SodaHead Poll Comment

Poll Comment

My view is that the question is not if it is okay to be gay but what should be the response of straight people to other people being gay. In the first place, there is one's emotional response, what is sometimes called your gut reaction. Mine is pretty bad, I find "flaming" gays offensive, I find public or photographic displays of gay affection unpleasant, I find confrontational gay rights advocates alienating. But I am old and most younger people do not have such negative feelings. Secondly, there is one's personal experience with gays. I have found them to be conscientious, capable co-workers. I have found them to be law-abiding, non-violent citizens. Macho straight males are the offenders in almost all cases where there is an injured victim. I worked in a county jail for eight years with all types of people with all types of offenses. The gays I saw were almost always arrested for male prostitution. I do not regard the "straight" men who used these gays for oral sex (and paid for it) as victims. The macho straight men were in for many reasons, but they included murder, rape, wife abuse, child abuse and violent robbery. The only man charged with molesting boys I dealt with was a babysitter who repeatedly raped a little girl he was supposedly looking after. When she got old enough to defend herself, he moved on to her two younger brothers until the girl reported him. He in no way considered himself gay, he was just an opportunist child molester. Of the men who preyed on little girls, I particularly remember a big, tough, muscled man who raped a seven year old girl and then tried to kill her three ways. Many of the men I worked with in the jail were drug-dealing pimps who kept young women as sex-slaves by giving them cocaine. Between them and the many men who could not understand why they had been arrested for non-payment of child support, I came to have a pretty dismal image of straight men. If I were asked which I think is the better human being, the average straight man or the average gay man, I would have to say I think the average gay man is better. Taking the issue of acceptance versus discrimination as the third point, I think each case needs to be looked at separately, on its own merits. I sympathize with Boy Scout groups that do not want gay scoutmasters taking boys camping. But I honestly think the boys are more likely to be molested by someone whois thought to be straight than they are by an openly gay man. My gay friend who is a special education teacher working with kids who are extremely uncooperative and have no interest in learning anything in school is more patient and tolerant than I (a straight male) could ever be. As I have said before, which would you rather have next to you, praying with you, in church, masjid or synagogue, a law-abiding homosexual in a committed monogamous relationship or a straight pimp. My fourth issue is gay marriage. I say it does not matter whether one approves of gay marriage or not, one still should support legalizing gay marriage. If gays can adopt and raise children, I would prefer that the children be given the security and stability of a family based on marriage. Also, promiscuity (in either gays or straights) spreads disease, including HIV-AIDS. If marriage can help make people more faithful and less promiscuous, then we should encourage gay marriage for public health reasons. Even a small decrease in disease transmission could save millions of dollars in taxes. So my position is we should recognize gay rights and legalize gay marriage because it will benefit us. Try looking at prohibition (outlawing alcoholic beverages) to see what happens when we try to prohibit large numbers of people from doing what they are going to do anyway. It does not work, it criminalizes large numbers of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and it seriously erodes respect for the law. If I were the Creator, I would make people so they would never want to be homosexual, but since people do want to be gay, I will support gay rights and gay marriage out of pragmatic self-interest. If you are interested, I have written articles on homosexuality and gay marriage from a Muslim viewpoint. They are at http://www.geocities.com/mika...