I Need To Get This Off My Chest

What started out as a response to a recently closed thread has grown into something I think is worthy of discussion on its own. It has to do with a major misconception about how religion is the source of all hate towards homosexuals. This statement was intended for someone in particular, but it would've been off topic. So I'm placing it here where the discussion can go in whatever direction we choose, and I'm addressing anyone who blames religion for the way homosexuals are treated.


In the same manner as being born gay, being repulsed by homosexuality is something I was born with as well. You're assumption that heterosexuals born with this natural disposition was caused by something written in a book is completely false.

I remember watching an episode of Game of Thrones a while back with a women who's about as hardcore of an Atheist as one could possibly be. Anyway, I got up and walked into the kitchen to get a Coke and while I was in there I heard her literally gagging and when I walked back into the living room she had changed the channel. It turns out that in this particular episode there happened to be a gay sex scene, and she was just as naturally repulsed by the sight of 2 men swapping bodily fluids as I would've been.

I know how much it must hurt to know that this is how most heterosexuals react, but its the stone cold truth, and it has nothing to do with what is written in the Bible.

When I come into contact with someone who is obviously gay, my natural reaction is to be grossed out. I'm sorry if that offends some of you, but its something I simply can't help. All I can do is recognize my capacity for hate and simply choose not to, and without a belief in God and an afterlife, I would have no reason to do that whatsoever.

So if you want to blame something about the way homosexuals are treated on the Bible, blame the tolerance, blame the love for you despite our natural tendencies, but don't blame the Bible for the hate, because that couldn't be any further from the truth.

reply to post by Bone75


I don't like olives. They make me gag.

Ergo; I don't eat olives.

But I don't stop others from eating them, no matter how disgusting I think they are.

reply to post by beezzer


Olive Bigot! The hatred has blinded you...

//Sarc off//

Ah but which olives: Black olives? Green olives? Green olives with pimento? Those whopper Greek olives?

reply to post by Bone75


It's a free country. You can feel what you feel as long as those feelings do not threaten the freedoms of others. I do not share those feelings but so what?

I have never understood this anger against the Bible on this issue. Folks really need to study the Bible and where it came from before referencing it for their cause of the moment.

Since the vast majority of us were raised in a society that rejects homosexuality, and has also been heavily influenced by religious attitudes toward it. I'm not so sure you can say with any confidence, your reaction is natural. It would be more likely that your reaction is artificially induced by your upbringing in a society that is still struggling to accept the inevitable.

As to the bible, it most certainly plays its part, considering the issue is addressed in both the old and new testament in a negative manner. So the question of whether it is natural to be repulsed, is a hard one to answer, since I don't know anyone who hasn't been influenced by societal norms and taboos, as well as religious doctrine.

reply to post by beezzer

I'm much more selfish than that, I would deprive you of coleslaw if it meant I would never have to even smell it again, but that's not an analogy of how I feel about homosexuality.

Klassified
Since the vast majority of us were raised in a society that rejects homosexuality, and has also been heavily influenced by religious attitudes toward it. I'm not so sure you can say with any confidence, your reaction is natural.

I just did didn't I? What of the Atheist on my couch?

You have a right to your opinion.
It's true, religious beliefs are not the cause of people not agreeing with homosexuals. I'm sick and tired of it.
Personally I am turned right off by lesbians. I'm female heterosexual. However I don't mind seeing two men together. Touching each other, not too graphic, mind you. I was disappointed when I lost my free preview of the gay channel.
I'm a crotchwatcher

reply to post by Bone75

I just did didn't I? What of the Atheist on my couch?

Indeed you did. However, that doesn't make it true. As to the atheist. I am also an atheist. That doesn't make either of us immune to social conditioning.

I was brought up southern baptist and they do believe homosexuality is a sin. I left my hometown when I joined the Marines and have been all around the world, that opened my eyes and I don't believe any one religion is 100% right. But personally I don't believe you are born gay, its a choice. Look in the animal kingdom the only cases of homosexuality is a sign of dominance , such as young dolphin males gang raping another. I don't understand why I have to P.C. about it because you have the privilege to be gay, not the right . I'm the bad guy because I have firearms, that are supposed to protected under the constitution but being gay and smoking marijuana is OK. Sorry if this was not the response you wanted but I wanted to rant also.

reply to post by Klassified


Agreed . Most people have their own thoughts about the aberration from the natural . It is natural for man and woman to be attracted to each other and raise families . It is the overwhelming majority of people who are heterosexual that defines normal or natural . The Bible has become the scapegoat for the expression of homophobia that people have naturally . And the majority of people could care less of what the bible says .
I would say that any conflicts with ones actions would truly be a conflict of ones heart that could be defined as having a conscious . No need to involve a law or ordinance to condemn or exonerate ones personal feelings .

reply to post by Bone75


the obvious question : how do you know that your " atheist friend " was disgusted by homosexuality , not male nudity or just the portrayal of any sex act ?

slednecktx
I was brought up southern baptist and they do believe homosexuality is a sin. I left my hometown when I joined the Marines and have been all around the world, that opened my eyes and I don't believe any one religion is 100% right. But personally I don't believe you are born gay, its a choice. Look in the animal kingdom the only cases of homosexuality is a sign of dominance , such as young dolphin males gang raping another. I don't understand why I have to P.C. about it because you have the privilege to be gay, not the right . I'm the bad guy because I have firearms, that are supposed to protected under the constitution but being gay and smoking marijuana is OK. Sorry if this was not the response you wanted but I wanted to rant also.

I don't see homosexuality itself as a sin. I believe gay people are born that way. Homosexuality is the sexual attraction to people of the same sex, not the act. The act is where the choice and the sin comes in, but the sin is no greater than any other sin we all commit daily.

ignorant_ape
reply to post by Bone75

 

the obvious question : how do you know that your " atheist friend " was disgusted by homosexuality , not male nudity or just the portrayal of any sex act ?

Do I really need to answer that?

beezzer
reply to post by Bone75

 

I don't like olives. They make me gag.

Ergo; I don't eat olives.

But I don't stop others from eating them, no matter how disgusting I think they are.

Exactly. And I'll tag on another example of how religion can make policy. Mormons are not allowed to drink caffeine - however, the church owns Pepsi. So in 2012, the church made it official that drinking Pepsi or Coke was permitted - but not tea or coffee - regardless of the facts that say while tea and coffee are healthy for you, Pepsi and Coke products are not.

This policy was not made due to reason, but due to power, and it was not made to be in the best interest of the individual Mormons - in fact, in order for it to work, it has to be shaded in smoke and mirrors and be called prophecy. If this is how we are going to start the next millennium, it is going to be a sad thousand years.

Hear me, hear what I say - the Mormon prophecy regarding Pepsi and Coke is a lie. And hear this, lies are for Babylon - and lies that are specifically for profit while claiming to be in the name of God are blasphemous and heretic.

When I come into contact with someone who is obviously gay, my natural reaction is to be grossed out. I'm sorry if that offends some of you, but its something I simply can't help.

I totally agree with the OP.

My dislike for homosexual acts has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with disgust.

The people are fine, but as long as they keep defining themselves as homosexuals I will keep being disgusted by the idea of what they do 'in the privacy of their own home'.

reply to post by Metallicus


I don't find it pleasing, either - but when I have a gay friend, I don't spend any of my time with him fantasizing about what he is going to be doing in the bedroom tonight - that would be weird. I would be questioning my sexuality at that point -

I don't think seeing a gay sex scene on television and not liking it is a good excuse to dislike gay people - although I think it is a good excuse not to watch gay sex, yes, which I agree with O.P.

Homophobia is a result of social conditioning.

Kids raised in gay households are heterosexual the same percentage as kids raised in heterosexual households yet aren't homophobic.

It has nothing to do with religion as religion can be used to support or go up against any viewpoint depending on which religion and which passage you're looking at.

Any type of irrational repulsion is a result of social conditioning.

For instance, I really dislike watching two heterosexual(or homosexual for that matter)d overweight people kiss. The reason is because I was raised in a fairly lean and fit family where there were no deadly obese people. I was also taught that you should exercise and that allowing yourself to get too overweight is disgusting. Taught to eat well and take care of yourself. Now I know it's irrational. Those people aren't necessarily dirtier than anyone else. Their bodies still have functions that are relatively the same. Yet, they gross me out when I see them kiss.

If I had grown up in a household surrounded by very obese people I would probably not be grossed out by seeing them kissing.

Either way, what two adults do with their bodies and their lives is their business. If two men want to sign contracts with each other(marriage) it's their business. If a obese man and woman want to, it's their business too.

reply to post by OrphanApology


Ah yes Orphan - I agree with this point -

In another matter - I disagree with the O.P. that he was born with a hatred towards homosexuals. I also disagree with his notion that a dislike of watching gay sex scenes is a logical precedent for hating gay people.

I'm curious to know if historically there has ever been a society that openly accepted homosexuality and thrived as a state. Not Rome. Not Greece. Europe's not doing too well. Not Sodom or Gomorrah (although the bible gives evidence of homosexuality there, it does not state THAT was their sin). Have there ever been any homosexual-accepting societies that have thrived? Just curious. TIA