Homophobic? Maybe You’re Gay

[Tim_T-Bonham.net]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

Thus my suggestion that, taking a page from Dan Savage’s movement, some anti-gay group rename themselves It Gets Harder.

And they could hire homophobic ex-basketball player Tim Hardaway (I hate gay people, so I let it be known.) as their spokesperson.

[mister_nyx]

@Steve_MB

They’ve come pretty close to that:

Holy shit, Christmas came early this year.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@mister_nyx

Whoever it is is an idiot. Do they think that, for instance, the Prop 8 passed in California because of the massive gay turnout to vote against marriage equality?

Yes? The point is that maybe all the people who are homophobic are so because they’re repressing urges they don’t understand. It’s the only logical reason why one might refer to homosexuality as a “temptation”: straight people just aren’t “tempted” to have gay sex (as gay people aren’t “tempted” to have straight sex).

[Ludovic]

Their theme song could be It’s not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish by My Chemical Romance. “You told me this gets harder, well it did.” Works on so many levels.

[MyFootsZZZ]

A lot of people who argue that it’s a choice probably have had some gay thoughts rustling through their head. How else can you argue that it’s a choice without being faced with the choice yourself?

[Noone_Special]

@mister_nyx

… this makes it easier for the logically impaired to blame homophobia on gay people. Because clearly there are a lot of people out there who will reason that, if repressed homosexuality leads to homophobia, then homophobia is a sign of repressed homosexuality. “If P, then Q. Q, therefore P.” Fallacious reasoning, but obviously very appealing to many people.

@SmithCommaJohn

I’d wager that the vast majority of virulent homophobic bigots aren’t latent homosexuals.

I think it’s far more likely that most of them are just hateful assholes.

This is probably factually true but also kinda-sorta missing the point.

If roughly 10% of the population are homosexual*, and fully 75% (a large majority, yes?) of “virulent homophobic bigots” are straight…* Well, you do the math.

OK, I’ll do it – if this (or similar numbers) is the case, then while it is not true that “most homophobes are gay,” it is true that “homophobes are statistically far more likely to be gay than people who are not homophobic.” Which easily morphs into “Homophobes are gay” – a vast and counter-factual leap of logic, too be sure, but not **completely **out in left field, either.

• Don’t know the range of currently accepted estimates, bear with me here, these are just ballpark numbers for the sake of the argument

[mister_nyx]

@Noone_Special

This is probably factually true but also kinda-sorta missing the point.

If roughly 10% of the population are homosexual*, and fully 75% (a large majority, yes?) of “virulent homophobic bigots” are straight…* Well, you do the math.

Okay, but by any standard, according to studies I’m aware of, nowhere near 10% of the population is gay or even gay/bi. And so, having known more than a few virulent homophobes – I mean, like, seriously, I knew some dude who openly called for all gay people to be killed in a high school biology class, and I doubt my genocidal classmate was unique – that 75% number seems a bit low.

OK, I’ll do it – if this (or similar numbers) is the case, then while it is not true that “most homophobes are gay,” it is true that “homophobes are statistically far more likely to be gay than people who are not homophobic.” Which easily morphs into “Homophobes are gay” – a vast and counter-factual leap of logic, too be sure, but not **completely **out in left field, either.

Okay, well, I have no trouble accepting the idea that some self-haters are homophobes despite being gay. I have a big problem with the equation that the (perhaps aptly named) “Really Not All That Bright” posited, which basically exonerated straight people for homophobia. I have no doubt that there are self-hating queermos. I just think it is both statistically and morally unjustifiable to pretend that such folks are the sole font of homophobia.

The problem is that there are a lot of straight people who have a problem with gay people. Who don’t think we should be allowed to marry, at very least. It’s not like every instance of gay-bashing was gay-on-gay. Focusing on the relatively rare cases in which a closet gay person had the authority and used it against other gay people means ignoring the many cases in which straight people treated gay people like shit. Which, well, in realityville, that is how homophobia usually happens. I have a lot more to fear from actual-factual 100% straight dudes who really aren’t dreaming about sucking cock than I do from folks pretending to be straight. Because, at very least, there aren’t anywhere near as many of the latter.