[lbo-talk] Re: Diet Pills = Gay Babies . . . Not!

John Adams jadams01 at sprynet.com
Mon Dec 13 15:59:10 PST 2004


On Dec 13, 2004, at 3:50 PM, Michael Dawson wrote:


> Then why are you so hostile to somebody suggesting that being gay might
> sometimes be a matter of socialization and choice?

I suspect I'm a little bit older than Brian, because one of my formative movement memories was contact with the lesbian separatists of seventies northwest Arkansas. Some of them were straight women, pre-separatist movement--then became lesbians during the movement--then became straight again (and quite a few didn't). It wasn't a "phase they were going through" in the demeaning sense of the phrase, but part of their coming to a fuller feminist consciousness. To the best of my knowledge, there are women still going through that passage today. I wouldn't tell those who identify themselves today as lesbian that they are not lesbian, and I wouldn't tell them they weren't straight if they later identified as straight.

People who are homosexual have a right to be homosexual, period. Why they are homosexual is an interesting question that I would be fascinated to hear them answer, should they want to do so, but it has nothing to do with whether or not they have a right to be who they are and do what they do.

Trust me on this--bigots don't care why you're different from them, just that you are different from them. They won't say, "Are you naturally gay? You're okay, then."

All the best,

John A



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