{"id":964,"date":"2012-05-14T12:53:36","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T19:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=964"},"modified":"2019-01-25T10:21:21","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T18:21:21","slug":"gay-or-straight-what-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/uncategorized\/gay-or-straight-what-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay or Straight – What Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Two Gentlemen in New York's Easter Parade<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve been distracted from my writing lately by all\u00a0 the media brouhaha about same-sex marriage. Unless you’ve been in a coma, or otherwise unavailable, you’ve heard that Joe Biden, vice-president of the United States, came out in favor of it on a talk show last week. Then, President Barack Obama followed suit<\/a> by announcing he believed gays should have the same rights as straights when it came to matrimony. After that, the right wing media exploded. You\u2019d think the president had committed the most grievous sin, when all he\u2019d done was try to right a wrong.<\/p>\n

When I was growing up in the 50s in Winnipeg, Manitoba, I, like most of my generation referred to gays as homos<\/em> or fruits<\/em>. We\u2019d make jokes not directly at anyone suspected of homosexuality but there\u2019d be asides, when we\u2019d see a boy or young man exhibit any female traits, like crying, walking funny,<\/em> or throwing a ball like a girl. As for girls who showed more male traits, well, they were kindly referred to as tomboys or in the extreme, butch. <\/em>We were ignorant and didn\u2019t know any better. But I don\u2019t remember any bullying, not the kind that Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for the American presidency, is now accused of<\/a>. Never saw any of that, thank God.<\/p>\n

What I fail to understand, as I did back when I was growing up, was the argument that gays can choose to be gay. That they have a choice. Even when I was a therapist in the 70s, there was a belief amongst some psychologists, that through behavioral therapy, they could be cured. Psychiatry was also guilty back then of labeling gays as abnormal. At the time, a psychologist, with whom I worked, committed suicide rather than reveal that he was gay. He was married with kids, and to admit that he was pulled in another direction would’ve been impossible to bear. His fellow workers were devastated to learn he felt that way. We lost a great therapist.<\/p>\n

Many argue sexuality is a choice. Who would choose being gay? You\u2019d have to be insane to choose to be someone that is often ridiculed, condemned, and not given equal rights. Gays and lesbians have no more choice to be gay than a straight man or woman has the choice to be straight. Can you choose the color of your eyes, or the intelligence you\u2019re born with? Why do some people think you can choose their sexuality? The only choice they have is to hide their gayness or come out of the closet<\/em> so to speak.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Oscar Wilde<\/p><\/div>\n

Society as a rule has been most unkind, judging sexuality that doesn’t fit a man-created norm. History is full of people who’ve suffered because of ignorance. The writer, Oscar Wilde<\/a>, is one of countless numbers who’ve been persecuted for behavior that was normal and natural to them. He was tried and imprisoned for what was described as gross indecency with other men.<\/p>\n

I also saw on the BBC the other day\u2014in reaction to Obama\u2019s announcement\u2014an older couple mentioning that there were no homosexual animals, so therefore gays shouldn\u2019t be allowed to marry. It is false that there are no homosexual animals in nature. There are apparently 1500 animal species that practice it. Nature has many colors. It is as natural in nature to have gay animals as it is natural to have gay men and women in our families.<\/p>\n

Many Christians claim homosexuality is a sin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

7th c. Icon From St. Catherine's Monastery<\/p><\/div>\n

How do they explain the contradictions within their faith? Apparently, there is evidence that in earlier Christian times, same sex unions were celebrated. A religious icon from St. Catherine’s monastery<\/a> (now in the Kiev art museum in the Ukraine) shows what looks like Christ overseeing the marriage of two men.<\/p>\n

There are so many more important issues in our time to grapple with than spend time debating whether we should or should not have same sex marriages. To quarrel about what is natural is a waste of time and resources.<\/p>\n

Gay or straight, what does it matter? Who knows, maybe Jesus was gay. But no matter if he was straight or gay, he was all about loving your fellow man. And that is something I choose to follow. I\u2019m straight, but if I\u2019d been born gay, that should\u2019ve been all right, too.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been distracted from my writing lately by all\u00a0 the media brouhaha about same-sex marriage. Unless you’ve been in a coma, or otherwise unavailable, you’ve heard that Joe Biden, vice-president… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,1],"tags":[330,237,78,327,332,329,335,334,331,328,336,333],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-uncategorized","tag-barack-obama","tag-christ","tag-diana-stevan","tag-gay","tag-jesus","tag-joe-biden","tag-lesbian","tag-oscar-wilde","tag-psychiatry","tag-same-sex-marriage","tag-sexuality","tag-st-catherines-monastery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-fy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4899,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2020\/uncategorized\/americas-u-turn\/","url_meta":{"origin":964,"position":0},"title":"America’s U-Turn","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been exciting to witness and celebrate America's U-Turn. Congratulations to my American friends and family. Watching the recent election turnout, I couldn't help but be impressed by the length Americans took to ensure their vote counted. They stood in line for up to eleven hours. They used the mail-in\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/American-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/American-flag.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/American-flag.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/American-flag.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1163,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/writing\/fiction-and-the-republican-party\/","url_meta":{"origin":964,"position":1},"title":"Fiction and the Republican Party","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"18 \u041b\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0430, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve just finished reading, John O\u2019Hara\u2019s Ten North Frederick, the national book award winner (USA) for 1956. 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