Homosexuality

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A baker's dozen on
Human sexuality

Were you trying to use the word "gay" as an insult? If so, please see Second Grade.

Homosexuality is the sexual and/or romantic attraction of an individual to another of the same gender. A homosexual individual, in all other regards save for sexual orientation, is the same as a heterosexual, who prefers the opposite sex, or a bisexual, who is attracted to people of either sex. There is no evidence that homosexuals are otherwise different from heterosexuals, aside from sexual and romantic preference.

Homosexuality has a very long history, being written about and depicted since the invention of, well, writing and depicting.

Contents

[edit] Oppressors

Many modern conservatives oppose the granting of protections and marriage rights to homosexuals, both on civil and religious grounds. On the civil side, those opposed to gay marriage tend to claim that providing these protections would amount to "special rights", although in most cases these are simply the same rights afforded to all other individuals, and deny that there are special social pressures on homosexuals which would require protection, i.e. "gay-bashing" and discrimination.

Religiously-minded anti-gay marriage activists generally fall back on various translations of the Old Testament to justify their view of (male) homosexuality as an abomination, while, of course, ignoring those rules laid down in those sections of the Bible that would personally inconvenience them. Homophobes often use the word "pervert" to refer to homosexuals. Strangely enough, their own obsession with the sex lives of complete strangers is apparently not perverse in the least. Many largely religious groups claim that gay individuals can be "cured" of their homosexuality through reparative therapy, and that the existence of alleged "ex-homosexuals" proves that homosexuality is a choice rather than a predisposition. Again interestingly, these attempts at reparative therapy are seen as doing "the Lord's work" rather than being a kind of brainwashing.

Male gay sex is one of the many "crimes" for which the Bible demands the death penalty.

[edit] Words

In modern western culture, and the US in particular, the word "gay" usually refers to male homosexuals, whereas "lesbian" refers only to female homosexuals (occasionally "gay" refers to both). Many other words are also used, and while some are crude epithets used only by bigots, many of these self-same words have been taken over to an extent by homosexuals in order to neutralize them. Examples of the latter include "queer", "dyke" and, to a lesser extent, "fag". Notably, sex advice columnist Dan Savage used to have his letter writers address him as "Hey Faggot" (Dan is, um, gay).

[edit] Anti-homosexuality culture on the internet

Many right-wing, or religiously motivated organizations are obsessed with the phenomenon of same-sex relations. Normally the excuse is given that they aren't saying it's bad, it's the Bible. But of course, they usually don't take other things as seriously.[1]

Because of the hatred of homosexuality and the belief that sex should never be talked about ever, this can lead to some odd results. Noted blog Conservapedia, for example, has 358 references for the homosexual act[2] while having 0 instructions on how to be heterosexual.[3] It considered homosexuality an "immoral sexual lifestyle" from June 3, 2007[4] to July 11, 2007.[5] Apparently, there was the need to remove that extremely partisan statement after it was exposed by Lewis Black of The Daily Show.[6] Thanks to some tinkering-around and what-not, said reference is now the second result for a google search of "homosexuality".[7]

[edit] In schools

Some modern and fundamentalist conservative movements, particularly in America, believe that public schools are "indoctrinating" students to promote, convert to, or generally accept homosexuality as "normal".[8] [9] [10] This view has become more prominent in the latter half of the twentieth century following the sexual revolution of the 1960s, after which homosexuals became more accepted by mainstream society. However, the evidence to support the argument of homosexuals trying to convert students is scarce. This idea, referred to as an arm of the homosexual "agenda", is a result of the acceptance of homosexuality by mainstream society and the teaching of homosexuality in schools. However, the teaching of homosexuality has been interpreted by anti-homosexual and religious movements as an attempt to convert, rather than educate students.

[edit] Hatred and stereotypes

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Homosexual-hating bigots often try to hide behind various shallow arguments, such as pedantry over the meaning of words like "homophobia" (which refers to dislike or hatred of homosexuals and whatever is perceived to be a part of their "lifestyle"), in order to paper over their irrational fears and attitude.

Contrary to the paranoid worries of many such bigots, most gay men do not want to touch them. At all. Ever.

Similarly, most lesbians will never want to touch them either. Even if there are two of them, and they are "hawt". So stop dreaming.

(It must also be noted that most people in general[11] will not want to touch them)

(And get your hands off that, you're in public for cripe's sake!)

It is a common stereotype (a mistake even made by gay-friendly people) that most gay men can be easily identified as the best dressed males in the room, and their uncanny ability to color coordinate. This stereotype includes admitting that, like blacks, they are also usually the best dancers at any club. Continuing in this vein of innuendo, if a male can see the colors fuchsia, periwinkle, chartreuse, or identify more than three shades of white there is a 98.74539475% chance he is gay. There also exists a widely-believed stereotype, even perpetuated within gay culture, that gay men can be identified by a certain accent or way of walking, both of which are perceived as less masculine. (In practice, this is usually put on by them as a subcultural sign for other gay men to identify them, for mutually beneficial cock.) It is felt that lesbians are harder to identify, as they only come out of hiding long enough to comfort your girlfriend after an argument — but skilled 'phobes know that you can always tell them by their sensible shoes, the emasculated male rottweiler they own, the chainsaw they keep in the trunk of their car,[12] or just by being overweight butch tomboys.

Homophobes are more likely to be turned on by gay porn than non-homophobic men, according to this study. "In the homophobic group, 20% showed no significant tumescence, 26% showed moderate tumescence, and 54% showed definite tumescence to the homosexual video; the corresponding percentages in the nonhomophobic group were 66%, 10%, and 24%, respectively."

ONENEWSNOW has a filter on its website that replaces the word "gay" with "homosexual". All well and good until Tyson Gay won a 100 m semifinal,[13] the results of which are illustrated by the screenshot to the right.

[edit] Genetics

There may be genes that predispose men, and perhaps women, to be gay. Research is actively being done but the results are so far inconclusive. It appears environment has an effect as well. The mothers and female relatives of mothers of gay men seem to have more children than other women which seems to keep a "gay gene" in the population. [14][15]

Xq28 has been identified the "gay gene".[16]

[edit] Sex

Apparently, gay sex is so very attractive and corrupting that any straight child in the vicinity of gayness will discover the joys of sodomy and never go back to heterosexuality, leading to the extinction of the human race. It is also guaranteed to give one the AIDS.

[edit] Love ♥

We will end this article on a note of love, to wash the taste of the thought of bigotry out of our mouths. Over the last few decades, homosexuals worldwide have made great strides in regards to being accorded the equal rights they are due, including marriage rights in several countries and four five U.S. states, adoption rights, anti-discrimination rights, and the right to dress "queer" or not at their own discretion.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ↑ Wikiquote - The West Wing Features a good quote on the subject. Indeed, what would a good price be for a Georgetown sophomore who speaks fluent Italian and always cleared the table when it was her turn.
  2. ↑ http://www.conservapedia.com/Homosexual
  3. ↑ http://www.conservapedia.com/Heterosexual
  4. ↑ http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Homosexuality&diff=188049&oldid=175099
  5. ↑ http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Homosexuality&diff=227438&oldid=227430
  6. ↑ http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=89307&title=new-media
  7. ↑ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=homosexuality&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
  8. ↑ Conservapedia's article on homosexuality in schools.
  9. ↑ "Homosexual recruitment" essay on Conservapedia.
  10. ↑ Traditional Values website regarding homosexuality.
  11. ↑ It should be noted that due to the US Army's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy towards homosexuals, people will not in fact be "in general" unless the "General" is female.
  12. ↑ This is a true story (sure it is)
  13. ↑ google refs
  14. ↑ The Genetics of Homosexuality (This is a very long paper and the poster didn't have enough time to read everything that is relevant. It is hoped that other RationalWikians will read the long article and perhaps add comments.)
  15. ↑ How homosexuality is 'inherited' This one also states that homosexuality may be partly genetic.
  16. ↑ Dean Hamer's paper from 1993
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