# What I learned at school today. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 16, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284 "2004-04-16T01:28:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/41 "2004-04-16T23:07:47Z")
You know, I have the strangest feeling that **ContumeliousBob** isn’t going to have the word ‘Guest’ under his name much longer, for some reason… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/42 "2004-04-16T23:09:19Z")
> [@ContumeliousBob](#): > > Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if PC-Nazis don’t like it. Equal rights for all citizens = facism. Suuure. > [@](#): > > My view on the mental disease is this: > > It is not a dangerous mental disease like shizophrenia, but it should not be encouraged. Why not? If it’s not dangerous, who cares if people do it? > [@](#): > > Marriage is encouraging the disease and marriage is a public institution. And homosexuals are part of the public. Why shouldn’t they have equal access to it? > [@](#): > > I dont care what consenting adults do in private, their lust doesnt involve me. Offering marriage forces me to acknowledge them, which violates my rights. How does gay marriage violate your rights? Be specific here: what activities would be either forced or forbidden to participate in if gays were allowed to marry? If you can’t name at least one, then your rights are not being violated. > [@](#): > > Homosexuality is a mental disease, because: Have you notified the American Psychiatric Association about this? 'Cause virtually any liscened psychiatrists or psychologists will tell you that homosexuality is _not_ a mental disease. > [@](#): > > If it is genetic, then it leads to the path of extinction. That’s just plain stupid. There’s nothing about homosexuality that prevents the bearing and rearing of children. It just takes a bit more planning than it does for straight folks. Besides which, homosexuality is as old as humanity itself, and it hasn’t had much of an effect on our population growth so far. > [@](#): > > If it is a ‘life’ style choice, then the person has some mental issues which therapy may or may not resolve. Again, pretty much anyone who has any actual knowledge of psychology would tell you that you’re wrong. But I can tell you’re not the sort to let a little thing like scientific consensus stand in the way of your baseless prejudices. > [@](#): > > All in all, I usually dont care at all, but all this pro-gay stuff is getting stupid. Well, you do seem to be the resident expert on “stupid,” I’ll give you that much. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/43 "2004-04-16T23:22:38Z")
> [@The 27th Evil](#): > > They were invited by the College Republicans for a clandestine “Sneakers for the Sanctity of Marriage Day”. Signs and sneakers were put up in the student union at nearly midnight on Wednesday for the official day on Thursday. The members of SALE spent half the night buying t-shirts and ironing on slogans for a silent counter-protest. The shirts read “No matter what I wear on my feet, I won’t let the government step on my rights.” Catchy. Personally, I would have started a “Clothes for Gay Marriage Day” (slogan: “You’re either with us or you’re naked”). ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/44 "2004-04-16T23:28:19Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > Okay, money pays to whoever had #39 as “Post Involving Ignorant, Unfounded Statements with No Basis In Reality!” Damn, I had _93_ … I knew I should have played it straight _and_ boxed! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/45 "2004-04-17T00:24:35Z")
[QUOTE=ContumeliousBob] Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if PC-Nazis don’t like it. [QUOTE] In my opinion, you should stop double-spacing after every sentence. It wastes space and it doesn’t lend force or rigor to your statements. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/46 "2004-04-17T00:34:25Z")
> [@ContumeliousBob](#): > > Everyone is entitled to their opinion, even if PC-Nazis don’t like it. > > My view on the mental disease is this: > > It is not a dangerous mental disease like shizophrenia, but it should not be encouraged. > > Marriage is encouraging the disease and marriage is a public institution. > > I dont care what consenting adults do in private, their lust doesnt involve me. Offering marriage forces me to acknowledge them, which violates my rights. > > Homosexuality is a mental disease, because: > > If it is genetic, then it leads to the path of extinction. > > If it is a ‘life’ style choice, then the person has some mental issues which therapy may or may not resolve. > > All in all, I usually dont care at all, but all this pro-gay stuff is getting stupid. Most nuanced, scholarly, well-written argument I’ve seen yet. Oh wait… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/47 "2004-04-17T00:55:53Z")
However, if you replaced _Dr._ Laura with Laura \*Ingraham \*and if you turned the sound off… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/48 "2004-04-17T01:07:59Z")
Perhaps our friend **Contumelious Bob** misunderstood the connotations of “Straight” in “The Straight Dope”. . . ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/49 "2004-04-17T01:19:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Perhaps our friend **Contumelious Bob** misunderstood the connotations of “Straight” in “The Straight Dope”. . . Seems to have misunderstood _dope_, as well. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/50 "2004-04-17T05:32:45Z")
> [@HumptysHamhole](#): > > If the slogan on the flag was so chilling then why can’t you remember what it said? It wasn’t \*Nemo Me Impune Lacessit \* by chance was it? . Couldn’t be, she said the banner was red with a golden lion, not a field azure with a foot d’or which crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are embedded in the heel. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/51 "2004-04-17T06:05:47Z")
> [@ContumeliousBob](#): > > I dont care what consenting adults do in private, their lust doesnt involve me. Offering marriage forces me to acknowledge them, which violates my rights. > > . How, exactly, does it ‘force’ you to acknowledge them??? Your post forces me to acknowledge your stupidity. Are _my_ rights being violated? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/52 "2004-04-17T06:30:49Z")
> [@ContumeliousBob](#): > > Marriage is encouraging the disease and marriage is a public institution. If you really think letting homosexuals get married is going to “encourage” it, then you’re probably gay. “I would _never_ be gay, unless I was allowed to get married.” “But gays can marry now!” “What? Sign me up!” ---
**Author:** ![ContumeliousBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/57b2e6/32.png) [@ContumeliousBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ContumeliousBob)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/53 "2004-04-17T14:18:21Z")
:rolleyes: You all are too much. You all have been trained by the media, in that anyone who says they dont agree with X, they hate X, or they are X or want to be X. Not approving of something is not the same as hating something. Hate is a powerful word. It gets thrown around a lot, but normally people mean they dislike something. I was appalled when Matthew Shepherd was murdered. Yes the guys who killed him have issues, I was surprised they didnt get the death penalty. I think homo-sexuality is a mental disease. Yes they have their own sub-culture, which has its own sub-cultures, and what they do doesnt hurt me. It doesnt hurt me because it doesnt involve me. That is the way I prefer it. BUT we are all at the very basic level animals, one of our preprogrammed duties is the continuation of the species. There are umpteen people on the face of the planet that will preform that duty. I remember when I went from girls are gross to whoa check out her. I am not trained to know what constitutes a mental illness, but you dont think it is odd that some people have issues with gender or act like the other gender? Being gay doesnt hurt anyone, and I know people who have good realtionships, I just ignore the fact that they are gay. It just annoys me that the media has gone on a YAY FOR GAYS frenzy. All the tv shows and movies re-enforce all the stereo-types. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/54 "2004-04-17T14:42:08Z")
Bob, my incoherent friend, I’m sure the gay people you know are really happy that while you admit that their sexuality doesn’t harm them, and that they have good relationships with their partners, you prefer to “ignore” their sexuality because it makes you feel icky. Fills me full of warm fuzziness. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/55 "2004-04-17T17:44:52Z")
**ALL** sexuality is lust, you dimbulb. That’s kind of what the root word sex is all about, ya know? Yes, there’s a difference between disapproval and hate. Your posts (it’s bad, it’s wrong, it’s a mental illness, I don’t want to acknowledge that it exists) indicate that you’re probably coming down on the hate side of the line. For someone to be so vocal about how horrible something is, when they themselves admit that it’s not harming anybody, indicates that there’s maybe something more going on. That’s all anybody’s saying. As for how weird it is for someone to be attracted to their own sex/gender, I don’t really think it’s odd at all. It’s not like the entire heterosexual world is turned on by the same parts, after all. Some guys are boob guys. Some guys are ass guys. And some guys are dick guys. So what? Who gives a flying fuck? And even if it _is_ weird, it’s certainly no weirder than the idea that some people like to piss on each other, or beat one another with whips, or have sex with other people while the other one watches, or dress up like anthropomorphic x-rated animals. Oh, wait, let me guess: watersports, S&M, swinging, voyeurism, and furrydom are all mental illnesses too, right? Uh-_huh_. I’m gonna need to see some documentation from a credible psychology or psychiatry reference for that one, please. Pre-programmed duties of reproduction, eh? So I suppose that means people who don’t want kids are mentally ill, too? Again, I’m gonna need to see documentation before I believe I have a mental illness. My boss and her partner have been together for over 20 years. They’ve loved and supported each other through vet school, several moves, the deaths of various close relatives, and some major illnesses. If the media is moving toward no longer portraying them as freaks or as shameful secrets, I say it’s about damn time. Not because I’m all “Hooray for Gays,” mind you, but because I’m all “Hooray for True Love, whereever you may find it.” ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/56 "2004-04-17T17:48:04Z")
And I still can’t believe no one else has made a cunnilingus joke about the “Gay marriage=eating kittens” tenet. Missing such obvious vulgar-joke-fodder makes me worry for the future of this board, really it does. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/57 "2004-04-17T18:03:31Z")
> [@ContumeliousBob](#): > > \Not approving of something is not the same as hating something. Hate is a powerful word. It gets thrown around a lot, but normally people mean they dislike something. > \ Who are you to approve or disapprove of how other people are managing their own sexuality? ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/58 "2004-04-17T19:04:21Z")
> [@ContumeliousBob](#): > > :rolleyes: > > I remember when I went from girls are gross to whoa check out her. I am not trained to know what constitutes a mental illness, but you dont think it is odd that some people have issues with gender or act like the other gender? No, I don’t. Gender is not destiny. You define yourself as “male”\* and you happen to have a penis\*\*. Society ascribes certain traits to the label “male”(including heterosexuality)\*\*\* and you accept these traits as part of yourself.^ \*variable 1 \*\*variable 2 \*\*\*variable 3 ^variable 4 Any of these variables can be switched for “female” or “androgynous” in any person (theoretically). It’s a fact of the human brain that it doesn’t always conform to what society expects of it, and it doesn’t always relate to the physical body. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/59 "2004-04-17T22:06:18Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Rather, I was using the stereotype of Scottish=bestiality to attempt to inject some humor to take the sting out of the hate. Cool. Would some insulting gay stereotypes have been humourous too? Take some of the hate out of things would it? Plenty to pick from! Or would it just the same kind of bollocks your rant is aimed at? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284/60 "2004-04-17T22:35:13Z")
> [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > never forget that a pamphlet full of bullshit is to an empty brain what a virus is to a healthy body. For someone with a handle like that, that’s a wonderfully clever line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-learned-at-school-today/240284.md?page=4)