would you?
Suppose scientists identified the factors that caused homosexuality and came up with a pill that would immediately change you heterosexual?
And since this is strictly a hypothetical question, there are no side effects, it’s 100% effective and free.
Would you take it?
As a heterosexual (in practice, if not 100% so in mind), I would take a pill that would make me completely bisexual any day. Where can I find these?
I’d fight to the death for my right to **not **take it.
Would you take a pill that would immediately make you gay?
Could you take another pill to turn you back? 'Cause it’d be pretty cool to be able to switch up your sex drive at will like that.
I might consider it if I was assured of being able to return to my original sexual preferences/orientation. Otherwise, no. I’m having waaaay too much fun being gay.
No way in hell would I take it. I like how I turned out, and I still don’t have any idea how much of that has to do with my growing up homosexual. If I had gotten the same offer when I was around 16 or 17 and was just realizing that I was gay and there was no changing it, I might have taken it. And the thought that I would have taken it makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.
In fact, I’d ask why they wasted their time coming up with a pill instead of working on something that would make people not care whether anyone were gay or straight (unless they were trying to get into bed with you).
I’ve gotta say I’m really digging the idea of the pill that makes you 100% bisexual. That sounds like a blast. Where can I get one of those?
I’m not gay, but I suspect lots of gay folks would want to take the pill. Most of the ones that committed suicide as teens, for example. They chose to be dead rather than be gay in today’s society. It seems likely that the opportunity to become straight would have been something they would have at least considered.
And of course all those poor gay folks who try to be “cured” via those religious programs would probably take it.
Lots of folks, gay or otherwise, would likely fight right beside you. But that’s not the issue raised in this thread.
I’m straight… but I’d shoot the guy that invented this pill…
First because they might force gays to take it… which is mean
Second… I don’t need sensitive, well groomed, polite and educated men who dig chicks making it even harder for regular born heteros from getting a girlfriend !
No.
I have way too much to potentially contribute to mankind to have my life interrupted by procreating.
As a bisexual, I also wouldn’t take it if it eliminated one aspect of my sexuality.
I don’t think that they chose to be dead rather than gay. I think they chose to be dead rather than mocked, abused, ostracized, turned out of their homes, forced into programs to “fix them” or assaulted. There’s a great deal of difference between “I’d rather be dead than be who I am” and “I’d rather be dead than deal with what people are doing to me.”
I was about to say that, basically. I personally admit to strongly disliking my sexual orientation. HOwever, it’s not because of that orientation in and of itself. It’s because of the way society views it: at the absolute best, in the most tolerant, liberal, accepting (mainstream, not exclusively queer) communities, being gay/bi/trans/etc is at best an oddity or curiosity. At worst, it gets you beaten to death.
revtim didn’t say they picked being dead over being gay, but that they picked being dead over being gay in today’s society. Which is the point of the last two posts.
Here’s a twist: what if you knew that your baby was going to be born gay, and could “fix it” in utero? Would you want to protect your kid from the pain of being a gay teen?
Perhaps they could create a non-idiot pill.
Would you have posted this if you replaced straight with white or American or Republican? Welcome to my list of least favorite dopers.
You CAN take a pill that makes you straight…it’s called Viagra…D&R.
I, myself, wouldn’t take a pill that would make me gay, even for a day. Well, maybe if I hadn’t had sex in several months and…well, still, no.
On the other hand, and this is even medically more far out there, if there were a pill that turned me into a woman temporarily, I’d take it.
sj2, was this directed at me?
Because, although I loathe the idea of parents designing their children according to their own prejudices, I can certainly understand wanting to protect your child from pain. And I have known no homosexual person who had a pain-free coming out.
Not that it would make a de-gaying procedure any less repulsive, only slightly more understandable.
If you’d asked me ten or eleven years ago, I probably would have said yes.
I’m glad I didn’t have that option then. I like how I turned out, and frankly I’m happy with my life. I’m not sure I would’ve been if I hadn’t been forced to re-examine my life and my world at age 16.
I hope our world’s evolved to the point where we don’t think in these terms, by the time medical science discovers ways to snuff out our genetic diversity. It’ll be a very sad place to be in, then.
I might.
Since someone will inevitably ask why, I’ll go ahead and share.
Although I’m (almost) completely and indisputably straight, I’ve never felt “defined” by my sexuality the way many people (of both orientations) seem to. I wouldn’t be particularly threatened by the idea of becoming gay, nor would I feel like I was changing something “essential” to my being.
I generally form much closer friendships with women than with men. These friendships almost never lead to anything “more.” It would actually be quite nice to be able to form these friendships without the distractions and boundaries that sexual attraction (or its potential) creates.
I often find gay men more attractive as friends than straight men. It would be nice to form relationships with these men without the distractions and boundaries that different social statuses (membership or non-membership in a distinct and oppressed minority group) creates. (Granted, this would be replaced by the issues I now have forming friendships with women. Moreover worse, too: I know full well as an outsider how mean the gay community can be towards its own.)
Hey, I’m not having such great luck with the ladies!
Seriously, while I (again) know how judgemental and meanspirited the gay community can be, I coudn’t really do much worse at forming romantic and sexual relationships as a gay man than I do as a straight one. I also know that the gay community is very subdivided into cliques and sub-groups and -cultures. I suspect I could find an “in” group somewhere. (Or not, in which case I’d be no worse off than now.)
I in no way intend to diminish the significance of the hardships and suffering endured by GLBT people in our society. There are many burdens I would gladly choose as an adult that I would not be capable of bearing if they were thrust upon me. I wouldn’t choose to be born gay and to grow up gay without having made the choice. Were I suddenly to discover (or come to terms with) an innate homosexuality, it would be very troubling to me (not at all least because it would suggest that I have very little sense of who I am).
Nevertheless, the thought that I might be happier if I were gay is not a new one to me. I very much doubt I would actually take such a pill, for a number of reasons, but I would probably consider it.
PS–I always have to supress either an embarassed or a skeptical look when people argue that homosexuality must be inborn because no one in their right mind would ever choose to be that way.
PPS–The things I’ll say on a message board that I’d never say in real life!
Of course the gay (and GLBT) community can also be wonderfully suportive and nurturing. Were this not so, I wouldn’t feel the attraction for it I do. I just don’t want anyone to think I have a rose-colored view of the community. (It’s much more of a fuschia!)
Well then, gee, let’s have pills that turn black kids white, to protect them from the pain of growing up in a racist society. How about Jewish kids? How about little girls? How about any kid who’s “different” in any way?
Sorry, the only way to protect gay kids from pain is to discover a cure for homophobia. Actually, it has been discovered: it’s called “fighting ignorance.”