A guy in my psychology class said he thought orientation could possibly be a choice;
Me: Okay so if orientation is a choice, choose to be gay, right now.
Him: No.
Me: Why not?
Him: Because I don’t find men attractive
Me: So CHOOSE to find them attractive
Him: ……. I can’t.
Me: Sorry, WHAT was that? You CAN’T????we need to get beyond this argument that being gay is not a choice, because guess what? for some people it IS a choice. I do know women that have chosen to be lesbian because they feel safer with women than with men (one of these women went through A LOT of trauma as a child). We can argue all day and night that we deserve equal rights because we didn’t choose to be this way, but the real thing is that that shouldn’t matter.
this is AMERICA. you should be able to choose to be in a same sex relationship just as you should be able to choose to be asexual, heterosexual, or single. By stating that its “not a choice” we’ll forever be butting heads with the religious and explaining ourselves forever. the basic fact is, however, that we shouldn’t have to explain ourselves. our personal lives are just that and it doesn’t matter who we love, we just want equal rights. end of story.
amen. biological determinism sucks. my life shouldn’t have to be proven scientifically or any other way. stating that being gay is not a choice will not only lead people to forever question that and try to prove you wrong, but it also excludes tons of people.
as for me, i don’t really care if my loving a woman was nature vs. nurture. i spent a lot of time worrying about this when i was first coming out; I worried that i was being influenced by listening to tegan and sara and the people that i was friends with who were mostly lesbian/queer/trans. i was scared to come out because what if i wasn’t really gay? what if i was just subconsciously becoming gay because of all these other influences? was i really as gay as the girls who figured out that they liked other girls when they were 3 and i didn’t until i was 18? and then i decided “so fucking what” because i shouldn’t have to prove my gayness and why i like girls. saying that people can only be biologically gay ignores and invalidates tons of peoples’ experiences where that may not be the case and makes them feel like that they will never be gay enough or make them forever question whether they have the elusive “gay gene.” it’s stupid. people should be able to do what they want. it IS a choice. we are all autonomous people.
(Source: i-live-for-glitter-not-you, via indywasthedog-deactivated201208)
City of Portland wins trans-inclusive health care!
This is huge. Portland is now the third municipality in the country to provide trans-inclusive care to their employees, and Oregon is a clear leader in the national effort to end insurance discrimination against transgender communities.
I’m so happy that Sam Adams is doing something right with his idiotic ass. At least one of our communities is being served and treated equally while the other ones, including people of color, are constantly being pushed out, overlooked, and ignored in a city that screams “diversity” and remains 78% white. Three cheers for trans*-inclusive health care! Three cheers for Portland figuring shit out on the queer front! Three prayers for the people of color in this city…
it’s so good to actually read good news in my dash.
i read the mercury’s coverage of the city council meeting about this awhile ago. i’m also glad it passed. re: the second person who commented, i’m also glad sam adams is doing something halfway decent in the city. now how about low income housing, increased shelters and other social services? oh and paving all those roads out in east portland would be nice, too.
(Source: hopeinprogress)
things i have taken offense to so far today
1. this story is pretty ridic in general, although the woman does look like a 14 year old boy.
2. the opening line is ridic offensive. has the writer even seen boys don’t cry? cause i’m pretty sure brandon teena wasn’t just trying to get in the pants of 16 year old girls when he was raped and murdered.
