Recorded live and presented mostly unedited (be warned): Joining me for today’s Live Chat on Pride48.com were Steven, Brother Cinaedus and Larken. There are sound issues, I know, and I’ll work to fix them.
In a recent commentary at Adovacte.com, Chandler Burr suggested the way to win GLBT rights is to point out that being gay is an inborn characteristic, not—as our religious opponents put it—a “lifestyle choice” (as if they evaluated the options and “chose” to be heterosexual). When people believe being gay is not a “choice”, they support us overwhelmingy.
Yet many GLBT people hate describing sexuality as an inborn characteristic. The argue that sexuality, and even gender, is fluid and in any case, saying “we’re born this way” means we’re claiming to be helpless victims. Our rights ought to be ours regardless of how or why we’re GLB or T. Some even reject “labels”, like, for example, gay singers who say they’re “singers who happen to be gay”.
Does it matter if we’re “born or made”? Is rejecting use of the word “gay” a form of internalised homophobia? And if we’re all just humans who vary, how do we take on our religious opponents who think we’ve “chosen” our sexuality?
Join us on for the next live podcast on Pride48.com for a lively, wide-ranging discussion. The next live chat starts at 8:30pm (NEW start time!) Eastern North American time on Thursday, February 25 (2:30pm Friday, February 26 New Zealand time). You can also join other listeners in the chatroom, where you can ask questions or make comments as the show is streamed.
Links for this episode
Betraying the Cause? by Chandler Burr at Advocate.com
Eric Heiden on Wikipedia
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Does it matter? To whom? As Arthur said early on, for some people, it does matter if homosexuality is “of nature”. If it’s “natural”, it cannot be “unnatural”.
I have to disagree with Arthur on a minor comparison, though: left-handedness. While this tends not to be the case now, for decades, maybe centuries, children with left-handed tendencies were forced to use their right. And, apparently, they became quite adroit at it, too. I’ve always been fascinated about the fear of the southpaw, even showing up in language: sinister (Latin), gauche (French).
Aw….I should have stayed around and joined in this one. I should have stayed up later. Maybe next time.