# Homosexuality, a crime ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 29, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687 "2000-02-29T00:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ORION\_ORION](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@ORION\_ORION](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ORION_ORION)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/1 "2000-02-29T00:00:00Z")
Homosexuality have been illegal in most countries in North-America and Europe, but have, in the last 25-35 years, become a legal sexual practice. Should it be a crime again ? Should they be sentenced to prison ? It’s illegal in most countries in East-Europe. I belive that they who practice this sort of behavior and is caught, must stay in prison for 1 or 2 year. I think it’s illegal in most countries in Asia, Africa and Latino America too. I think it should be illegal Some other view on this topic ? ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/2 "2000-02-29T00:04:00Z")
Yes, I totally agree. What two people do in the privacy of their bedroom is absolutely my business, and if I think it’s icky, they should be removed from society immediately. :rolleyes: DNFTT ---
**Author:** ![inertia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/d07c76/32.png) [@inertia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inertia)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/3 "2000-02-29T00:10:00Z")
Absolutely, I also think that people with people with bleach blond hair should be disemboweled and drug from township to township stopping only long enough to get a couple of lashes before their heads are chopped off. Oh, and people who chew gum with their mouths open too. Let’s not forget people who don’t proof for legibility too. * * * “What can I say, I luuuvv my condiments”, - inertiacakes ---
**Author:** ![ORION\_ORION](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@ORION\_ORION](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ORION_ORION)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/4 "2000-02-29T00:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by DoctorJ: > **Yes, I totally agree. What two people do in the privacy of their bedroom is absolutely my business, and if I think it’s icky, they should be removed from society immediately. > :rolleyes: > DNFTT** I get the irony here. But is this just a “privacy” matter anylonger. They want to marry, adopt etc. You can’t just say that this is so very private anylonger. This have some consequences for society as well. They just don’t wanna stay in they’re home anylonger an be “private”. I hope that I get some sirious answers. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/5 "2000-02-29T00:54:00Z")
Orion, your argument is irrelevant. If I get married to a man or kiss a man in public, it neither picks your pocket nor breaks your leg, as Thomas Jefferson put it. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/6 "2000-02-29T00:56:00Z")
Oh, by the way. Homosexuality hasn’t been decriminalized in “the past 25-30 years” in such jurisdictions as France, where it was decriminalized in the 18th century. Just thought you’d like to know. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/7 "2000-02-29T01:04:00Z")
ORION\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*ORION > [@](#): > > I hope that I get some sirious answers. Hmmm … your username’s _Orion_, it contains several _Stars_, and now you’re looking for _Siri[o]us_ answers… I’ll bet my asteroid that this stinks like Uranus. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/8 "2000-02-29T02:49:00Z")
Time for today’s Science Lesson of Science! Mars is rocky. Uranus is gasseous. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/9 "2000-02-29T03:00:00Z")
Hate mongering should be (and is) illegal. Peace, mangeorge (Beginning to dislike that little fucker) * * * I only know two things; I know what I need to know And I know what I want to know Mangeorge, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/10 "2000-02-29T03:03:00Z")
Why isn’t this shit in the pit, where it **belongs**. mangeorge * * * I only know two things; I know what I need to know And I know what I want to know Mangeorge, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/11 "2000-02-29T03:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Beginning to dislike that little fucker > [@](#): > > Why isn’t this shit in the pit, where it **belongs**. [Moderator Hat ON] It _can_ be in the Pit, or I can just delete the posts where you get scatalogical. [Moderator Hat OFF] I’m offended by ORION’s statements as well, but I prefer to see a thorough ripping apart of his argument by the Dopers, rather than simple flames. Any idiot can insult someone; but if you remain relatively calm and mercilessly shred their argument, a little ignorance has been fought. So what say you? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/12 "2000-02-29T04:06:00Z")
'K Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/13 "2000-02-29T04:15:00Z")
ORION. We do not live in a theocracy, therefore appeals to religion are insufficient to argue for legislation. If you wish to live in a theocracy, there are several in the Middle East that you might like. I hear some of them are quite harsh in their punishments of homosexual behavior. If you wish to argue that a secular republic should adopt laws concerning the behavior of its citizens, then you will have to provide **reasoning** to support your position. “I don’t like it!” is the whine of a child, not the argument of an adult. Please try something more substantial. * * * - The best lack all conviction The worst are full of passionate intensity. \* ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/14 "2000-02-29T05:33:00Z")
Quote: > [@](#): > > But is this just a “privacy” matter anylonger. They want to marry, adopt etc. > You can’t just say that this is so very private anylonger. > This have some consequences for society as well. ## Name one. Just one, a simple request. Not a lot. o-n-e. one. (1). How hard can that be? And since you said “consequences for society”, No fair trying to justify your particular brand of religious intolerance. ONE " consiquence for society ". Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/15 "2000-02-29T05:42:00Z")
Ah, Damn, now i’ve gone and thought of a whole bunch. Never mind I guess. Committed partners in long term relationships could: a:Enjoy health benifits, like we hetero folks do. b:Have the recognized legal right to make “living will” and other such decisions for the one who you are closest to. c: enjoy relatively hastle free inheritance laws. d: raise their children in a stable, loving home with two parents. e:Be more honest about who they are, without having to worry about the stigma of something “evil” f: live their life with legal protection against intolerant homophobic idiots. ( had this been the pit, another word might have been used) ## And so forth…Thats 6 right off the bat. Guess you’re right, there would be consiquences. sorry I guess I was wr…What’s That?..You think Orion ment negative consiquences?? Really??Oh. well then, see previous post. Cecil said it. I believe it. That settles it. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/16 "2000-02-29T06:32:00Z")
Orion, you are citing East European countries as a reason to make homoseuality illegal? Let us also pour acetene on peoples testicles for ushering the word democracy, what do you think? Where do you come from anyway? * * * You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right. –Lyndon B. Johnson ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowcsr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Rainbowcsr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowcsr)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/17 "2000-02-29T07:04:00Z")
For the record, I find homosexuality among men repugnant and somewhat less so among women. That being said, I would also like to state that I agree that homosexuality, in 95% of the cases is not a voluntary life decision for those affected with it, but genetic. In normal genetics, people of one sex are attracted to the opposite sex and find same sex attractions repellent. (This does not include bisexuality.) One cannot easily find a member of the same gender sexually attractive unless one is A: genetically disposed to do so, or B: contained within an unnatural environment of limited options against their will. (Prison.) Now, since the condition of Homosexuality is genetic, one can assume that they have no control over their sexual polarity. So long as they follow the basic laws accepted by general society, there is no reason to deny them the same basic freedoms as everyone else. After all, what they choose to do with each other, consensually, is none of anyone’s business so long as they do not try to force their will or beliefs on others. If they choose to marry – I would not deny them that. I have my doubts concerning their adoption of children because children are usually heavily influenced by their parents and I have not yet determined as to whether or not children can be influenced enough to change their own natural sexuality as they grow. It does not seem to have worked with homosexuals born into normal families and the repression of their own different sexuality seems to have led to major psychological problems later in life. According to some psychiatric theories, it is believed that children starting to experience their own sexual urges can easily become homosexual or bisexual – especially in the teens when the sexual drive among men to ‘poke anything’ is so intense. Later, after puberty, they tend to settle down. Women (girls) tend to be more controlled in these times. It has also been observed that the male homosexual tends to be the more radical of the two and the more violent, exaggerated and ‘experimental’ with the woman homosexual tending to be much less so. Still. There is no reason to deny them the basic human rights that everyone else enjoys. Besides, psychological studies have long reported that there is always a rise in homosexuality when pressures of civilizations become very high among people crammed into small living areas. (Along with other psychosis’s.) Plus, it has long been a theory of mine that religious rules and texts were always written by men who were heavily influenced by the beliefs of their times. (In most texts, women are reduced to property with few rights. Slavery seems to be accepted and it has been observed that punishments were often brutal and final.) With this in mind, since we have moderated much of the various religious rules, why should be refuse to do so concerning homosexuality? In some texts, those who commit adultery are stoned. We don’t do that any more and we don’t even consider adultery a crime requiring jail time nor any form of social restriction. So, why should we do such to homosexuals? Basing the restriction of homosexuals on religious reasons is no longer a valid point. If we do that, then we have to start enforcing the various 10 Commandments – including those like not desiring what your neighbor has, honoring your parents – apparently no matter what, and so on. In light of the massive ‘phone psychics’, doesn’t it also say in many religious text not to trust ‘false profits’ and that the determination of a true profit is one who is **never wrong**? Yet we allow these ‘false profits’ to scam us out of millions each year and to delude the hopeless and the desperate. They are allowed all of the freedoms of everyone else and if they are, so should homosexuals. * * * What? Me worry?’ ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/18 "2000-02-29T13:27:00Z")
Orion said: > [@](#): > > But is this just a “privacy” matter anylonger. They want to marry, adopt etc. **My God!!** You mean, they want to be treated just _like anybody else_?! What the **HELL** are they thinking? What, are they human or something? Jeez-us Christ! We must put an end to all of this talk about equal rights! Who the f\*\*\* do they think they are?! ---
**Author:** ![siva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@siva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/siva)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/19 "2000-02-29T13:47:00Z")
Well now I didn’t get to read the entire thread, so I’m not too sure if someone has mentioned this, but it seems odd to me that you send people that committed a homosexual act to prison, where I have heard homosexual activity is common. The crime I think is when you punish a person or “couple” by taking aware their rights, like I believe they still do in Colorado. If you live in Colorado and are gay you basically don’t have any rights(in the eyes of the judicial system) and I think I can go as far as saying they won’t recognize your human rights. ---
**Author:** ![Flinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e79b87/32.png) [@Flinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flinx)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687/20 "2000-02-29T13:56:00Z")
Orion, most if not all homosexuals do not choose to be the way they are. I know I didn’t choose to be gay. I can choose to reinforce or undermine my Same-Sex Attraction, but I certainly didn’t choose to be this way consciously. You can’t criminalize a way of thinking that wasn’t chosen but rather was thrust upon someone, IMHO. And I don’t believe that we should criminalize homosexual **behavior** unless we’re willing to criminalize adultery and fornication as well. * * * The poster formerly known as “Snark.” (Don’t ask.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homosexuality-a-crime/17687.md?page=2)