The 'gay agenda' doesn't mention you

illinois Daily Vidette ^ | 2/1/06 | Kellie Powell

[presidio9]

Many of you have heard conservative traditionalists rant about "The Gay Agenda." But no one really knows what that agenda is. Well, I've discovered a copy, and I will summarize it for you:

8am - Protein shake

9am - Work out at the gym

10am - Rape straight men, give pornography to children, bulldoze all churches and destroy the sanctity of marriage (or what's left of it after Fox's "Married By America.")

Hey, wait a minute...

Some of the most important people in my life are gay men and lesbian women. And I can assure you, being gay does not mean you are sick enough to want to force or coerce someone into having sex with you. Being gay doesn't make you a pedophile or a pervert. (There are plenty of straight rapists and molesters.) Being gay doesn't automatically make you immoral, an atheist or a drug addict. Being gay doesn't mean you're HIV positive, dangerous, promiscuous or any different from any other human person. Being gay is something that a person is, but it is not who a person is, and it has no more effect on the quality of your character than your shoe size.

So why do people fear, hate and persecute homosexuals? Bigots typically give one of two reasons: 1.) The Bible says it's wrong. 2.) They find it "gross."

Now, I like God, and I like Jesus. But I think some of their followers are a few beads short of a rosary. I'm down with the loving thy neighbor and the doing unto others. But I think God and Jesus are about sick to death of people using their names to persecute each other. From the Spanish Inquisition to the KKK, every nutbag with a weapon and a chip on his shoulder has claimed they were acting out God's will.

I understand that the Bible is a cornerstone of Christianity, and it's important to take this artifact seriously. But in addition to the Word of God, it contains the biases of the men who wrote it. Biases regarding vegetarianism, men with long hair and believing the sun revolved around the Earth, just to name a few. A lot of people have read the same document and interpreted it in very different ways. And believing that your way is right just because you say so... that's not faith. That's arrogance.

The Nazis chose a symbol that had once represented peace. That didn't make them a peaceful group of people. Conservatives can use the name of Jesus and the sign of the cross, but it doesn't mean that their hate-mongering has anything to do with being Christians.

And now, the even sillier reason to hate gay people: 'cause you think gay sex is unappealing. You can call it "gross," "disgusting" or just plain "icky," but the fact is, these are also adjectives that have been used to condemn heterosexual intercourse.

Think back to being a child, to the first time someone told you what sex was. If you were anything like me at age five, you thought, "Why would anyone want to do THAT? I'm never going to! Ewwwww!"

Sex is icky. In the abstract, sex is like sticking your finger up someone's nose. It's roughly equivalent to chewing up some Cheetos, spitting into a cup, swapping cups with someone and eating each other's chewed-up orange gunk. The only difference is, there's no biological imperative to stick your finger up someone's nose or eat someone else's chewed-up Cheetos.

Take a look around. Is there a gay man on your street corner, asking you, "Hey... wanna turn gay? All the cool kids are doing it!"

Now, listen up straight men - it's time to get over yourselves. You are not so devastatingly attractive that setting foot in the Bistro is going to get you gang-raped. If a gay guy flirts with you, the rational thing to do is be flattered and politely decline. Realize that a gay man probably finds you attractive for the same qualities that draw the attention of straight females. So act the way you would if a girl hit on you, but you weren't attracted to her. You don't see women going postal every time a guy winks at us, and we're way more likelier to be raped than you are.

The only reason you could have to be afraid of a gay man kissing, touching, or talking to you is if you're afraid you might like it. And whether it's now, or in thirty years when you murder your neighbor like the military dad in "American Beauty," you will have to deal with your sexual confusion eventually.

So what do "the gays" want? Like most people, gay and lesbian people want to be treated like human beings and citizens of this country. They want the things we all want: Families. Careers. Safety. Love.

And if you think you're qualified to tell them they don't deserve these things... then I think there's a deity out there who's awfully disappointed in you.

[Antoninus]

Fact of life #27b: Old people occasionally know what they are talking about.

Old people often know what they're talking about. That wasn't my point. There's definitely something in the brain, however, particularly in old men, that snaps when they reach a certain age and makes them think that the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket.

[TradicalRC]

Wow. I had never even heard of Mark Morford until today. Reading his column is a little like going to see the lobster boy at a county fair sideshow.

[JZelle]

" ....they aren't on the street corners, they're in Governor's councils, high school assemblies, and elementary school library books."


http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20050209-113152-2518r.htm

[TradicalRC]

There's definitely something in the brain, however, particularly in old men, that snaps when they reach a certain age and makes them think that the whole world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Not in their brains so much as the evidence in front of their faces which they can no longer ignore. Such as the article referenced in my last post.

[Diva]

From the Spanish Inquisition

I really wish people would quit maligning the Spanish Inquisition like this! : )

[Antoninus]

In agreement until here. Neglecting to offer lifesaving aid to someone suffering from a curable disease is just cruel. They may be trapped in the practice of perversion now but every 'gay' can live a normal mentally healthy life if they choose to. Tens of thousands have been healed already.

Well said. Affirming someone in a degenerate lifestyle is not compassionate in the least. It's like saying to an alcoholic, "you can't help it, so drink up!"

[ABN 505]

Actually, in the abstract, gay sex IS a lot "like sticking your finger up someone's nose," only MUCH much nastier. Actually it's more like rolling around in a pile of someones feces!

[little jeremiah]

Who's put this into kids' heads?

GLSEN, that's who.

That, and the entertainment "industry".

[little jeremiah]

Bump to your truthful observation.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Sex is icky. In the abstract, sex is like sticking your finger up someone's nose. It's roughly equivalent to chewing up some Cheetos, spitting into a cup, swapping cups with someone and eating each other's chewed-up orange gunk. The only difference is, there's no biological imperative to stick your finger up someone's nose or eat someone else's chewed-up Cheetos.

There's no "biological imperative" for gay sex, either. And gay male sex is much grosser, and unsanitary, than sticking your finger up someone's nose.

[Skooz]

That list is full of blatant lies.

For example: There is NO evidence whatsoever that Peter the Great was homo. None. Zip. Nada.

That can also be said for the overwhelming majority of those on the list.

More BS from the moonbats.

[NobleEagle2004]

Wow! I Have the same Last name as #4.Its very rare,I wonder if I am Related?You are very Creative cool site.

[Antoninus]

Not in their brains so much as the evidence in front of their faces which they can no longer ignore. Such as the article referenced in my last post.

If you think the world is worse now than it has been in previous ages, you need to read more history.

[Richard Axtell]

The Straw man sang "If I only had a brain."

Good reason not to give any credibility to straw men, which is all the author seems to come up with here.

[infowarrior]

As The Galileo Review Commission reported in 1992, "the geocentric (the sun goes round the earth) representation of the world was commonly admitted in the culture of the time as fully agreeing with the teaching of the Bible … certain expressions, taken literally, seemed to affirm geocentrism."

Be *that* as it may, nowhere in Scriptures is there any definitive declaration of geocentrism, which was Aristotlean in origin. Geocentrism may have been commonly accepted, but there is/was no basis in Scripture for it, it came from Aristotle, period...

the infowarrior

[TradicalRC]

I've read enough history. You should probably peruse Bill Bennett's Report on Leading Cultural Indicators. As for history, it's so amusing to hear people say that things are always the same (apparently regardless of the legalization of baby-slaughter, pornography and the increase in gambling institutions) history is chock full of examples of empires that rose and fell and nobody seemed to recognize when it was falling or why. Wake up.

[Antoninus]

I've read enough history. You should probably peruse Bill Bennett's Report on Leading Cultural Indicators. As for history, it's so amusing to hear people say that things are always the same (apparently regardless of the legalization of baby-slaughter, pornography and the increase in gambling institutions) history is chock full of examples of empires that rose and fell and nobody seemed to recognize when it was falling or why. Wake up.

You're preaching to the choir, man. Our civilization has been on the decline since the 1930s at least--concurrent with the rise of communism and the subsequent infiltration of that pernicious ideology into every single Western institution. However, history moves in cycles, not in a straight line. According to my view the pendulum toward decline started to lose momentum in the 1980s and continues to do so. We have many more battles to fight before it begins to swing the other way in earnest.

But it will happen. Catholics are people of hope, ultimately. Therefore, I refuse to be cast down and pessimistic because of various negative forces that seem to rule society at the present moment. As some of our evangelical friends have said, "I've read the book, I know how it turns out." All we can do is continue to fight the good fight until He returns.

[John O]

While I agree with you, the heart will not change until the person gives up their sin. So even the act of teaching them that homosexual behavior is sinful is recruiting sodomites to a straight lifestyle

[NRA1995]

The only reason you could have to be afraid of a gay man kissing, touching, or talking to you is if you're afraid you might like it.

Read: the dreaded "H" word, "homophobia". Sorry, but that word wears a little thin due to overuse.