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Thanks for sharing that...

In Reply to: You are fairly accurate in that assesment of my position. posted by Stuart Gort on July 07, 1999 at 10:15:47:

Thank you for sharing your stories with us. I appreciate the sincerity with which you related them. I too have had experiences with many different people living many different types of lifestyles, sexually and otherwise. I will not attempt to compare your experiences with mine, but I will say that mine seemed less negative, or at least I interpreted it more positively. Many of the people I used to work with in Ottawa were members of the homosexual community, and still more of my close friends prefer to consider themselves bisexual. All of them, if open about their sexuality, have had negative experiences of discrimmination, harassment, or abuse. I place the blame for this entirely outside of themselves, on the persecutors, and perhaps even more heavily, on society in general.

Our society is one which is intollerant towards homosexuality. Homosexuals are villified, mocked, shunned, denied work, denied rights, abused, and even killed for no reason other than what others suspect they do in their private lives with consenting adults. You said in your post that people who act on their homosexual urges often feel guilt. I would agree that this may often be the case. But is it because the act is wrong, or is it because a scornful society says its wrong? I firmly believe it is the latter. You speak of desperation, and I also believe this is often the case. Just as other persecuted peoples have often felt desperate, and have had either poor self images or have lashed out and rationalized their actions, so too do many gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. This still does not answer the question of whether what they do is wrong or right. Just 'cause their made to feel shitty about it, doesn't mean it's wrong. One could list many times in history which support this. I'm happy to give them the benefit of the doubt, and let them lead their lives the way they choose, and encourage others not to hurt them.

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