I won't reply to all of your points either, Grainne, but rather will answer it generally.
I think I have done you a favor, inadvertently, by giving you a platform from which to demonstrate your tolerance, your passion against bigotry and prejudice, and your love of all human kind. (You might wish to thank me for that. <gg>).
In the latest poll I can find (L.A. Times, 2004) a plurality of 48% of the American public believe homosexuality to be morally wrong, while 46% disagree. 75% believe that homosexuals should not be discriminated against in jobs or housing.
On this basis, nearly half of your countrypeople are bigots, as you see it. On the other hand a substantial proportion of these bigots are able to distinguish between the opinion they hold and overt discriminatory actions. Thus, you might find encouragement that the nearly 150,000,000 that are bigots are not entirely mindless in their judgments and beliefs.
IMO, your fervor to be tolerant and nonjudgmental has caused you to close your eyes to realities you wish were not so. It most certainly is true that the resurgence of STD's is linked to the homosexual community. While STDs are stable or downtrending among the general population, they are soaring among gay men. You could easily verify this with a Google search if you wanted to. The CDC has characterized the resurgence as an "epidemic," and pulls no punches in linking it to men who have sex with men. (Doctors and scientists responsible for disease prevention cannot afford the luxury of being "tolerant" and "nonjudgmental").
It would be much too graphic for me to explain why male homosexuals are at so much greater risk than heterosexuals. You are very intelligent, and if you force yourself to consider the biological implications, you can readily understand why.
I did not subtly imply that all homosexuals are pedophiles. the link between the two is that they are both sexual preferences. Some homosexuals are pedophiles, as in the Catholic Church case wherein the abuses were almost exclusively men preying upon boys. Heteros can be pedophiles as well, and there are an alarming number of them running loose in this country.
Mentioning homosexuality and pedophilia in the same sentence does not mean one is equating them, except to a person who is fixated upon finding "bigotry." The similarity they share is that they are both variations of sexual drives or attractions that depart from the heterosexual standard of 95 percent of humans. There are other variations of the standard that are agreed to be harmful and destructive. One is not a "bigot" for suggesting that we need to know more about the biological (or psychological) origins of sexual preference and variation.
It is not I who have "lumped together a population of totally dissimilar people." It is the homosexuals who have insisted that they be accorded recognition as a protected class under local, state, and federal laws. I would have no way of knowing anyone's sexual orientation, except that homosexuals have declared their sexual preference and demand that I (along with all others) regard them as a separate and distinct class or group. You say that you "don't understand" why I "define them totally by their sexual identity." Excuse me? How else does this protected class define itself?
You said we could have a more productive discussion if I explained why I "define [homosexuals] totally by their sexual identity." Is the above a satisfactory explanation?
I understand your concern with offending homosexuals who may be reading these exchanges. Some of my favorite people happen to be homosexual, and so are some members of my extended family of whom I am very fond. In my interactions with these people, sexual orientation need never come up, and doesn't. It is none of my business.
On the other hand, when homosexuals unite, demand that I recognize them as a class, and that I grant them special privileges and protection, they invite my commentary and opinions.
That does not mean that we need to belabor the issue on your thread.
JC
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