One of the most oppressive burdens gays have to carry in the fight for equality is the permission some heterosexuals give themselves to talk explicitly in public about specific sexual practices some homosexuals may prefer. Any particular sexual act, described in lurid enough detail to a nonparticipant, can be made to sound repellant, particularly to someone who does not share the participants' taste. The Marquis de Sade was not even trying to disgust people in describing his catholic sexual escapades - most all of them heterosexual -- yet remains to this day the brand name for sexual disgust.
Which is why heterosexuals nearly always leave one another's sexual proclivities at the bedroom door. With the exception of frat-boy braggadocio (usually among single men, and usually in private) it is rare to hear public discussion of specific heterosexual acts, from the mundane to the exotic.
But anti-gay heterosexuals (and even some who are neutral) exercise something close to voyeuristic exuberance in peppering discussion of gay civil rights with vulgar and extreme descriptions of sexual acts. In 1991, California's state senator David Knowles set the standard, in an obscene tirade on the Senate floor during debate on a bill that would have done no more than prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Knowles insisted on describing "the specifics of the lifestyle" in shocking terms that left members speechless, and fearful about whether the publicly broadcast debate would violate obscenity laws. After an uproar in the chamber, Knowles's fellow conservative Republicans had to shout him down.
This is still a preferred tactic in opposing gay equality, both at home and abroad. In our own country, Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber has been quoted (by his anti-gay supporters) reducing homosexual sexual orientation to "one man violently cramming his penis into another man's lower intestine and calling it 'love' " In Uganda, a full-page newspaper ad, headlined "Top Homos In Uganda Named" provides a Sadistic catalogue of the sexual preferences of various homosexuals there.
Of all the inequalities lesbians and gay men have to endure, this one is among the most degrading. No heterosexual would stand for being diminished to the sum of his or her sexual activities, and homosexuals should not be held to a different standard. Without sex, we would all be less than human, but not even a beast is composed only of its carnality.
This obsession among some heterosexuals is more than disrespectful; it is really the only distraction they can come up with to keep us off the subject, which is equal rights under the law. We are having a civil discussion, here, and I don't think it's out of line for us to expect heterosexuals to show us the same courtesy about private matters they enforce and expect among themselves.
Corvino, John
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Typical hypocrisy from you. In one post you condemn the ENTIRE homosexual population as being pro-pedo, in the next post you accuse them/us of ‘turning on pedophiles’. Kind of like your lies that the âgay communityâ promotes polygamy, single marriage, etc. then claim that the âgay communityâ are hypocrites for not treating such relationships as deserving of absolute rights to marriage.
While you demand that we condemn pedophilia, you then lambaste ALL of us, for having made statements like this from the link YOU provided above, âA common thread running through this material is an utter inability to recognize a conflict of interest. These men really seem to believe that they have the boys’ best interests at heart, despite clear evidence from their own accounts that they are taking grotesque advantage of troubled boys’ need for love, attention, support, and freedom from abuse. Their subtler form of abuse directs an adult’s arsenal against the innocence of children and the nascent sexuality of young adolescents and, when it succeeds, calls the result consensual love. That people so selfish should presume to lecture others about love, much less portray themselves as victims, is a supreme achievement in self-delusion and gall. [...] It is time to tell NAMBLA and its kin to express their views elsewhere, without the benefit of ILGA’s assistance or its name.â
Maybe ND30 is just pissed off because the “gay community” at large doesn’t support NAMBLA and pedophilia. Maybe he feels sold out. Obviously, as he’s badgering those in the âgay communityâ who has condemned them…
And yet you fail completely to do this. You, through the extremeness of your rhetoric, the broadness of your indictment of all, turn nearly every homosexual against you. You have completely, utterly, poisoned the well. Few, if any would want to give even valid criticisms a serious thought coming from the likes of such a bigot as yourself.
I am an example of just such a person. I do not support ANY of the despicable things that you point out, in fact, I have long had a reputation among my peers as being socially conservative, even prudish, and yet I am dead set against you and will spare no amount of effort to oppose you because of the vitriol you display for homosexuality and the entire homosexual population.
If you didn’t hate homosexuals so much, if your intentions were pure, if you were reasonable in your approach, you’d have an ally in me. Instead, you’ve made an enemy.
So congratulations, you are quite effective at killing legitimate discourse here which could contribute homosexuals to address REAL (not the BS propaganda you spew) problems in our community. It is apparent that this is what you actually have set out to do. And it is working.
So perhaps you were right about one thing, you are not wasting your time.
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