# IF we allow gay marriages..(a different take. (I think)) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 5, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596 "2004-07-05T04:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/61 "2004-07-06T13:25:05Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > WRONG! I’m pretty sure 99.9% of the worlds population are born with two hands. Uh, **Cerri** didn’t say anything about hands. She said: > [@Cerri](#): > > People are born that have one blue eye, and one brown eye, for instance. It’s not the majority or the usual, but it’s not a disease, the eyes are perfectly normally functioning, and they were most certainly born that way. Same goes for people with red hair. > > Or do you think red hair or differently colored eyes is a birth defect as well? So which part of that was wrong, and what does any of it have to do with how many hands most people are born with? > [@SHAKES](#): > > Just like 99.9% of the worlds popultation are born to like the opposite sex. I would be very curious to see which poll or study came up with a .1% figure for homosexuals. Even the most conservative estimates I’ve seen had numbers many times more than that. > [@SHAKES](#): > > By your logic it would be perfectly normal for a child to be born with one hand or no hands. Uh, no, see, by her logic it’s perfectly normal for a child to be born with some sort of unusual feature that does not negatively affect his or her health. I have “Grecian feet” – my second toes, on both feet, are longer than my big toes. This is a common trait in my family, but it’s my understanding that it’s fairly unusual. I don’t know what the percentages are, but I don’t think it’s much more common than homosexuality. In other words, it might be considered “abnormal” in a statistical sense. However, it’s not a disease or a handicap. The only problems I know of that a long second toe can cause a person are due to social factors. These may be direct (“Hey, you’ve got weird feet, you freak!”) or indirect (some people wind up with podiatric trouble caused by wearing shoes designed for a different foot shape), but either way it’s not the “abnormal” toes per se that are to blame. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/62 "2004-07-06T13:26:28Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Announcing Heterol: the once-a-day pill to turn your deviant gay urges into healthy straight ones! Take Heterol and you’ll find you no longer have any desire to have sex with people of the same sex, and you boys will start playing football instead of shopping! And for you girls, Heterol will help you stop playing softball and driving pickup trucks and get your asses back in the kitchen where they belong! “This is Bob. Bob is straight. Very straight indeed. That’s because not long ago, the big old nelly made a quick phone call, and got a free brochure for Heterol, the new pill for natural straight enhancement. And what did he get? Why, he ended his 15-year relationship with Ted, and now lives with a very statisfied ex-lesbian. He got the very thing that makes a man really successful: heterosexuality, If you’re interested in learning more about natural straight enhancement, call 1-800-HETEROL.” ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/63 "2004-07-06T13:36:03Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > “This is Bob. Bob is straight. Very straight indeed. That’s because not long ago, the big old nelly made a quick phone call, and got a free brochure for Heterol, the new pill for natural straight enhancement. And what did he get? Why, he ended his 15-year relationship with Ted, and now lives with a very statisfied ex-lesbian. He got the very thing that makes a man really successful: heterosexuality, If you’re interested in learning more about natural straight enhancement, call 1-800-HETEROL.” Aww, Eve, goddammit! Why do you have to outshine me by being so damn much wittier than I am? ---
**Author:** ![spectrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@spectrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spectrum)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/64 "2004-07-06T13:38:46Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > WRONG! I’m pretty sure 99.9% of the worlds population are born with two hands. Just like 99.9% of the worlds popultation are born to like the opposite sex. If you think 99.9% of the world is straight, you’re even less informed than I previously thought. > [@](#): > > By your logic it would be perfectly normal for a child to be born with one hand or no hands. A child with no hands is handicapped. They cannot perform basic functions that those with two hands can. They are physically hindered and incapable of doing many of the things that you (sadly) and I take for granted. How does my homosexuality in any way inhibit me, physically or biologically, from leading a normal life? In what way am I handicapped? Prove it or stuff it. Your insinuations are becoming increasingly offensive and out of bounds. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/65 "2004-07-06T13:44:08Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > So by saying this you imply to me that SOMETHING went awry from the time of conception till the time you were born. Or is all that just BS and being gay really IS a personal choice? > > So which is it… > > THAT"S what I mean by sickness, incase any body got the wrong idea. I’m not trying to say gay people are sub-human. Why does “different” mean “awry” to you? Different is just different. Do you want to “cure” people who are taller or shorter than average height? ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/66 "2004-07-06T14:06:46Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > So by saying this you imply to me that SOMETHING went awry from the time of conception till the time you were born. Or is all that just BS and being gay really IS a personal choice? Whoa dude, your _issues_ meter is in the red and screeching! I told you there were lots of gay Dopers. Gays are not just some group “out there,” different from us “in here.” And guess what else? Whether someone is born gay or later choose to be gay or something in between is none of your beeswax either. Got it? When it comes to sex, people can be whatever they want to be or do whatever they want to do so long as it doesn’t hurt someone, especially someone unwilling. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/67 "2004-07-06T14:34:08Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Ha! **Mockingbird** , If I were gay I’d be get’n WAY better ass than you my friend. [Vancome Lady] Cha… ya know what? _ **Uh UH!** _ [/Vancome Lady] See… again there are those standards I was talking about. A man who gets loaded, posts, writes his initial poor expression off because he was tipping back “brewskis” :rolleyes: and then follows up with posts just as inane and increasingly bigoted I somehow doubt would even travel in my circles. See… one of my requirements for a man is that he can write a coherent sentence that is generally correctly spelled. You would consistently fail that. Then another dealbreaker is that he would have to read a book on a regular basis. I have little doubt that you would fail the reading requirement. Standards are good. I hope women have standards so you don’t get a chance to reproduce… if you’ve ever been out of your parent’s basement long enough to deal with a real woman without coming off like Harold from **The Stand**. Somehow I don’t think you have dealt with a real woman anymore than your perspectives come from any real reality other than fears and bigotry. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/68 "2004-07-06T14:36:27Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > **SolGrundy** If you were born with a pimple on your ass and I cut it off; wouldn’t you STILL be **SolGrundy?** So, obviously you survived after your removal from SolGrundy, formed pseudo sentience, and are now posting on the board. Is there a point inherent in that? ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/69 "2004-07-06T15:13:13Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Idealy a child needs both the mother AND father. if you knowingly bring a kid into this world knowing that he/she will not have both; this also something I would also whole heartily disagree with. My daughter has two mothers and a father. Frankly, I think bringing a child into the world with only two parents is abhorrent and should be banned. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BytopianDream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de0a6/32.png) [@BytopianDream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BytopianDream)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/70 "2004-07-06T15:21:28Z")
**SHAKES** , buddy, pal, lets talk about sexuality. Heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality are not hard and fast categories that must be rigorously pinned on people. People, normal people, people who love and live just like you, do fluctuate on how they self-identify their sexuality. There are gay men who have had sex with women. There are lesbian women who have had sex with men. There are three factors in which people express their sexuality: 1. Their behavior. 2. Their self-identification. 3. Their emotional satisfaction with their sexual partners. There are self-identified lesbians who, as one author put it, “like to fuck men.” As there are seemingly bisexual men who, enjoy sex with women, but find love and affection only with men. Sexuality is fluid and changing. Yes, it is determined by birth on how you desire to find love, partnership, commitment and sexual fulfillment. But people vary within their own sexuality. I am a confirmed heterosexual male. I love breasticles and vaginas. I can’t imagine liking the penis, nor the hot-gay sex. But I have had enjoyment kissing other men and sharing initimate-non-sexual friendships with men. What does that make me? I self identify with heterosexuality. I enjoy, in the vast majority of my behavior, heterosexual sex. I find emotional satisfaction with women. So I am a straight man. Society places a burden on people to be, exclusive of all else, heterosexual. Women are told to have children and raise them. Men are told to support children and their wives. Some people do not feel, in their heart of hearts, that the path society proscribes for them is right for them. Thus, women do not _have_ to bear children. Men _can be_ confirmed bachelors. Are you sure you want to force everyone to conform to society’s expectations? What might society force you to do that you _know_ you don’t want to do? Do you want to live in a society where people are forced to change who they are to conform? Now lets talk about gender separation. Men and women currently use different bathrooms and other private facilities. In the past, and currently in other cultures, men and women have shared facilities. We don’t in the Western World mostly. Why? What is so dangerous that men and women can’t share a bathroom or a shower? I would suggest that our society places a huge hypocritical puritanical view on sex and sexuality. Fox News decries Janet Jackson’s breast popping out. But they show Temptation Island on the other network. What? Sex is natural and wonderful. It can also be used to hurt your self and others. Is it really that hard to explain to a child what sex is? If it is, have you explored what sex means to you? If not, why don’t you? And I am certainly not saying that sexual ethics and morality are wrong. I am saying the exact opposite. People need to figure out what sex means to them and how they deal with it. If sex should wait until marriage, wonderful. If sex should be with only those you love, fantastic. If sex should be with whomever says yes, great, but use protection please. So what if a gay man hits on you. Say what I say, “I am flattered, but no thank you.” See, no big deal. Why are you so worried that a gay man will be attracted to you? How about all those women who have hurt you as well? No one sex or sexuality is entirely pure or evil. People are people. If it matters to you, homophobia is directly linked and caused by sexism. When men devalue women as human beings and place only their reproductive and sexual abilities as worthwhile, people of non-heterosexual identities are also devalued. Men who act like women, which according to this viewpoint these men are acting like women, are evil because they upset the balance of power away from hyper-masculine heterosexual men towards feminine qualities. Feminine qualities are bad since women are bad. If you value women more than just baby machines, then hating gay men is essentially hating women. Are women more than sex objects? Can women be able beings with their own will? I hope you think about this. If you want to discuss it more, I would be happy to hash it out. -BytopianDream. ---
**Author:** ![spectrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@spectrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spectrum)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/71 "2004-07-06T16:48:40Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Ah, hell **spectrum** call me crazy but I’d say being gay puts a mighty big hamper on the whole reproductive process. How, precisely? Everything works, biologically. If I want kids bad enough, I’d be physically capable of … doing that gross stuff that is required to make one. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/72 "2004-07-06T18:48:45Z")
> [@spectrum](#): > > How, precisely? Everything works, biologically. If I want kids bad enough, I’d be physically capable of … doing that gross stuff that is required to make one. Yeah… turkey basters are kinda gross. 😉😃 ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/73 "2004-07-06T20:04:12Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > WRONG! I’m pretty sure 99.9% of the worlds population are born with two hands. Just like 99.9% of the worlds popultation are born to like the opposite sex. > > By your logic it would be perfectly normal for a child to be born with one hand or no hands. Wait wait wait. You’re saying that most people are born heterosexual? But I thought you just said orientation was a choice! Which is it? You say you didn’t choose to be heterosexual? Prove it. No, you can’t just tell me that you don’t remember choosing to be hetero. That’s anecdotal. You have to prove it. **SHAKES** , I tried to meet you halfway because it sounded to me like you were actually trying to figure stuff out. In response, you went from saying that homosexuality is a disease that we should be putting more effort into wiping out instead of just casually accepting, to conceding hey no wait I didn’t mean that I meant that it’s just like a pimple on your ass that you should be happy to have lanced away. This is just tiresome; the exact same stuff is getting said over and over again, and people keep responding with intelligent, calmed, reasoned answers over and over again, and they keep getting ignored. If you want to see these other threads, just do a search on all posts by **SolGrundy** , because like an idiot I’ve taken the time to respond to just about every damn one of them. Being born with one hand is, unfortunately, a liability. Being a homosexual is not. There are exactly two inherent disadvantages two being gay: 1. It’s more difficult to recognize potential romantic interests. 2. Having to put up with a fucked up society that constantly tells you you’re wrong for being different and thinks its okay to deny you a basic level of respect, dignity, and human rights. The first, everybody has to deal with in one way or the other. The second is a problem that people like you need to deal with, not people like me. I’ll make one final attempt: Think about the first time you fell in love, assuming you have. Think about that feeling, where you spent every moment thinking about her. Where everything that happened to you when you were apart, you wanted to tell her about. Where all the time you did spend with her just flew by and every moment ended too soon. Where you wanted to be a better person just so you could make her happy. And where you were happy all the time because she made you feel better about yourself. Now think about somebody coming in and telling you that that’s wrong. Because it’s “unnatural.” Because it makes them feel uncomfortable. And telling you that you’re perverted. And reducing it all to being just about sex and lust and blow-jobs. And then telling you you need to take a pill to just make that all go away. And then ask yourself who’s “sub-human.” ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/74 "2004-07-06T21:53:50Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Ah, hell **spectrum** call me crazy but I’d say being gay puts a mighty big hamper on the whole reproductive process. Which is _exactly_ why we need to start discriminating against those damn infertile heterosexual couples. They can’t have babies, so what the hell are they doing together, anyway? God put us on this Earth to make children, everything else is unnatural! Oh, moan, moan, moan, “they’re in love.” Cry me a river. Next thing you know, they’re going to be saying it’s okay to partner up with your sister, or with animals! And those damn inferts are going to be feeling me up when I’m asleep or looking at me when I’m taking a shower! ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/75 "2004-07-06T22:16:17Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > This is just tiresome; the exact same stuff is getting said over and over again, and people keep responding with intelligent, calmed, reasoned answers over and over again, and they keep getting ignored. If you want to see these other threads, just do a search on all posts by SolGrundy, because like an idiot I’ve taken the time to respond to just about every damn one of them. Heh, well **SolGrundy** , it’s funny, because thats exactly the way I see it from my POV. I keeep telling everyone that being gay is NOT normal and everybody gets in a tizzy and wants to call me a bigot. Whatever, I’ve always treated everybody with nothing but respect no matter WHAT their sexual orientation is. So yeah guys I guess I am a bigot for the simple fact that I think it would be great to be able to cure people with the gay-sickness or whatever you want to call it. Come to think of it, I guess I’m even MORE of a bad guy for wanting a cure for cancer, AIDS and every other disease out there. Damn! look out Satan, there’s a new king in town. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/76 "2004-07-06T22:24:58Z")
hehe, gay sickness. Yep, you continue with your scientific research into homosexuality and come back when you have the cure. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/77 "2004-07-06T22:52:19Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Heh, well **SolGrundy** , it’s funny, because thats exactly the way I see it from my POV. > > I keeep telling everyone that being gay is NOT normal and everybody gets in a tizzy and wants to call me a bigot. Whatever, I’ve always treated everybody with nothing but respect no matter WHAT their sexual orientation is. > > So yeah guys I guess I am a bigot for the simple fact that I think it would be great to be able to cure people with the gay-sickness or whatever you want to call it. Come to think of it, I guess I’m even MORE of a bad guy for wanting a cure for cancer, AIDS and every other disease out there. Damn! look out Satan, there’s a new king in town. Yeah, didn’t see that one coming. This is the part where you flip on your back and try to make yourself out to be the victim, a martyr as one of the last fighters against the Gay Agenda, taking one on the chin for the sake of morals and decency. Geez, are all of y’all following a script here? You are not the victim here. You are not the target of violence for being straight. You do not have people advocating discrimination against you. You do not have people denying you your rights. The only similarity between you and me is that you also have people telling you that you’re wrong. Except that people have reasons to explain why you’re wrong, which you are either unable or unwilling to counter. Several people have raised legitimate points trying to explain to you how being gay is not a “sickness.” How cancer, and AIDS, and “every other disease” out there either kills people or makes them unable to function. Being homosexual does not. Do you attempt to come up with any coherent response to that? No, you just call yourself a bigot. Do you expect anyone to argue with that? Or are we just supposed to feel sorry for you because you have opinions you can’t justify? You say that you always treat people with respect; I don’t see that at all. You advocate treating me and every other homosexual like we’re diseased and that you’re justified in discriminating against us and denying us the right to love who we love and to raise families. All on the basis that it makes you uncomfortable, and that it’s “not normal.” Nobody said it was “normal.” The “gay-sickness or whatever you want to call it?” I want to call it my living my own damn life without having to deal with the fear and idiocy of other people. And damn anybody who wants to deny that from me. ---
**Author:** ![GillianBoardman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GillianBoardman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GillianBoardman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/78 "2004-07-06T22:57:53Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > WRONG! I’m pretty sure 99.9% of the worlds population are born with two hands. Just like 99.9% of the worlds popultation are born to like the opposite sex. > > By your logic it would be perfectly normal for a child to be born with one hand or no hands. Do you know what “normal” actually means? I don’t think anyone here is debating that homosexuality is the norm. My daughter, while she was born with two feet, was not born with 10 toes, or all the ligaments, bones, arteries that a human normally has. She is not normal. Should she not be allowed to marry her fiance? Is it anybody elses business? Why? Government should get out of the marriage business. In the United States it should either recognize all unions, or none. Why? Because we get all excited just about this time of year, every year, about freedom, liberty, justice for all. When did gay people stop being part of all? ---
**Author:** ![spectrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@spectrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spectrum)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/79 "2004-07-06T23:34:09Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > So yeah guys I guess I am a bigot for the simple fact that I think it would be great to be able to cure people with the gay-sickness or whatever you want to call it. Cure me from what? From being myself? From who I am? From who I love? From my relationship, which is just as healthy and nurturing and loving as any other in this world? How does my homosexuality harm me? Will you just answer the fucking question? Or are you just trolling? > [@](#): > > Come to think of it, I guess I’m even MORE of a bad guy for wanting a cure for cancer, AIDS and every other disease out there. HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A DISEASE. IT DOES NOT HURT PEOPLE. IT DOES NOT IMPAIR BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES. So what the hell are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596/80 "2004-07-06T23:50:44Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > I keeep telling everyone that being gay is NOT normal and everybody gets in a tizzy and wants to call me a bigot. Whatever, I’ve always treated everybody with nothing but respect no matter WHAT their sexual orientation is. What’s “not normal”? Being left-handed, or red-haired, or six-foot-three isn’t normal. As we’ve pointed out before. What’s so special about this kind of “not normal”? > [@SHAKES](#): > > So yeah guys I guess I am a bigot for the simple fact that I think it would be great to be able to cure people with the gay-sickness or whatever you want to call it. You still have not explained _why_ you consider being gay a “sickness”. What’s sick about it? Why does it need curing? I certainly don’t feel sick. What makes you think you have some right to “fix” me? Tell me how I’m broken. > [@SHAKES](#): > > Come to think of it, I guess I’m even MORE of a bad guy for wanting a cure for cancer, AIDS and every other disease out there. Damn! look out Satan, there’s a new king in town. How is being gay comparable to those things? Is my queerness going to metastasize and spread into my lungs? You’re not Satan, SHAKES, you’re a pathetic little bigot who resorts to playing the martyr when you’ve been shown to have nothing to say. If you can come up with _any_ justification for gayness being a handicap - one that doesn’t apply to, say, left-handedness or having red hair - then share it. Otherwise we’re just going to conclude you’re an idiot who has no reasons behind his beliefs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-allow-gay-marriages-a-different-take-i-think/253596.md?page=5)