How can you be Amish and Gay?

[William769]

So many people tell me that it's a choice or it's a lifestyle that we choose. So I ask again why waould a Amish person choose to be Gay? Do I really need the sarcasm thingy.



James Schwartz’s collection of poetry and short stories about being “gaymish” is emotional, compelling, sometime devastating but always accessible even to those who don’t care for poetry (read: most Americans). The ultimate upshot: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America (InGroup Press, $12.95) is probably the only book in America that’ll tell you what it’s like to take a horse and buggy to a gay nightclub. — Diane Anderson-Minshall

http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Books/The_Advocate_Bookshelf_Conversations_and_Cosmos/

[Cirque du So-What]

1. The gay Amish were indoctrinated from an early age

by influences from the nefarious umbrella group known as the Gay Agenda. Oh, wait...

[teddy51]

2. If you ask the Repugs or TeaBaggers they will tell you that being gay is

a learned behavior.

[11 Bravo]

5. I always ask, "So, when were you taught to be straight, and what impulses did you need to unlearn?"

Come on, was it gladiator movies ... Streisand flicks ... Bette Midler? Give it up!

[Frustratedlady]

11. Being a Repug or Tea Bagger is a Learned Behavior...

They should be deprogrammed.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many Repugs/Teabaggers are closet gays? They sure as h*** couldn't come out, or they'd tear them apart.

[dennis4868]

3. SAME WAY...

you can be Jewish and Gay.

[jorno67]

4. I think the better question is - why would a Gay person choose to be Amish?

[SheilaT]

6. Because for most people it is very hard to impossible

to give up childhood religious teachings.

The essential thing religion teaches (any religion, all religions) is NOT to think for yourself, to accept whatever the doctrine is that they are telling you. Even the very most liberal of denominations in the end are saying, "This is the Truth. This is what you must believe."

The difference between liberal denominations and conservative or fundamentalist denominations is that the liberals are willing to think it's okay for others to believe differently. Conservatives and more obviously, fundamentalists, say: "What you believe is WRONG and bad things will happen to you if you continue in your misguided beliefs." These people also claim that their monopoly on Truth makes it okay (if not required) to discriminate against and even punish those who believe differently.

[markpkessinger]

12. Because choosing not to be Amish means . . .

. . . being shunned (i.e., considered as dead) by your family, friends, and everything you've known your entire life. I suspect most of us would have a very hard time making a choice like that.

[jorno67]

15. I don't know...but I would think being gay would mean the same thing in that community.

You can stop being Amish(and I agree it would be hard), but could you ever stop being Gay? Being Amish is the choice - Being Gay is not.

[markpkessinger]

16. Agreed ...

... but I think you are really underestimating just how impossibly difficult such a choice would be for most folks.

[jorno67]

18. I don't mean to come off that way...

It's just one is a choice - a very difficult life altering choice and the other is not. But I know that a lot of people think its just the opposite. But you're right, I am down playing how hard it would it be to walk away from your entire family, friends and way of life...I guess it's just wishful thinking for tolerance from a society that is 200 years behind the times.

[MemeSmith]

17. Any family member who would shun you

Is not worth spit and you're better off without them.

That kind of mindset in your inner circle is toxic. You need to decontaminate your life from that kind of poison.

It's like staying in a domestic violence environment, because 'she loves me, really.'

Being part of a family is a blood commitment. It isn't conditional. If their acceptance of you is conditional on your accepting their beliefs, they are a real and present danger to your psychological and emotional health.

Protect yourself, little Amish.

Flee.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. According to conservatives, there are no gay people.

...only sinners.

I have to wonder when conservatives made their own personal decision. Where they in a high school gym class shower when they became arroused at the sight of a classmate bent over? If so, they're gay. Do they look at an erect penis and find a strong urge to go to their knees? Then they're gay. Conservatives should embrace that instead of trying to change everyone else.

I hate to inform them, but speaking from experience, no truly heterosexual man has ever suffered such a quandry. I've never looked at a goatee and thought to myself "I'd hit that".

Conservatism is a disease that affects the mind to the point Alzheimers is a relief.

[yellowcanine]

8. Curious fact - The Amish used to refer to non-Amish people and practices as "gay".

So there you have it. If you were not Amish you were gay. I suspect they have ceased this practice.

[L. Coyote]

9. Born and born again?

You know, born Amish and born gay.

[closeupready]

10. Funny how one can come out of the closet as "Gay!", but not the other way around.

That is, how often do you hear of gay people discovering that they are actually 'straight'. I never have.

On the other hand, tons of 'straight' people discover that they are actually gay, all the time.

Relevant point being, the presumption that we are all born 'straight' or heterosexual is false. Some people are, and some people are not. THAT'S how you can be Amish and gay.

[markpkessinger]

13. The two situations are not at all comparable...

...If you talk to anyone who has "come out" as being gay, after having declared themselves as straight, you will find, almost across the board, that these folks told themselves they were straight (despite being aware of conflicting urges/desires), that they wanted to be straight so badly that they forced themselves into a heterosexual lifestyle. The pressure to conform -- to the expectations of society, of one's community, and most of all, of one's family -- can be beyond enormous. Most gay people were not brought up in an environment where the adolescent sexual development as a gay/lesbian adolescent simply was not an option. The default expectation for most kids growing up is that they are straight. Just because someone forces himself/herself to conform to a heterosexual lifestyle, only later to come out as gay or lesbian, does NOT mean they were born straight and later "turned" gay.

You really don't know what you're talking about here.

[closeupready]

14. I think either you misread my post or I garbled what I was trying to say.

In fact, I believe we are saying the same thing - or at least, I agree with you. I'll try to come back to this topic later and explain better. Cheers. :hi:

[Motown_Johnny]

19. I think society tends to presume people are straight until proven wrong.

Therefore people need to come out as gay while it is not necessary to come out as straight.




Besides, your premise is wrong. All those gays converted by prayer come out as straight all the time :sarcasm: