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| In Defense Of Ted Haggard |
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| Main Page - Rational Alchemy : Blogs, Musings and News | |||
| Written by Brian Walsh | |||
| Sunday, 17 July 2011 20:37 | |||
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Yes, you read that right. I am going to, in a way defend Ted Haggard. Sort of. He is still culpable for all of the distress he caused himself, his family, his congregation, and everyone else. But there may be more at work here. What I'd really like to do is try to answer a few simple questions. Whenever a popular anti-gay activist is exposed as obviously gay a few questions come up: How can he be gay and married? Isn't homosexuality a choice? Why are so many people turning gay these days? Let me take a crack at it. First things first. A man who is attracted to, or has sex with, men is a gay man. Or, at least a bisexual. There really isn't anything else to it. A bisexual can very easily be married to a member of the opposite sex, for a strictly gay man it is harder. But if you live in a community that believes that the gay is the work of Satan, you are going to have to adapt or leave. For men like Haggard perhaps leaving isn't an option. How hard is it to marry someone you don't love? Ask most married people. But this is an easy question, I think. The harder question is next. Why are men like this convinced homosexuality is a choice if they (apparently) didn't choose it? I lied, this is dead simple. They're gay. Sure, you knew this already but they didn't! They grew up in a culture that believes that homosexuality is a desire sent to them by Satan. What's more, they think it happens to everyone! Straight men, let me ask you a question. Do you wrestle with homosexual desires? Of course not, you're not gay. This is the disconnect everyone forgets about. Most men don't wrestle with homosexuality because they aren't gay. This is the simple answer no one ever thinks of. Anti-gay leaders think homosexuality is a choice everyone needs to make because they are gay. And not just living in the closet, but a bathroom stall like Larry Craig. But why are there so many of them? Well, this is another easy answer. Gay people are everywhere. But you thought it was only 10%? Remember something important, to determine the number of gays and bisexuals, they must self report. Is a guy like Ted Haggard going to self identify? Of course not. But he’s still gay. Or bi. There aren’t any more gay people now. We have always been here. But we’re not afraid to say so anymore. At least not those of us who aren’t living under the heel of some absurd fairy tale. To sum up if you are anti-gay and struggling with homosexuality, you aren’t going through something everyone goes through. You’re gay. I only used the masculine pronoun here both because it’s mostly men who get caught and because it saves me on typing. But switch the pronouns and change gay to lesbian and it’s still true. Ted Haggard is still at fault, but so is the absurd religion that allows people to bully and intimidate others into becoming complete assholes. If you’re gay, it isn’t Satan’s fault or the fault of anyone else. You’re just gay and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Add your comment
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