Straightening Them Out: Why I Don't Believe Being Gay Is Wrong or Unnatural | Teen Ink

Straightening Them Out: Why I Don't Believe Being Gay Is Wrong or Unnatural

April 22, 2012
By M_IML DIAMOND, Ganei Tikva, Other
M_IML DIAMOND, Ganei Tikva, Other
78 articles 0 photos 61 comments

I'll start by saying that I am a straight teenage girl, and that all of my close friends and family members are straight. Just in case that little fact affects anyone's view of this piece.
What many people fail to understand is that sexual orientation is not necessarily a choice (not to talk about an "abomination" or a crime), but something at least mostly biological. You can say that PDA (involving hetero or homosexuals) is a choice; that marriage is a choice; that being openly gay or dating a person of the same gender is a choice. But you can't say that actually being gay is a choice. Do you remember waking up one morning and deciding that, from now on, you're straight? No? I didn't think so.
A recurring example on the internet that makes me absolutely furious is people who say things like "straighten them out", like you can just decide to be attracted to a certain gender, or any gender at all (hello, asexuals). No amount of talking, bullying, terrorizing, debating or explaining can do that – imagine trying to talk a heterosexual guy into becoming gay. Sounds ridiculous, right? That's because it is – just like trying to convince someone to naturally choose a different skin color or biological parent.
One of the main arguments "against" homosexuality (like you can actually argue with something like that) is that it's simply unnatural. I suppose that's warranted. I mean, why would nature have intended people who can't (or, in this case, don't choose or have the biological urge to) expand the race to exist, right? It's going against logic.
Wait, actually, why not include anyone infertile or asexual in that statement? I think I'll add anyone born paralyzed or with a serious physical disability, too. After all, what use are they to the human race?
I'm sorry to say that anyone thinking like that is thinking about humanity like a scientist would about a bunch of fish. I'm sure many of the people who think being gay is wrong don't believe in evolution, either; so if we're so special as human beings, if we're so unique as to have received intelligence and emotion from God, why are you thinking like you would if we didn't? As if the main purpose of the human race is to pass on the genes and procreate? If that's true, then sure, go on and eliminate anything "impure" from the gene pool: go on and eliminate people with mental and physical disorders, with a family history of cancer, Alzheimer's, or sickle cell disease; and lastly, go on and eliminate anyone gay or bisexual.
Whether being gay is a choice or not doesn't affect the fact that that's the way some people just are. It's the way they were born, whether they realized and/or accepted it around puberty or in old age. It's just like being a good writer or musician – or not - or loving your family, or having blond hair; it's a part of who you are, whether you like and accept it or not. Being gay makes you different, sure; but so does my being Jewish, Israeli and French. Are you going to say I'm unnatural and an abomination because of those things?
I, personally, am not religious – I'm a Jewish Atheist, meaning a spiritual atheist who is culturally Jewish. I don't believe in God, and I don't believe that the Bible is a holy book of some kind (although I do believe you can learn a lot from reading and understanding it). But I live surrounded by people who do (including a large portion of religious family) and many of my friends are Christian, Jewish, or Muslim; it's not like I haven't been exposed to religion in real life.
I understand that the Bible says being gay is wrong. But I'm pretty sure the bible says many, many things that ardently religious people do all the time are wrong, as well. Even if you believe God himself wrote it (although I most definitely don't), he had to write it in a way that would be understandable and relevant to people of that time period, right? Unless you're a fundamentalist, try to take it with a grain of salt – I'm sure the God you believe in would agree that humanity should be able to evolve socially, philosophically and scientifically. Evolution of thought and of science is what made you who you are today, what allows you to live a full, healthy life instead of being mandatorily disease-ridden; we would never have gotten to that point without people accepting that sometimes things, and ideas, need to change (does the name "Galileo" ring a bell?).
So I understand why some people might feel uncomfortable around other people who are gay. I can even understand how it can feel unnatural and even threatening. But I do think that all of you reading this, as well everyone who isn't, should try to think a little bit outside of the ideological box – have you ever even met someone gay?



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 7 comments.


Minus said...
on Sep. 17 at 10:41 am
Minus, Morse, Louisiana
0 articles 0 photos 72 comments
PREACH! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! I'm still questioning myself but I am only frogge (prolly bi)

on Oct. 13 2014 at 8:04 pm
Dream2000 BRONZE, Greenwood, South Carolina
4 articles 2 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
Believe you can and you're halfway there
~Theodore Roosevelt

Living in the South, I'm exposed to hatred for homosexuals a lot. I am straight if that affects anyone's opinion, but I very much agree with you. I have seen people change their perspective on a person solely based on discovering that he/she is gay/bisexual. It kills me to see such alienation. Although I do agree with your statement about how some people have certain views based on religion, I feel like they should not try to affect another person's life even if they feel differently about him/her. By that I mean, if someone cannot accept the fact that a person is gay, he/she shouldn't try to make the gay person's life miserable. He should just keep his thoughts to himself rather than alienating the other person if you understand what I mean. Overall, I found your writing very inspirational and I hope you will check out some of mine. I am very new to Teen Ink, so I don't have much, but I hope I could write like you one day.

on Aug. 28 2014 at 2:00 pm
MutedEloquence BRONZE, Arcadia, Florida
4 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." -Albus Dumbledore

Preach baby girl! I'm a queer teenage girl. It makes me happy to see that I have allies!

Paperflowers said...
on Aug. 23 2014 at 4:15 pm
I am lesbian, and  I absolutely love and appreciate this argument. You have illuminated most of the main points that show how unnecessary and moronic the homophobice approach really is. Thank you for that!  :)

M_IML DIAMOND said...
on May. 2 2012 at 4:53 am
M_IML DIAMOND, Ganei Tikva, Other
78 articles 0 photos 61 comments
*sounds :)

M_IML DIAMOND said...
on May. 2 2012 at 4:53 am
M_IML DIAMOND, Ganei Tikva, Other
78 articles 0 photos 61 comments
Thanks! I'll look for the Yahoo Answers thing, it sound interesting. And it's true, in my opinion at least, that homophobia usually seems irrational; but there are some people who are homophobic for very clear reasons which, to them at least, seem rational (I think I addressed this in the essay) - like religious or pseudo-scientific reasoning.

on Apr. 27 2012 at 3:12 pm
firelord SILVER, Queensbury, New York
8 articles 0 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference." -Robert Frost

I love this. There's a response on Yahoo! Answers where someone is saying how homosexuality has the suffix -ality. Just like reality and actuality. They weren't sure what it meant, only that's it's part of everyday life and the world. They continued to say how homophobia has the suffix -phobia, a fear of something totally irrational. I think they then asked "Which is the choice, now?" I respect people like that :)