To a large extent, I think you’re right, it’s a repulsion. I think, to a certain extent, that it’s innate. Frankly, as a straight man, if I think about it, gay sex is kind of repulsive. But I imagine that for gay men, straight sex is similarly repulsive. After all, if it weren’t repulsive, I’d probably be bi or gay. But all of that said, I don’t think about gay sex, because it doesn’t interest me. Hell, I hardly ever think about anyone else having sex at all, gay or straight, certainly far less than I think about myself, and even that isn’t all that often either. And even for the repulsion, it’s not all that much different than plenty of other sex acts that I think are repulsive; hell, I think a lot of the weirder fetishes that a lot of straight people are into are a whole lot more repulsive.
The unusual part, though, is that that repulsion seems to be more or less innate, but there’s no movement to ban S&M or scat or foot fetishes or whatever else a given person might fight sexually repulsive. I’m not sure how analogous that is, though, as generally people don’t publicly identify, nor are they easily discernible, as a particular fetishist as one might as gay. Regardless, it’s clear to me that it’s taught. The reason being that I was raised that way, that homosexuality is a sin, that the corruption of that sin goes far beyond just the thoughts and acts, and that those people are fundamentally rejecting God… etc.
But as I reached the age of reason and really started to think about it, particularly as I was also taught that all sins are equal in the eye of God, that it doesn’t make much sense to single out homosexuality as a sin and expend so much energy fighting that, but not other sins that seem far more rampant, like sexual immorality in general, greed, dishonesty, etc.
And moreso, there’s all these arguments about what the Bible says about homosexuality, yet Jesus says nothing about it. Instead, one thing he hits on several times, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, is about hypocrisy. We’re all sinners, and who are we to condemn the acts of others while we still sin ourselves. But, more importantly, it just plain doesn’t apply to me, so my opinion doesn’t mean anything. That is, my concern with my acts and rectifying them with God, ensuring that I’m acting in a moral manner, is all I can or should concern myself with. As such, not being gay, fundamentally, my opinion on whether or not its a sin doesn’t mean anything, so I don’t even bother getting into debates about whether or not those verses mean what various people say they mean. I have plenty of vices of my own that I’m working on, who am I to persecute others for what I perceive as vices. Instead, I just hope and ask of others that they strive to do the same, to be at peace with their moral values and their relationship with God, or whatever their spiritual beliefs may or may not be, or if they’re atheist, to simply push to always improve their morality and act in accordance with it.
Frankly, for what my interpretation does matter, it seems quite consistent to me that pointing out the faults and sins of others are quite explicitly preached against by Jesus, and that, in general, those who make a big deal about these things are, in general, acting in a less Christian way than many of those they decry as being anti-Christian.
Further, I think the reason that these things are taught and believed is because we can easily point to faults as a way of scapegoating or justifying dislike of people. Even putting homosexuality aside, we can look at any number of faults people have. It’s often easy to dismiss someone who is sexually immoral as a wholly bad person. Consider all those who’ve looked down on various celebrities for cheating, like Bill Clinton, Kobe Bryant, or whoever else. They were just cheaters, they were painted as bad people, and as they were polarizing figures already, those who disliked them for other reasons, not they could justify that.
And that’s where the repulsion comes in. I think, to a certain extent, even if we are moral enough not to lie and cheat and steal, we all have an understanding of why people might do that. But if someone isn’t gay, it’s much more difficult to understand why people do those things, but now they have justification for hating them, so they don’t even have to try. After all, it’s far easier to hate than it is to empathize.