A discussion like this can't go anywhere good. Political Correctness being what it is, if someone was to seriously get on here and start *seriously* argueing the issue from the less publically accepted (anti-gay) standpoint, this would turn into a flame war.
Forget my opinions on the subject. Along with religion and (for the most part) politics, this is one topic that simply should not come about on most websites.
I'm not a deeply spiritual person. But I was assaulted by a gay man when I was like six. The experience was so traumatic I (thankfully) don't remember it, but I know it happened. Over the years my opinion has fluctuated from extreme hatred to mild distrust (but fairly accepting) and back and forth for a long time.
I've examined the issue from a number of standpoints, and I won't give my opinions here for example because it would be like dropping a bloody match into a gas tank.
The only sentiment I will share since it's not likely to cause people to freak out so heavily, is that I do not think there should be a homosexual movement in general all labeled as gay rights.
For reasons totally seperate from being a pervo guy who enjoys a bit of girl on girl stuff from time to time (which I only mention for the sake of fairness), I think that people should divide gays and lesbians into seperate groups for this issue, and compute statistics accordingly. Such has not occured within the mainstream.
I say this because any way you want to slice it we're looking at a sociological issue. A group of people within a bigger society. There ARE differances between men and women and how we both "tick" mentally. Granted not as extreme as some might think, but the differances DO exist which is why you have a lot of issues and mental sciences divided. Whether it's politically correct to say so or not, there are plenty of periodicals and such directed specifically at one gender or the other for this reason.... and well, I'm sure if you try
on that level you can find your own reasons.
Not a "divide and conquer" strategy, or hating gays specifically because of what happened to me. Simply a statement of fact I've come to over the years. There IS a homosexual meta culture caused by societies pressures, but beyond that gays and lesbians exist in almost entirely differant social cosms, which might overlap as part of some other lifestyle (ie S&M or other fetishes) but otherwise remain fairly seperate.
When people talking about the "Lifestyle" they are talking about the homosexual subcultures, and yes they very much exist. If your gay, and you hang out with other gay people, and there are enough of you in an area to be noticible, then there is a gay subculture whether you want to admit it or not. I mean I'm sure we ALL know that gay bars and nightclubs are not a work of say O'Reilly's imagination. Just the fact that there are places where people go to meet and mingle with others of "their own kind" is proof of the very existance of what he says... without any specific comments from me on it, other than yes... it's out there. Denying it exists is ridiculous, but you might guess by people who are on this forum and try and attack the very idea of a "gay lifestyle", that it can lead in some inconveinent, and unflattering directions for the issue as a whole.
>>>----Therumancer--->
