10-29-2006, 07:59 AM | #161 (permalink) | |
Pissing in the cornflakes
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Teach it for what it is, a birth defect. Its normal the same way dwarfism or trisomy 21 is 'normal'. Its a mistake of genetics or pre-natal developement, I think both, but reguardless its not a "lifestyle" its people who through no fault of their own were born with part of them not working properly.
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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps. |
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10-29-2006, 08:03 AM | #162 (permalink) | |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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10-29-2006, 08:09 AM | #163 (permalink) | |
pigglet pigglet
Location: Locash
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As far as indoctrination of our youth into homosexuality via sex education, I just don't really buy it. As I remember sex ed, the teachers were uncomfortable, the students were uncomfortable, and there were no seminars on sexual technique or practices. I was pretty close with most of my teachers, and from playing various sports I knew all the coaches. In our schools, it was usually the gym coaches who ended up teaching sex ed as a part of physical education. Despite the fact that I had demonstrably heterosexual gym coaches all the way through high school, I never had one of them teach me how to give oral sex to my girlfriend, or suggest that missionary style wasn't the way to go. No bondage discussion, no role playing, no "Superman takes on WonderWoman with the Lasso of Truth Session" discussions. I don't doubt some of these guys tied their wives up and played Erik the Red pillages the coast of Iceland, but somehow they never got around to sharing these secrets with me. Now you're seriously telling me that one of these guys, if required to mention that you aren't a complete freakjob if you have homosexual leanings in highschool, or that its not a huge deal and there's no reason to beat each other up over it, etc - that my old soccer coach would have been trying to secretly get me juggle eggsacks in my cheeks? I really just don't think so. I don't really recall any direct discussion of actual sexual practices, beyond how to avoid disease and if you get a lump on your nut, you should probably have a doctor take a look at it. This whole thing is just a distraction from the primary issue raised in these threads, which is that there is no solid rational reason to deny homosexuals the right to settle down into the house with the picket fence, dog and a cat with 1-1/2 kids. edit: shit will, can you just get out of my mind for second post-jinx.
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You don't love me, you just love my piggy style |
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10-29-2006, 08:20 AM | #164 (permalink) |
Mistress of Mayhem
Location: Canton, Ohio
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Could you imagine how boring life would be if everyone were "normal". What IS "normal" anyway?
Agree with it or not it is done. All you negative Nancys are gonna have to life with homosexuality, its not going away. Stop fighting and start with the group hugs. (Nancy was the first name that came to mind and is not meant to offend anyone who may have that name here on TFP)
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If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open. It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch. |
10-29-2006, 09:35 AM | #165 (permalink) | |
32 flavors and then some
Location: Out on a wire.
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I'd like to point out, once again, that homosexuality is a state, not a behavior.
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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that. ~Steven Colbert Last edited by Gilda; 10-29-2006 at 09:44 AM.. |
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10-29-2006, 10:40 AM | #167 (permalink) | ||
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You still can't explain why teaching kids about homosexuality in school is a bad thing, aside from the fact that it will somehow "normalize" homosexuality. If you're afraid of the broad acceptance of homosexuality, just do what the racists did when segregation happened; use your influence as a parent to convince your children that it's great to be a bigot, that people who aren't like you aren't your equals, and that there's some sort of vast liberal conspiracy to allow homosexuals to not hate themselves. Quote:
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10-29-2006, 10:50 AM | #168 (permalink) | |
32 flavors and then some
Location: Out on a wire.
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Homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexuality. It is neither abnormal nor deviant. It causes no harm to others and no harm to the homosexual.
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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that. ~Steven Colbert |
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10-29-2006, 01:26 PM | #169 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: Lake Mary, FL
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A weird definition of the word 'normal', you have.
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I believe in equality; Everyone is equally inferior to me. |
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10-29-2006, 01:49 PM | #170 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
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So, is being left handed normal? Some estimates put left-handedness in between 10 and 30%.
The word deviant is funny, because all it really means is that someone or something doesn't share a specific characteristic with the majority of people/things. By this definition, marriages that don't end in divorce are deviant. Evangelical christians are deviant. Jesus was a deviant. With enough examination of all the things that are deviant, only the most stubborn person wouldn't admit that the details of the specific characteristic in question are much more important than whether the characteristic qualifies as deviant. The word natural is similar, since really, everything that happens is natural. My computer is completely natural, so are buttfucking and apple pie. You could go the other way, though, and say that anything that follows the fits withing the framework of evolutionary success is natural, everything else is deviant. That's great, but those who like this idea generally aren't experts in evolutionary theory and don't see that just because something appears on a very superficial level to hinder one's ability to pass on genes, doesn't mean it doesn't serve an evolutionary purpose, or that many things that make a species successful in the short term can often lead to massive amounts of species-specific death in the long run. Reproductive success isn't the only factor in the success of a species, in fact, in some instances, reproducing too much could theoretically cause the downfall of a species. All these different ways of condemning homosexuality by comparing it to nature of the majority fall flat, because there is an endless supply of things that are just as "deviant" and just as "unnatural" as homosexuality that the proponents of the arguments could seemingly care less about. |
10-29-2006, 02:12 PM | #171 (permalink) | |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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10-29-2006, 03:02 PM | #172 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: Lake Mary, FL
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If one state (In this case, heterosexuality in humans) occupies more than 90% of the sample size for the human population, it's safe to assume that it's the norm.
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I believe in equality; Everyone is equally inferior to me. |
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10-29-2006, 03:24 PM | #173 (permalink) | |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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Brown, sandy, blonde, red, black. That's 5 and 5. Look how well that works. Bottom line, don't be a bigot. Homosexuality obviously isn't a defect, as it is obviously functional at reducing overpopulation. Suggesting homosexuality is a birth defect is like saying that being pro choice is a birth defect. The topic has, is, and always will be political, based on religous impositions on the political arena. To pretend that it's biological is to ignore biology. To aknowledge it's essentially a religous argument is to admit that you're imposing your version of Jesus on another person who isn't hurting you, so thus ends the argument. |
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10-29-2006, 03:52 PM | #174 (permalink) | |
32 flavors and then some
Location: Out on a wire.
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If you mean "normal" solely as a statistical descriptor without any relationship to moral or ethical standards, using it solely as a mathematical descriptor, then yes, homosexuality is statistically uncommon. By that definition many more things that don't ordinarily get that label are not normal, but aren't labeled as such. In the United States, being Jewish or Native American is about as common or less common than being homosexual. Is being Jewish abnormal? Residents of Wyoming make up 0.6% of the US population. Is being a resident of Wyoming abnormal? In terms of world population, Americans are about 4.5%. That's in the same neighborhood as the rate of homosexuality. Is being an American abnormal? The problem with the "homosexuality isn't normal because it's uncommon" reasoning is that that's a line of reasoning that gets applied only when someone disapproves of the behavior or a moral or ethical connotation is added. This is why "abnormal" in psychological terms and "deviant" in sociological terms carry with them the additional criterion of dysfunction, or as I put it, harm. Psychologically, a behavior is "abnormal" only if it is statistically uncommon and causes harm to the person exhibiting it or to others. Collecting comic books is statistically uncommon, but not abnormal. Sociologically, a behavior is "deviant" if it is statistically uncommon and it violates the norms of a culture, subculture, or group or represents a failure to act within the norms of the culture. In religious doctrine, those terms usually imply that the behavior is a violation of the specific doctrine of the organization making the judgment. Homosexuality fails the test on all those grounds save for religious purposes. This makes the use of "normal" and "abnormal" loaded words. Defending the labeling of homosexuality as "abnormal" on a purely statistical basis fails because there is in that usage a connotation of moral, ethical, or psychological dysfunction. Homosexuality isn't dysfunctional in any of those ways, so using deviant or abnormal when you don't mean to imply that there is some dysfunction inherent to the condition is at best deceptive. But for the sake of clarification, because we're operating from different definitions of the word, I'll rephrase: Homosexuality is a healthy, natural variant of human sexuality. Is it statistically uncommon? Sure. It's also a healthy variant of human sexuality that causes neither the individual nor others in the society harm, nor does it impair in any way a person's being able to function according to other societal norms.
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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that. ~Steven Colbert Last edited by Gilda; 10-29-2006 at 03:55 PM.. |
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10-29-2006, 04:02 PM | #175 (permalink) | |
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Location: Ontario, Canada
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Americans and Europeans are more "defective" than say, Arabs or Chinese, because there is a higher incidence of homosexuality here than in those lands?
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Si vis pacem parabellum. |
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10-29-2006, 04:32 PM | #176 (permalink) | |||
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10-29-2006, 04:46 PM | #177 (permalink) | |||
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For example: what if as populations rise, the tendency towards equality rises as the elite and rare smartest people come to liberal power. As equality rises, latent homosexuals that normally just try to live life as heterosexuals are free to live life as a homosexual. I don't know how likely it is, but it does explain the homosexual tendency as a gene. Quote:
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10-29-2006, 04:53 PM | #178 (permalink) | |
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I think that we all need to educate ourselves and make an effort to always remind ourselves that everyone else is also struggling to maintain their self esteem. That is a foundation of awareness of equality, tolerance, and mutual respect, IMO.
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10-29-2006, 06:21 PM | #179 (permalink) | ||
Pissing in the cornflakes
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Lets handle this one at a time. This one I have time for.
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I see homosexuality as a birth 'defect' because it directly interferes with reproduction. Genetics doesn't care about what kind of person you are, if your genes die out and die out due to something in their makeup, it’s a defect. This is a purely dispassionate scientific assessment of the condition. The next logical argument would be to ask if healthy heterosexual couples who do not have children are 'defective' and the answer depends on the reason they don't have children. If there is a genetic tendency not have children then it would qualify as a birth defect. They were born that way, and it’s a dead end for the line. Now my guess is that it is a psychological thing and a conscious decision. Its still a dead end but the same genes under a different social environment could have had 12 kids happily. The same can't be same for homosexuals who I think would be gay under any circumstance since its genetically linked. Either one accepts the genetic component to homosexuality and if you have an understanding of genetics you can see where this would be a defect (there is an argument I can think of that would make it a possible benefit but I'll see if someone else comes up with that one, its weak but worth mentioning) or homosexuality is somehow psychological and therefore can be cured or prevented in children. That was the thought up until the late 70's and guess how well that worked?
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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps. |
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10-29-2006, 06:25 PM | #180 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
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Genes don't exist in a vacuum, though, and your interpretation of what does and doesn't allow genes to survive is overly simple. Plenty of gay people have children, and being gay isn't an insurmountable barrier to having children.
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10-29-2006, 06:36 PM | #181 (permalink) |
Mistress of Mayhem
Location: Canton, Ohio
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People should be more interested in keeping their own lives straight than trying to run everyone elses. While they are at it some people should concentrate on keeping up their fantasy worlds.
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If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open. It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch. |
10-29-2006, 07:27 PM | #182 (permalink) | |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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If it's environmental, why cure it? I mean that's like curing someone from enjoying musical theater or for preferring blondes. Who cares? It's clearly not harmful. It doesn't actually harm in any way the people around them (despite what some may say). As stated before, it can even be helpful as it combats overpopulation! Getting back to gay marriage, I couldn't be happier. It's about time we show these people the respect set fourth by legal precedent. In Lawrence v Texas, 2003, the Supreme Court considered sodomy laws regarding homosexuals. You see, Texas thought it would be funny, between beers and wife beating, to say that sodomy is illegal between homosexuals but legal between heterosexuals. In a 5 to 4 vote, the Supreme Court overruled Texas' ruling in Bowers v Hardwick and ruled that the state "lacked a legitimate interest in regulating the private sexual conduct of consenting adults." I'm sure you've all heard of the Equal Protection Clause. Scalia threw a fit, of course, but the decision stands. |
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10-29-2006, 08:30 PM | #183 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: Lake Mary, FL
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If you don't agree, then take it up with basic Darwinism.
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I believe in equality; Everyone is equally inferior to me. |
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10-29-2006, 08:33 PM | #184 (permalink) |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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What a depressingly black-and-white world the gay-suppression proponents live in. Of course, it's a lot simpler when you don't have to worry about things like gray areas and nuance...
Either a person IS gay or IS not (never mind that all the research on the subject shows that people's sexuality falls somewhere on a spectrum). Gay people DON'T procreate (never mind that many of them do). Marriage IS for procreation (never mind how many marriages don't produce children or how many children don't come from married parents). It's all about absolutes, because that requires no thinking or self-examination. There's a complex, messy, interesting world out here just waiting to be lived in. I find it sad that some people's rigid, fixed and absolute view of the world prevents them from inhabiting reality. I mean--how do you deal with somebody who says, in a nutshell, "My opinion is absolute truth", when their opinion is different from yours and isn't supported by anything that appears rational? Shrug your shoulders? That's about what I've come to. My personal philosophy is to be skeptical of absolutes. Things are usually more complicated than can be summed up in a neat verbal equation. |
10-29-2006, 08:50 PM | #185 (permalink) | |
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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Jerks would have been removed from the gene pool hundreds of thousands of years ago if your simplistic description of darwinism was true. |
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10-29-2006, 09:20 PM | #186 (permalink) |
pigglet pigglet
Location: Locash
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Holy Crap. So now we're down to trying to determine whether or not being gay is genetically disfavored, based on the assumption that there is an overpowering gay gene? There's lots of things that don't have any use in reproduction. I have two of them. They are called my nipples. I like 'em just fine, but they'll never excrete the sweet sweet milk of paternal sustanence to any child I begot upon some unluckly lady. Shrill, tawdry crazy shrew she would have to be let me do all my begotting and whatnot. Why do I have nipples? Why damn it? Hold on, Ustwo's going to explain something about lack of differentiation in early child development whilst we lie in the womb. Ok, my tonsils have nothing to do with reproduction. Neither does my knee cap.
One also has to wonder if the formation of stable family units produces situations such that successful survival of any offspring born in the larger family unit are increased. Thus, as not all members of a homosexual household are likely to be homosexual, the safety and support offered by the formation of the stable family unit favors the survival of any child produced. As ratbastid directly just pointed out, it's not a cut and dry situation. Holy sweet what-the-hell on a slinky. Whether or not someone regards homosexuality as some sort of genetically recessive trait disfavorable to the active direct production of children is not the issue with gay marriage. Hold on, who was it that sang the following? I could wile away the hours Conferrin' with the flowers Consultin' with the rain And my head I'd be scratchin' While my thoughts were busy hatchin' If I only had a brain
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You don't love me, you just love my piggy style |
10-29-2006, 09:39 PM | #187 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: Chicago
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There is so much talk on whether homosexuality is a birth defect and whether homosexuality is unfit in an evolutionary sense and that marriage is for procreation and so on that I can't quote just one post to focus on. So allow me to give a general reply.
First off, to whether homosexuality is a defect that will result in the dying out of homosexuality in humans: do homosexuals have homosexual parents? Sometimes, I'm sure, but oftentimes they have straight parents. What could this possibly mean? As to whether homosexuality is contrary to the propagation of the species and therefore will die out: fine, but until they do (which could take millions of years, considering how slow evolution works) are they not protected by the same constitution by which every other American is protected? If a man and a woman marry and it turns out that one of them is infertile, can the state then void their marriage, since they aren't going to procreate? And isn't infertility contrary to the propagation of the species? Should we make fertility tests a requirement for marriage? I'm not sure just how thought out some of the "logical" anti-gay marriage arguments are.
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses |
10-29-2006, 09:49 PM | #188 (permalink) | |||
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Location: Lake Mary, FL
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Homosexuality in humans doesn't just occur in situations of overpopulization nor is a particularly effective means of population control in humans, either. The difference between humans and animals is that, unlike animals which are driven by mear instinct, humans are able to rationalize and can thusly make choices. If homosexuality were genetic, then it would only manifest itself when it's needed and at the times it's needed, much like in animals. Of course, it doesn't. Quote:
Oh! And it's not a simplistic form of Darwinism. It's the cold, hard truth.
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I believe in equality; Everyone is equally inferior to me. |
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10-29-2006, 10:28 PM | #189 (permalink) | ||
pigglet pigglet
Location: Locash
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Regardless, I think this thread's just about busted. I'll second a congrats to the peoples up in Jersey. I guess we'll see how this one plays out.
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You don't love me, you just love my piggy style |
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10-29-2006, 10:42 PM | #190 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
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Now, i'm not saying homosexuality is genetic, just that you claiming that if it was it would have been bred out of us by now is wrong. |
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10-29-2006, 10:52 PM | #191 (permalink) |
Tilted
Location: Washington
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cool people in NJ with the same genetalia can share medical insurance. happy for you. please sit down.
do homosexual ladies go to man prison? Because if not, that's hot.
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I'm sitting at my desk right now waiting for you to reply to the above message. |
10-29-2006, 10:57 PM | #192 (permalink) | |
Pissing in the cornflakes
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Many negative traits do stick around for quite a long time. Homosexuality may be a negative trait to reproduction, but its obviously around and as homosexuals have been considered perverts for much of history in many cultures, I'd find it odd that so many people would pick to be a pervert. So far no evidence exists for it being anything else than genetic or VERY early in development. You can teach someone to be bisexual, you can't teach them to be gay. This btw is a mistake many seem to be making here. Greek/Roman homosexuality as so freely talked about was really bisexuality, and there is a WORLD of difference between the two in genetic terms. Greek/Roman homosexuals would not have been considered normal in their tastes. There is apparently a fragile period in human development where sexuality is imprinted on the brain. Some genetic combinations seem to be susceptible for errors at this time. Its negative to survival but so are a lot of traits. As long as enough do survive into the next generation it continues. There may be unknown benefits as well to that genetic combination, much like the sickle cell trait in Africans. It may be that the traits which favor reproduction outweigh the impact of having a non-reproducing possibility. Likewise I doubt there will be one ‘gay gene’ an in fact its due to multiple genes. Many traits are not the Mendelian genetics you get taught in 5th grade, but are in fact field effects where multiple genes overlap.
__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps. |
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10-29-2006, 11:03 PM | #193 (permalink) | |
pigglet pigglet
Location: Locash
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Maybe this sucker's not busted yet afterall.
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You don't love me, you just love my piggy style |
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10-30-2006, 04:47 AM | #194 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Si vis pacem parabellum. |
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10-30-2006, 05:07 AM | #195 (permalink) | |
Mistress of Mayhem
Location: Canton, Ohio
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What if enjoying Chocolate is a "birth defect". What if we are all supposed to like Vanilla? Hope this put some things into perspective for some people.
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If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open. It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch. Last edited by Lady Sage; 10-30-2006 at 05:52 AM.. |
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10-30-2006, 05:49 AM | #196 (permalink) | ||
Junkie
Location: Tobacco Road
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10-30-2006, 05:53 AM | #197 (permalink) |
Mistress of Mayhem
Location: Canton, Ohio
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Adoption, invitro, my aunt had a child with a husband before admitting she was a lesbian.
__________________
If only closed minds came with closed mouths. Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open. It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch. |
10-30-2006, 06:29 AM | #198 (permalink) | |
Darth Papa
Location: Yonder
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A lesbian couple I know is doing artificial insemination right now. They've done a couple rounds of it with no luck yet, but they're still trying. My fifth grade teacher, who I'm still in touch with, had two kids with her husband before divorcing him and coming out. She's in a wonderful relationship, which her kids support wholeheartedly. Both of them are married to people of the opposite sex. Then there's adoption cases--and there are PLENTY of those. This happens A LOT. Way more than you might think if you didn't actually know any gay people. |
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10-30-2006, 06:38 AM | #199 (permalink) | |||
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Location: Tobacco Road
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And oh, btw, I thought that homosexuality was a natural reaction to overpopulation? Why are homosexuals "having" children to begin with if nature intended them not to "have" children? Be sure to lock when you leave
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