Is being gay a lifestyle
Being Gay a 'Lifestyle' Preference, Like Alcoholism? Politics of Homosexuality Flare in 2010 Campaign
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2010— -- When Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck was pressed Sunday to explain his belief that being gay is a "lifestyle" choice, he compared it to alcoholism.
"I assume that birth has an influence over [it], fond of [with] alcoholism and some other things, but I think that basically you have a choice," he told David Gregory on "Meet the Press." Buck was quick to include, however, that he's no "biologist."
Buck's view -- the underpinning for conservative rivalry to broader civil rights for gays and lesbians -- is hardly modern. But his comments are the latest this election season to stir up national debate and outline criticism for perpetuating prejudice against gays.
Earlier this month, New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino said he does not want his children "to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option -- it isn't."
South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint reaffirmed his belief that openly gay individuals should not be allowed
Being Gay: A Life Style Choice?
The Religious View
The question of what causes some people to be queer has been a topic of endless debate among the general public and the mental health community. Generally speaking, the religious society of every persuasion views homosexuality as an abhorrent sin against God and nature. Deeply religious groups among Muslims, Christians, Catholics and Jews reject homosexuality as totally unacceptable in the eyes of God. Therefore, most orthodox religious leaders view it as a experience style choice thereby condemning the queer to eternal hell.
The American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association, the organization that writes and publishes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, with the cooperation of professionals from psychology and social function professions, listed homosexuality as a mental disorder until the 1970’s. Based on increasing amounts of research the APA decided to descend homosexuality as a diagnostic category. They found that as long as same-sex attracted people adapted adequately to their sexual orientation and were able to function in society, there was no reason for them to be placed in the category of havi
My So-Called Ex-Gay Life
Early in my freshman year of high educational facility, I came home to locate my mom sitting on her bed, crying.
"Are you gay?" she asked. I blurted out that I was.
"I knew it, ever since you were a little boy."
Her resignation didn't last long. My mom is a problem solver, and the next day she handed me a stack of papers she had printed out from the Internet about reorientation, or "ex-gay," therapy. I threw them away. I said I didn't notice how talking about myself in a therapist's office was going to make me stop liking guys. My mother responded by asking whether I wanted a family, then posed a hypothetical: "If there were a pill you could take that would make you straight, would you take it?"
I admitted that existence would be easier if such a pill existed. I hadn't thought about how my passion with boys would play out over the course of my life. In fact, I had always imagined myself middle-aged, married to a woman, and having a son and daughter-didn't everyone want some version of that?
"The gay lifestyle is very lonely," she said.
She told me about Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a clinical psychologist in California who was then president of the National Association for
American Idol finalist La’Porsha Renae made comments about the LGBTQ community that gave many pause. When asked about the controversial bill that was passed in her home express of Mississippi, Ranae said that she did not concur with any regulation that would discriminate against anyone.
However, she went on to say that “I am one of the people who don’t really concur with that lifestyle,” and “But I do have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I love dearly who are lgbtq+ and homosexual….We should just respect each other’s differences and opinions and go on.”
Renae has since apologized, stating that she did not intend harm by her remarks.
Still, the words and phrases that she used to describe her passive homophobia—“lifestyle,” “religious reasons,” “not how I was raised”—are part of a long tradition of rhetoric used in religious communities to vilify the LGBTQ community.
There are two main areas of her comments that are routinely used by Christians to place their “disagreement” under a consecrated canopy of religious freedom. The first is the issue of a “lifestyle.” Many people in religious communities abide by the stereotype that gay experience is nights filled with drunken party hopping,