Where do people come up with this garbage?

Question

I just answered a question someone asked about why gays and lesbians want to get married and this is the response someone wrote-

"I haven't a clue. Except that they don't understand the purpose of marriage. Maybe it's to prove a point. But the average gay/lesbian relationship lasts 1.5 years. and the average gay/lesbian marriage last about 3 years. I'd recommend saving one's money (from an attorney for a divorce) and stop trying to push illicit and immoral marriage."

Why do ignorant, bigoted people ASSume such statistics? What makes them think up this stuff? Thoughts, anyone?

Answer 1

Hating gays seems to be the only fashionable prejudice left. Maybe that's why it's dying so hard—some people just can't stand to be without at least one unjustifiable hatred.

" What other minority is subjected to such unchallenged, cruel, and violent hatred?

As with most prejudices, the hatred of gays is based on a series of misconceptions. Our culture seems to have more myths about gays than most. Let's see if we can shine a little light on a few of them.

Myth #1: Homosexuality is unnatural. In order to see what is natural, we must look to nature. In nature, every mammal has been observed taking part in same-sex activities, affection, and bonding. In some animals, homosexuality increases during times of overpopulation—sort of nature's birth control.

In nature, by the way, what is decidedly not natural is monogamy—especially for life. The only mammals who even sometimes mate for life are foxes, wolves, gibbons, beavers, dik-diks, coyotes, elephant shrews, and geese. Some animals mate for a season; most animals mate and move on.

I stuck to mammals for this example because the lower forms of life—while natural—are positively inhuman. You could say, for example, that the praying mantis "mates for life" only because, while the male shudders in orgasm, the female bites his head off. Then she eats him. The male praying mantis is an animal that comes and goes at the same time. Maybe that's why he's always praying. We all know how the black widow spider becomes a widow and why there is no such thing as a black widower (some animals get so hungry after sex).

From a purely human point of view, homosexual behavior has been recorded in every culture that kept detailed enough records. Sociologists and anthropologists have documented homosexual behavior in every country on earth—including in tribes that had no contact with outside human beings until the arrival of the anthropologists. Any behavior observed among all races, all peoples, all cultures, and in all countries throughout all recorded time must certainly be considered natural for humans.

Myth #2: People are either homosexual or heterosexual. Not true. People do tend to specialize—partially because people are conditioned to think they should specialize. (We are addicted to "either/or" in our culture.) Sexual behavior is a continuum with exclusive heterosexuality on one end and exclusive homosexuality on the other. People, however, can be found at any point along that spectrum. A corollary to Myth #2 is:

Myth #3: Homosexuality is contagious. The myth goes something like this: If you try a homosexual experience and find it even marginally enjoyable, a seed (more like a virus) has been planted, and, eventually, you will wind up a full-fledged, card-carrying, flag-waving homosexual. This is simply not the case. You can't "catch" homosexuality any more than you can "catch" heterosexuality (although the latter myth is supported by the concept that "the love of a good woman" will "cure" a gay man). In either case, even a successful liaison with the gender one is not normally drawn to will have little, if any, lasting effect.


I'm amazed at the power those who propound the you-can-catch- homosexuality theory give to homosexuality—with only a small dose, it suddenly takes over an otherwise robust heterosexual? This myth probably springs from observing some individuals who severely suppressed their homosexuality, but once they got one foot out the closet door there was no stopping them.

Myth #4: Homosexuality is a choice. It has been established for some time that one's sexual orientation is part of the basic personality structure and formed before the age of two. The most recent studies, however, both behavioral and biological, indicate one's sexual orientation is genetic—something determined at conception. Whether it happens before birth or it happens by age two, the determination of sexual orientation can hardly be considered a choice. One can, of course, choose not to follow one's natural orientation, but this is not the sort of choice the proponents of this myth mean. They mean that gay people choose to be gay in the same way that they might sit down and choose which program to watch on television, which team to bet on in the Super Bowl, or whether or not they want pepperoni on their pizza.

The idea behind this myth is: a perfectly normal, well-adjusted heterosexual is sitting around one day and just decides to go gay, as one might decide to move to Antarctica or try to flush hockey pucks down the toilet. It is truly aberrant behavior, but it is his or her choice. Implied in this choice, of course, is a certain hostility to God, parents, society, and the American way. It's as though being gay is a pathological act of rebellion.

Gays don't choose to be gay; they discover they're gay. Like heterosexuals, they find themselves increasingly attracted (romantically as well as sexually) to a particular gender. The bisexuals find themselves attracted to both. (Even though, as Woody Allen says, "Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night," discovering one's bisexuality must be more confusing than discovering one is primarily gay or straight.)

Myth #5: Homosexuals recruit others. This is a myth that grew out of the evangelical camp where proselytizing, testifying, missionaryizing, and converting are basic tenets of the faith. Evangelicals somehow feel that gays have the same zeal to spread a gay-spell that they have to spread a God-spell. It's a simple matter of evangelicals projecting their recruitment tactics on gays. As with most projections, the image is distorted—and very wrong.

Gays have no desire to "recruit" heterosexuals into becoming homosexual. A gay person may, individually, want to have sex with a heterosexual of the same sex whom he or she finds attractive; the gay person may even make a pass. The gay person is making a personal statement of desire, not fulfilling a recruitment quota. ("If you recruit ten heterosexuals this month, you get this beautiful 26-piece set of Tupperware!") Additionally, gays who are out of the closet may offer support and encouragement to gays who are miserably in the closet, but that's about as far as it goes. Besides, the whole idea of recruitment rests on the concept that homosexuality is a choice, and every homosexual knows that just ain't so.

Myth #6: Some gay men are effeminate; most are not. Some straight men are effeminate; most are not. Some lesbians are masculine; most are not. Some heterosexual women are masculine; most are not. According to the organization that considers itself an expert on homosexuality, the Pentagon, "feminized males make up only a small proportion of homosexuals, perhaps 10 percent. Thus 90 percent . . . display no overt behavioral stigmata." Regarding effeminacy in men, remember the most notorious ladies' man in history, Casanova, could probably not walk into a pool hall today and order a creme de menthe without being beaten silly with pool cues. Casanova was—like many men of his era—foppish. It was something men strived for. It indicated refinement, discernment, taste. All those King Louises of France wore wigs that even Dolly Parton would find too elaborate. And let's not forget our own founding fathers: satin pants, powdered wigs, make-up and all.


Linking effeminacy with homosexuality is primarily an American assumption. In the 1880s, Oscar Wilde toured America and lectured widely on aesthetics. He carried a lily on stage and was as much an aesthete as an Irishman could possibly be. The press ridiculed him, he ridiculed America, his lectures sold out, and everybody loved it. "A man in Leadville, Colorado," Wilde would say, "sued the railroad company because the reproduction of the Venus deMilo he ordered arrived without arms." Wilde would pause for dramatic effect while breathing in the fragrance of his lily. "The man collected on his claim." At the time he was touring the United States, Wilde was a married man with two children. No one linked his studied effeminacy with sexual orientation any more than they linked it to Ireland, lecturers, or playwrights. In 1895, however, when Wilde was found guilty of being a "sodomite" and, in 1897, when Havelock Ellis coined the word homosexuality in his Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Americans linked the two: "There are homosexuals; Oscar Wilde is a homosexual; so that's what they're like." Ironically, had America used as a stereotype one of its homegrown homosexuals of that era—such as the rough and rugged Walt Whitman—we might all have a very different view of how to "spot" homosexuals. (Could Gabby Hayes have lived down the stigma?) The stereotype would be just as inaccurate, but different.

Myth #7: There aren't enough gays to really worry about. The percentage of primarily homosexual people in this country is estimated at from one to ten percent. One percent seems low—if it were one percent, that would mean roughly half the nation's gay population traveled to the capital for the 1993 March on Washington. This is unlikely. But the number of gays is unimportant. As the Los Angeles Times editorialized on April 25, 1993,
What does all this mean in regard to current debates about the place of homosexuals in American society? It means exactly nothing.

Whether homosexuals are 1% of the population or 10% or some figure in between, they are beyond any argument or cavil 100% entitled to the same protection under the law and the enjoyment of the same rights that everyone else is guaranteed. That specifically includes the right to be free from discrimination and intimidation in employment, housing and schooling. It means the right to be protected from hate-inspired physical assaults. It means the right to privacy as that right applies to everyone else.


Myth #8: God is opposed to homosexuality. There are basically two Biblical prohibitions cited repeatedly and forcefully by those claiming homosexuality is condemned by God, hence should remain illegal. These two are Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 13 and Romans chapter 1, verses 26 and 27. Let's take a look at each.

Taken out of context, Leviticus 20:13 would certainly seem to prohibit homosexuality:

If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

A quick look at the violations punishable by death in the same chapter of Leviticus, however, tells a very different story:

If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:9)

I wouldn't even have a chance to get to verse 13; I'd be dead by verse 9.

If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)

Bye bye Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker.

If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:11)

Poor papa!

If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:12)

Poor son!

If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. (Leviticus 20:15)

Poor livestock!

If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. (Leviticus 20:16)

Note the man has to do it, but the woman need only approach.

A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:27)

It was, in fact, one of the laws of Leviticus that was responsible for the death of Jesus:

[A]nyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. (Leviticus 24:16)

Jesus was tried by Sanhedren, the ruling religious body of Jerusalem, and found guilty of blasphemy. According to the religious powers that were, to claim he was the son of God was blasphemous. The charge of sedition was added so the Romans would approve of and carry out the death sentence.

Myth #9: God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Yes, God did make Adam and Steve, as well as Adam and Eve, and Eve and Genevieve—some people just don't like it that way.

Myth #10: Homosexuals are promiscuous. Some are; most are not. The same can be said of heterosexuals. In fact, almost anything—good or bad—that can be said about homosexuals can also be said of heterosexuals. Homosexuals are indistinguishable from heterosexuals except in whom they love and with whom they go to bed.

Myth #13: Homosexuals spread AIDS. AIDS is a disease spread by unsafe sexual contact (primarily to the passive partner in intercourse), dirty hypodermic needles, contaminated blood transfusions, and from mother to child before birth. Gays have taken great care to educate their community, practice safe sex, and minister (in the true sense of the word) to those unfortunate enough to have caught the disease. Because most gays have changed their sexual activities and are now practicing safe sex, new infections in the gay community have leveled off. Meanwhile, infections are on the rise in the heterosexual community. The myth, "If you don't go to bed with someone gay you won't get AIDS," is hurting the heterosexual community more severely than it's hurting the homosexual community.

Worldwide, AIDS is primarily a heterosexual, not homosexual, disease. It is a sexually transmitted disease that—for whatever reason—entered the gay community in the United States and stayed fairly contained there for a number of years. It is now spreading through the heterosexual community, and will continue to do so until heterosexuals realize that AIDS is not a "gay disease." Any sexually active person—male, female, gay, straight—can get it. If you have intercourse, use a condom. There's hardly a gay person in the country who does not know this rule of safe sex. Can the same be said of heterosexuals?

Further, 25 percent of the AIDS cases—including almost all cases involving heterosexuals and children—were spread by or directly connected to dirty needles. If heroin or morphine were inexpensive, readily available, and sold in use-once syringes, do you think these 25 percent of AIDS cases would be suffering today?

Myth #14: AIDS is God's curse upon homosexuals. Crises bring out the best in people—and the worst. They also bring out the best people—and the worst. What can one say about ignorant, arrogant, politically active people who say things like, "AIDS is God's curse upon homosexuals"? I can remember the words of Jesus: "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do," but then I remember Jesus said that moments after he was nailed to the cross.



I also think they may be secretly a little scared that gay people may enjoy marriage a little more than they do ....lol

Answer 2

The couples i know personally of being gays and lesbians have been in a much longer relationship than that. I for one have been with my gf past 6yrs and plan to stay that way forever. I'm not sorry of being gay,I'm just sorry for the ones that dont understand what we may go through. We all know that God created Adam and Eve and not adam and steve or whatever but I still beleive that God is pure love and he gave his life for us sinners. Do not judge people, just live your life guys! Why point your fingers at us ? Just remember that your kids might be born gay too,its not their choice .I just love everyone for who they are,even the ones that point fingers,I feel sorry for them as they have issues I will never understand personally.

Answer 3

My garbage truck is white, and it comes every Wednesday, unless there's as holiday during the week. Then it comes on Thursday.

Answer 4

Simply put....ignorance. These people don't think gay or lesbian couples are capable of true and everlasting love. They've been brain washed to think that we're only in it for the sex. Damn, sex is sex, that's not the point. They just don't get the fact that love comes from inside, not what one looks like or what ones gender is.

Answer 5

I've been in a gay committed relationship 19years...my brother has been in one 39 years...we don't seem to have given our numbers to any statistics people....seems to me we are doing a lot better than the bigoted straight people out there.

Answer 6

This question is a fine example of you knowing why they did it, butyou're asking anyways.

"Ignorant, bigoted people assume" this **** because they ARE ignorant and bigoted.

But I know what you mean, you're asking how people THIS ******* STUPID CAN EXIST IN THE SAME HUMANITY AS NORMAL SANE PEOPLE! No one can answer that, except maybe it's to balance it out...but then again it does seem there are more stupid people than nonstupid.

Answer 7

They believe such garbage because it pleases them to believe it. Because they feel a need to believe it.

It reassures them that the terrifying specter of "Other" is controllable, can be beaten away by statistics and quotations.

Behind hatred, you'll always find the stink of fear.

Answer 8

I too answered this question.....and this "garbage" you speak of is being extolled around the world on tv, in churches, on the radio, and in many places.

However I feel it comes from a basic fear of the unknown and not knowing someone personally who is gay/lesbian.

Answer 9

I personally don't believe in marriage, but I do find it completely stupid to limit two people's ability to get married. what's the basis? not all marriage is Christian...

that's why I won't get Christinally married, I'm going to get married and do the whole ceremony with friends, because if I love someone enough, we have the right to get married...and have it done by ourselves.

Answer 10

God designed marriage to be between
a man and a woman. There is no other way to put it. it is what it is.......sorry. Many people are going to get angry at this statement, but I don't care. I would rather have them angry at me knowing I told the truth as defined by what my Savior thinks, then just say whatever those who don't know Christ want to hear. God bless you all.

Answer 11

Some people are just brainwashed and have very closed minds. These religious fanatics hang onto one line in the bible. Why don't they go after the gossips that are mentioned too?