Would it matter if being gay were a choice?

[dsc]

Poll question: Would it matter if being gay were a choice?

Huckabee is merely the latest Presidential candidate to claim being gay is a choice. Richardson famously, at the HRC forum, stated he wasn't sure if it was a choice or not. The fact is we permit, and even protect, many choices. Religion and political affilation are both choices, yet one can't be fired for either one. Cigarettes are legal even as people disapprove of them and their effects. So is choice really the issue?

[NC_Nurse]

1. I have never understood why this should be an issue.

It's irrelevant IMO. Do you choose to like blonde partners over brunette? Or is it genetics? :wtf:
It's nobody's concern but yours. Consenting adults - that's what matters to me.

[shain from kane]

2. In his (Huckabee's) way of thinking, God is perfect, and would not create an abomination (in

his (Huckabee's) way of thinking). Through our free will, we make the choice of our sexual orientation, and therefore, we have created the abomination (in his (Huckabee's)way of thinking), not God. He hates the sin(through choice, we chose to sin, remember, we come into the world as an innocent baby), but not the sinner (who God has created).

[Swamp Rat]

5. yep, here ya go:

[Little Star]

6. Good One!

[Breeze54]

9. I think you've out done yourself this time!

:hi:

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Our problem is that we only think in terms of choice v. genetics

It's a stupid binary.

Given that most people see in those terms, the gay liberation struggle was quite correct in lining up with the genetics side, which is very obviously ridiculous. It was the smarter political move. It also matched up with most gay experience, which "recalls" the feeling of homosexuality "before" we are able to choose such things (i.e., "I knew when I was five...," etc., and other such rhetorical performances). If we only have genetics (born this way) or choice (chose this way), then "born this way" should win out as an argument, because it is more accurate and more effective.

That said, what the bulk of queer studies have amply demonstrated, the choice between "born this way" and "chose this way" is itself a bad way of speaking, a false problem. It's neither. Or, it's an extremely complex interaction of biology and culture that is pre-conscious but not necessarily genetic. This is just theoretical la-di-da-ing except for one thing: the homophobic forces have recognized the inadequacy of the "born this way" v. "chose this way" binary and have started exploiting it aggressively. Since it is itself WRONG (the binary), their arguments have increasing force with a segment of the population, and the political effectiveness of the "born this way" argument is starting to wane.

So, we need something new. Your way is a good alternative: Even if it is a choice, so what? It's also wrong (much of gay identity is NOT a choice, though much of it tends to be very obviously cultural and controllable, just like heterosexual desire/identity). The problem is that the new thing requires people to understand social complexity and to abandon long cherished, ideologically resonant, and very incorrect ideas about free will in relation to culture. It's a big problem.

[zorahopkins]

4. It's a Matter of Privacy

The government has no business intruding on what consenting adults do in private.

That is really what this is all about.

If two or more people choose to have consentual sex, there is nothing the government should do, as long as everyone is an adult and everyone consents.

[Lex]

7. Would it matter if being heterosexual were a choice?

The "choice" issue seems like a red-herring.

:shrug:

[pinto]

8. My take. Another generation and it won't matter, one way or t'other.

I see my niece and her friends shrug about the whole hullabaloo. It's neither here nor there to them as an "issue". They don't buy the wedge game. It's great to see.