: : : Bottom line; they are people, dammit.: : No disagreement. I'm not a gay basher.
: Unfortunately, a frighteningly high number of people are; nearly all openly gay males will be attacked at some point in their lives; a quarter of them will be seriously injured as a result of it.
: Remember, they are ultimately being attacked over something that is a part of them; something that they really don't have control over.
: In this, they are no different to people who've been attacked because their skin was the wrong colour or because they belong to the wrong Church.
: Think about it, Lark; gays are attacked not because they are gay; but because other people are unable to tolerate their being gay.
: It's like someone being attacked for being black; not because they were black; but because they didn't apply enough face paint to disguise the fact.
: Or someone being raped because "they were asking for it, dressed like that" - it ultimately shouldn't matter how a person is dressed; rape is rape.
(snip)
: It's a reaction against the forces of the 'moral majority' that would shut them up, Lark. A lot of deeply unhappy kids have killed themselves in past years because they didn't have access to unbiased information; because what seemed natural and normal to them was seen by society at large as intolerable and disgusting.
: Look at Alan Turing's life story; a classic case.
: If gays had equality in law and representation in the media; if they had no need to fear homophobic assault for expressing affection in public; if they were not discriminated against by institutions and religions, then you could reasonably say that they ought to be more discreet about it.
: (Although the vast majority of gays never indulge in public showing-off of their sexuality; look at Michael Portillo and Peter Mandelson...)
: While things are the way they currently are, it is vitally necessary for people to be reminded that gays are people too and that they aren't just going to vanish or die or turn to Jesus for forgiveness. The point needs to be made that gay people are part of society; and gay culture is part of our shared culture; and that trying to segregate them or treat them differently is apartheid.
: Think of it as affirmative action; the execution may be lousy, but the idea is sound.
There is a VAST difference between skin color and homosexuality, and I resent the implication that they are the same. Genetically, there is only a .012% difference in what we call "races" of humans (actually, we are all of the same race -- the human race).
An individual has NO CHOICE in his skin color or gender, etc., but "sexual orientation" is every bit a choice. Just ask former "gays" who went straight.
