Richard Cohen's book Coming Out Straight

Richard Cohen has a book called Coming out Straight about his methods of therapy. On his website, there is an excerpt from this book on what causes homosexaulity. So I'm going to look at the factors, and see how many fit:

HEREDITY

Inherited Wounds: Okay, this idea is just plain kooky. It seems to be the idea that we inherit problems from our ancestors. Being as I don't believe we do, I don't think this idea applies.

TEMPRAMENT

Hypersensitive: I don't think that this one applies, either.

High-Maintenance: Nope.

Artistic Nature: Kind of. I write music and lyrics and am imaginative though I struggle to put stories into words. I'm not particularly good at drawing either, though I like to doodle and design things.

Gender Nonconforming Behaviours: Some when I was younger, although I also played with stereotypically "girly" toys too. Never been very sporty, though.

HETERO EMOTIONAL WOUNDS

Apparently this means being too close to the opposite sex parent. Because apparently, a parent being too loving or nurturing exists. Thus, I don't reckon this applies.

HOMO EMOTIONAL WOUNDS

I don't have these. At all. I think Richard Cohen was just making shit up.

SIBLING WOUNDS/FAMILY DYNAMICS

Put-downs and name calling: Okay, I admit I have suffered from these, but let's be honest, what person hasn't?

BODY IMAGE WOUNDS

Admittedly, I did get a bit teased because I didn't have breasts and everyone else did. I also happen to be really skinny, apparently that can make you gay.

SEXUAL ABUSE

Nope.

SOCIAL OR PEER WOUNDS

Okay I have had some of these things happen, but I think everybody has suffered from name-calling somewhat as a child.

CULTURAL WOUNDS

Apparently, learning that homosexaulity is a normal natural behaviour constitutes "cultural wounds". News to me. I dunno, I'd have thought learining homosexaulity is evil, demonic, unnatural, and caused by poor parenting is more damaging to someone. Apparently, pornography can corrupt someone's mind. Look, obviously it is inappropriate for children, but I don't think it is going to make most children mentally disturbed.(I've never watched any porn, btw, so this one doesn't apply.)

OTHER FACTORS

Divorce: Parents still happily married, so no.

Intrauterine experiences: The idea that things can be remembered in the womb is sheer hocus pocus bunkum.

Adoption: Nope.

Religion: Well, yes, I rejected my parents religious beliefs, but not because I rejected my parents.

Also, masturbation apparently is done by a gay person to try and fix their supposed brokenness. I dunno, I just thought people masturbated because it was fun ;).

According to Mr. Cohen, pretty much anyone could be gay. I mean, name calling leads to homosexuality? In other words, either the whole planet is gay, or Ricahrd Cohen's ideas are just wrong. It's your choice folks!

BTW link: http://www.gaytostraight.org/cos-chapter2.htm

Why do people become Religious Fundamentalists?

Recently, I've been thinking about why people might go from relatively uncommitted religious believers or atheists to hardline religious fundamentalists. Here are a few ideas:

• Some sort of personal revelation could make someone a more devout religious believer.
• People who come to fundmentalism may be uncertain about their lives and accepting some sort of certainty may make them come to fundamentalism, becuase it makes them feel that everything is already explained and they don't need to worry so much about their personal lives.
• Some people who come to fundamentalist religion may have some sort of addiction that fundamentalism, essentially, replaces.
• Some people are incredibly reckless and struggle with handling resposibility, and cannot deal with life without a strong set of rules which fundamentalism provides.

Obviously, these ideas don't represent all fundamentalists. Most fundamentalists are so because of upbringing. This list probably doesn't represent all people who came to fundamentalism late in life, either, just some ideas as to why people might.

PFOX Lies(Lies From The Religious Right? Say It Ain't So!)

Recently, PFOX[Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays] have recently claimed that they were attacked by some gay activists at an Arlington County Fair, and one of their claims was that a gay activist hit one of their "ex-gay" people. Fair enough that they should be upset about it, right?
...Well, actually, no, because the incident never happened! It was a complete fabrication. The police didn't remember such an incident(despite the fact PFOX said they removed a gay man from the premises), and the organisers said that the only thing that happened was a few raised voices between an "ex-gay" and a female fairgoer.
These lies from PFOX have been spread around on many Religious Right websites eg. CitizenLink. So, what's the odds the Right will recall this story, and apologise to their readers and the gay community?
...about as likely as someone in these "Ex-gay" ministries going totally straight is my guess.

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2007/09/05/741
http://www.truthwinsout.org/news/truth-wins-out-calls-for-the-resignation-of-pfox-executive-director-regina-griggs-after-group-fabricates-hate-crime/
http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/09/arlington-fair-officials-eyewitness-contradict-pfox-claims-of-assault/

Tinky Winky Goes Ex-Gay; Supports Religious Right's Agenda

Famous gay icon Tinky Winky has renounced his former "gay lifestyle" and thrown away his handbag, according to prominent anti-gay activists. "Tinky Winky has abandoned his abominable lifestyle," said a spokesman for Focus on the Family. "He has come to repentance and finally come to the side of God."

Tinky Winky himself was asked to comment on the issue. "Ever since the death of Reverend Falwell, I have been wondering about the truth of his comments about me. I did not like to think as myself as an awful influence on children, but after thinking about the issue, I realised that Rev. Jerry was right all along. As soon as I realised, I went to the nearest church and repented. I'm sure Jerry is smiling upon my change of heart in heaven."

Gay activists have criticised the move. One spokesperson for a pro-gay group commented, "Let's be honest here, Tinky Winky is about as straight as John Paulk in a gay bar or Senator Larry Craig in a men's toilet."

Tinky Winky will now be available to speak at ex-gay events across the nation under the slogan "How One Teletubby Threw His Handbag Away." Gay activists have approached Spongebob Squarepants as a replacement speaker for gay events.

The Homosexual Agenda

Our favourite factmine, Conservapedia(which really is very liberal...with its bullshit ;)) identifies 6 things proponents of the "Homosexual Agenda" supposedly do.


http://www.conservapedia.com/Homosexual_agenda

1. "Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible."


Yep, I'm gay. Did you get that the first time?! I'm GAY. Maybe I should put it in pretty colours. I am a L-E-S-B-I-A-N. And i talk about how gay I am all the time. Me and my queer friends just sit there talking about our latest motorbikes and how many sports matches we've watched recently.

Seriously though, I think I've had at least one blog post where I haven't mentioned my sexual orientation. I can't be that obsessed with it can I?

2. "Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers."

Perhaps that's because a lot of gays are victims, idiot.

3. "Give homosexual protectors a just cause."


"Homosexual protectors"?

4. "Make gays look good."


I don't want to make all gays unquestionably look good. Some gays are assholes. But some gays are also great people, and most features of gays don't have anything to do with their "gayness" anyway.

5. "Make the victimizers look bad."


I don't need to make them look bad, they do a good enough job of that by themselves. Though admittedly I do join in with mockery and fact correction. They actually refer to themselves as "victimisers". Love it.

6. "Get funds from corporate America."

Well, that would be nice.

Here's our evil, Satanic aims...

"censoring biblical condemnations of homosexuality"

Actually, no. You're wrong. Say what you want about gays. I don't want to censor you.

"establishing affirmative action for homosexuals"

If it is nesarcary, fine. If it's not, not.

"expand hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation"

Well, yes. But you can disagree with homosexuality without wanting to kill "them thar queers".

"ending the military's and Boy Scout's restrictions on homosexuality"

Again, yeah. Why shouldn't gays serve in the military? It's a waste of time and money attempting to discharge gay soldiers, for a start. I bet Conservapedia is all up its own ass about "supporting the troops" but obviously this means support our heterosexual troops.

"promote homosexuality in schools"

Define "promote homosexuality".

"in places like Massachusetts and California — where the gay lobby is the strongest — it starts as early as pre-school. They tell seven- or eight-year-old boys — "If you only like boys, there's a chance you may be homosexual." Or — "If you only like girls, maybe you are lesbian." Well, at that age, all members of the opposite sex "have cooties.""

Pre-school and 7/8 year olds aren't really the same thing, now are they?

"You're planting a seed that can totally mess up the normal development process later, when at 12 or 14, kids enter the age of sexual confusion and discovering the opposite sex."

Oh no! some gay kid might actually accept themselves as normal now! What a tragedy![/sarcasm]

"promote science that legitimizes homosexuality, such as claims of a never-identified gay gene"

Most gay activists, if they did comment on this, would say something like "Well, we don't know for sure what causes homosexuality, but the evidence suggests that thee may be some biological factors involved." It's the fundies who bring up the dumbass argument of "they can change, thus they don't need rights". Gay activists don't argue from the premise that "it's genetic, thus it's good" because we're(on the whole) not as stupid as fundies.

"force businesses to accommodate their lifestyle "

What the hell does this mean? If it means "get rid of discrimination in the workplace" than I totally agree.

"Suing an online dating website for discrimination"

Look, that might be an aside, but it's not part of the main agenda. Get with the program.

"getting more rights in prison"

If you mean "getting the same rights as straights" here, then yeah.