From: k206027@smog.DKRZ-Hamburg.DE (Bakayaroo Banzai)
Subject: Re: The Analogy Betwixt Gays & Blacks (Re: Children in Same-gender Families)
Organization: Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH, Hamburg
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 09:35:47 GMT

In article <14DEC199213373618@zeus.tamu.edu> rlc1028@zeus.tamu.edu writes:
>In article <645@blue.cis.pitt.edu>, psg+@pitt.edu (Paul S Galvanek) writes...
>| 
>	There is a distinction between Gay identity and Gay behaviour.
[...]
>
>	Gays are like Blacks in that there is something about them,
>irrespective of thier behaviour, which they cannot seem to change.  In 
>particular, Gays are sexually responsive to members of their own gender.
>They cannot love members of the opposite gender in the same capacity.
>This is a trait which they are either born with or acquire sometime before
>they have an awareness of it.  
>
>	Blacks cannot, without much effort, change their skin colour,
>and Gays cannot change their gender attraction.
>
On the contrary, I have known several "gay" people who rejected 
homosexual practices and are now heterosexuals. Whether or not
they still feel "attracted" to same gender relationships is a point
of debate (they claim to me that they're not). I realize that
"rehabilitation" is a very sore point with the gay community but
these people also claimed not to have been coerced. I would add
the "without much effort" qualification to homosexuals as well. 
Whether or not they were truly "gay" to begin with is a subject
I will gladly let others debate endlessly. I'm only trying to 
point out that I have known others who have had a seemingly 
contradictory experience.

>	Gays are like Blacks in that the hatred of them is a hatred of 
>their culture and behaviour.  Most people who admit to disliking Blacks
>admit that it has nothing to do with skin colour, but with culture.
>
I agree with this statement in as far as it goes. Most homosexuals 
seem to vehemently deny that such a thing as a gay "culture" exists.
And indeed I know homosexuals in all walks of life from totally
straight-appearing to flaming. Black people appears to come in several
flavors as well, from Clarence Thomas to Ice-T.
>
>	Likewise, just because someone is Gay doesn't imply that they
>do this or that sex act, live this or that lifestyle, or believe in this
>or that ethical system.  Being Gay doesn't imply a behaviour. 
>
Very true, it only implies a sexual attraction to a member of the
same sex. I leave off "love" relationship because I feel love for many men
in my life without being sexually attracted to them. There are many
different kinds of love, sexual love being the only one I feel sets
gays apart from anyone else.

That said, the rest of your post I would leave unchanged. Homosexuality
(excluding acts which take place outside of a consenting, adult relationship),
should not be a grounds for discrimination and the treatment of it today
differs little from race issues of the 50s and 60s.
 
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