and the absurd (including
alien abductions and religion). In all, Blackmore uses memes to explain most ...
www.complete-review.com/reviews/blackmrs/mememach.htm - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

Religion Explained - Pascal Boyer
... But his focus is on what is common to all forms of religion -- or, more accurately,
what ... From the idea of "memes" (see also Susan Blackmore's The Meme ...
www.complete-review.com/reviews/religion/boyerp.htm

For more on The God Spot:
shop.bookworms.org - Paranormal books
... The author calls this "the God spot" and claims that this region is instrumental
in ... include skeptics such as Paul Kurtz, Martin Gardner, Joe Nickell and James ...
www.bookworms.org/aws.cgi/mode_books/search_Paranormal

The Seattle Times - Today's Top Stories
'God spot' is found in brain. by Steve Connor. Science Correspondent. LA Times,
Wednesday 29 October 1997. SCIENTISTS believe they have ...
www.cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/new_page_2.htm - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

Is the human mind touched by God
The God Spot by D. Trull Enigma Editor Scientists, philosophers and atheists have
long argued that God and spirituality are constructs of the human mind ...
cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Human%20Nature%20S%201999/ www.Creationism/is_the_human_mind_touched_by_god.htm - 7k - Cached - Similar pages

sciforums.com - The God 'spot' in the brain
sciforums, sciforums.com : Philosophy : Religion The God 'spot' in the brain, ... Further,
how does the God 'spot' explain declining Christianity worldwide? ...
www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=44533 - 77k - Cached - Similar pages

sciforums.com - The God 'spot' in the brain
sciforums, sciforums.com : Philosophy : Religion The God 'spot' in the brain,
User Name, Remember Me? Password, ... The God spot in our brain? ...
www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?p=757922


Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22The+God+Spot%22&btnG=Search


For more on "The Gay Gene" See:

Is There a 'Gay Gene'?
... from his mother and father may play an important role in determining whether he is gay or not, according to a new study likely to reignite the gay gene debate. ...
my.webmd.com/content/article/100/105486.htm

A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Search for behavioral ...
... Is There a Gay Gene? USA Today chimed in. ... Hamer's team did not find a so-called gay gene, but found evidence to suggest such a thing existed. ...
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dh93ge.html

Gay News From 365Gay.com
... New Gay Gene Evidence by Matt Johns 365Gay.com Newscenter Los Angeles Bureau. Posted: October 20, 2003 11:56 am ET Updated: October 20, 2003 3:47 pm ET. ...
www.365gay.com/newscontent/102003gayGene.htm

Gay News From 365Gay.com
... New Gay Gene Research by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff. ... More than a decade ago American scientists reported finding evidence of a "gay gene" in men. ...
www.365gay.com/newscon04/10/101204gene.htm




Jason Crockett
... 5/22/01: The first thing I want to say is that this discussion of kinship selection
is not an espousing a "gay gene," which I thought I made clear before by ...
www.queerbychoice.com/jason.html


For the rest of the thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3097153

[UncleSepp]

48. Great post! Thanks :-)

Fantastic collection of links. :-) :-)

[Ian David]

52. Thank you! I hope it was worth the hour of my life I spent on it :)

Ta-da!

[soaky]

60. i second that thanks! eom

[lonestarnot]

25. What dumb boat this this yeahoo float in from? What state?

Link says it's from Connecticut, but where does this legislator legislate?

[JerseygirlCT]

27. He represents Bristol, CT

and the legislators meet in Hartford, the state capital.

[rodeodance]

31. just plain stupid

[lonestarnot]

69. Thank you...n/t

[LibertyorDeath]

32. Ignorance and hate. This level of ignorance is inexcusable and in a

representative of the people a Democrat no less it's truly disgusting.

[geniph]

33. And allowing intolerant dipshits to breed doesn't cure THEM, either

more's the pity.

What a tool.

[sendero]

35. Just goes to show....

... there are morons in both parties.

[progressivebydesign]

37. "chemical imbalance"? Drug comanies now working on GAY-B-GONE! n/t

[KissMeKate]

38. do people try to "cure" liking broccoli?

who gives a shit why people are gay?

let them love who they want!

[Inland]

39. But marriage does cure sexual desire!

Can't think of any better way to stop couples from having sex than letting them get married.

[TrogL]

40. It's not curable

http://members.shaw.ca/trogl/orient.html

[Misunderestimator]

41. He once heard from a physician that it was a chemical imbalance

which causes one to be gay... Well, I once heard from a physician friend of mine that anyone who takes one person's word for anything is a stupid fool or just flailing around trying to find an excuse for his own ignorance.

"It's meant to show that I have high hopes of this becoming a curable thing." Holy shit.

Listen fella... "If there's a cure for this, I don't want it..."

[Ian David]

53. Doctor said that when he asked, "I've been having these funny urges..."

Anyway, that's MY guess.

[Burma Jones]

42. Is there a cure for being Italian????????

[despairing optimist]

54. Yeah: mushy pasta, lousy meatballs, rubber cheese. Chef Boyardee.

They'd send me screaming toward the exit.

I just want a cure for THAT Italian! Please don't paint us all with a broad brush.

[Burma Jones]

74. Sorry, I was just providing a taste of guy's own medicine....n/t

[VegasWolf]

49. The cure is God shoved down your throat 3 times a day. n/t

[Deja Q]

50. The only thing that's sick is this joke, amusingly called 'society'

n/t

[Zhade]

51. "He said he also has gay friends and relatives."

Sure, and klan members "know lots of black people".

With Dems like this, who needs fascist Republicans trying to take away my rights?

[donheld]

55. Apology NOT acceptable

I can't accept it because he's sorry he said it out loud, not sorry for his narrow mind.

[progressiveandproud]

56. McDonald, YOU are the one who needs curing. n/t

[stepnw1f]

57. I Think Homophobia is an Illness

Therefore, this guy is sick and unfit for his position. It's called bigotry.

[Flapjacks]

61. opinions are like assholes...

Why should he apologize for expressing his opinion? Give the man the benefit of the doubt. No one really knows what causes homosexuality or any other behavior that is outside the norm. I once had a girlfriend with a foot fetish, personally I find feet disgusting. Like those damn Lamicil commercials about toenail fungus - I've stopped eating in front of the TV. You'd think toenail fungus was a plague upon all mankind. And that creepy little imp lifting up the toenail - disgusting. Anyway, I don't know what causes fetishes and I don't know what causes homosexuality but like everything else - its all in the mind.

[Binka]

64. Outside The Norm? Toenail Fungus? Fetishes?

You are all over the place and really out of line. Oh my that statement you made about opinions sounds a lot like you.

Blech. All in the mind indeed.

[Flapjacks]

71. Out of line?

It is all a mental thing - just about everything sexual is a mental thing. I can conjure up an erotic image in my mind and have an instant erection. A healthy person reacts to the stimuli. That may be different depending on how the person was hard wired. Certainly environmental factors come into play but what I don't believe, is that people are born homosexual. I don't think they have a real choice either. Certainly high school kids wouldn't choose to be gay if they had the choice. Finally, I don't see why people can't have an honest discussion on the subject without getting their colon in knot over someone's opinion. At least respect the man for expressing his honest opinion on the subject and not hiding it.

[Jacobin]

62. "curable thing"?

What fucking haywagon did this freak drop from?

What state is this idiot in?

[William Bloode]

63. I don't think he should apologize.

It the way he truly feels, why be insincere? Is an insincere apology worth the air he wasted? No it is not.

[JerseygirlCT]

66. Well, first, when you've done something that hurts other people

an apology is a good thing.

Second, what he needs to do is educate himself. Hopefully he will hear from enough people that he will begin to realize that he's made a very hurtful mistake. If he is a good person, he'll do the best thing he can do to rectify that mistake -- educate himself and become a supporter of all human rights -- gay or straight.

[David Zephyr]

65. Mr. Colapietro, Here's Hoping the Connecticut Green Party "Cures You" Too

Mr. Colapietro (Culopietro for our Spanish speaking friends), I don't mean to hurt your feelings either, but just like you I "have high hopes" that a Green Party Candidate will "cure" you in the next election.

Click here for more info: http://www.ctgreens.org/index.html

[superconnected]

67. aparently he hasn't wised up...

"I feel bad that using the word sickness upset people like it did. It wasn't meant to hurt anybody's feelings," he said. "It's meant to show that I have high hopes of this becoming a curable thing."

Amazing.

[Lilith Velkor]

68. Slob Will Not Apologize for Calling State a Sickness

Hey, some of my best friends work for the government...

[arwalden]

70. Even His "Apology" Was Offensive!! --- The STUPID FUCK!!

[elshiva]

72. Homophobia is a social sin.

Queerness is a gift from God, get it right people! God bless Andrew McDonald for standing up for his fellow queers.

[98geoduck]

75. Corrupticut belongs inbetweeen Alabama and Mississippi, not NE