Ok, as a straight man I feel very put apon by the gay culture to accept something that I feel is the very epitome of 'repulsive'. I was born with a predisposition to be repulsed by homosexual behaviour and I refuse to relinquish my right to express my feelings on this subject whenever I am subjected to the object of my repulsion.
My older brother was the first person to expose me to the word "fag". When he explained what it meant I thought that he had truly outdone himself this time. He must have dreampt up the most perverse and disgusting thing that he could think of just to get the satisfaction of severely grossing me out. He did that sort of thing all the time. However, this time it turned out that he didn't make it up, and when I found out that it was true I was absolutely dumbfounded. I could not understand a concept that would have never even occurred to me as being even a remote possibility if someone hadn't told me about it. I still to this day do not understand it and quite frankly at this point I don't think I ever will.
Yes, I am ignorant about homosexuality. No, I do not understand it, no matter how many different ways I try to think about it, I just can't seem to bend my mind around the concept of it. As a child and a young adult I was completely repulsed by gays and the emerging gay culture. It did not inspire fear or hate in me, it simply made me feel uneasy, disgusted, and sick to my stomach. I am sorry if this offends anyone, but it is a very strong feeling that I have very little control over.
Now, before all of the homo-sensitive people come out and torch the hell outa me and call me a homophobe, allow me to explain how I have worked very hard to cultivate personal tolerance for gays. I must say that it has been very difficult and I still struggle with it. I still get very squeamish when I observe public displays of affection between two men. However, I have made alot of progress, I can and do interact on a social level with gay people now. I have gone to great lengths to condition myself to try to think of them as another human being first and foremost, and try not to think about the disgusting things they do.
I know that I sound very judgemental and close minded, but I am not doing it out of spite or hatred. I know that most if not all gay people would rather not hear my opinion, and that is why I haven't ever expressed it verbally or in writing until now. I honestly feel bad for making any of you feel bad, but I can't change the way I feel about male on male intimacy. In short it seriously makes me sick, I can literally feel it tugging on my gag reflex when I am subjected to the sight of homosexuals being intimate with each other.
I understand that alot of people are not sensitive to gays and thier culture, but I also think that gays fail to understand how difficult it can be for straight people to be exposed to the gay lifestyle. I know that there are alot of people that find it far easier to tolerate, and that sexual orientation may not even be a black and white kind of thing for alot of people that are typically categorized as straight. So in the sense that homosexuality may appear in varying degrees in most people, it would also be feasible to surmise that for some people, sexual orientation actually IS a strictly black and white kind of thing.
I have made a serious effort to treat gays with respect, and I will defend thier right to do whatever they want with consentual adults under the appropriate settings. I simply ask that they respect me and my feelings as well.
I have been sexually harrassed by gay men after clearly stating that I was not interested and I wanted them to stop. I have even been stalked by a guy that I knew from a temp job that I worked one summer. Even after those experiences I still don't condemn all gay people as bad people. However, other people will hold those individuals actions against all gays. There are alot of good gay people, there are also bad ones, just like any other group of people. Unfortunately the bad ones can really hurt the general image of the entire group. Also, remember that stereotypes are allways inspired by at least some real experiences so there is some truth to them. I can honestly say that 90% of the men that I have met that were openly gay were very effeminite and displayed behaviour that was generally silly and flambuoyant in nature. So the sissy stereotype is not completely unfounded.
My advice to gays that get all indignant all the time about people saying or joking about things that they find offensive is to chill the fuck out. For only being 8% of the population gays sure have alot of general acceptance, I can't even turn on the tv without seeing something about gays or someone that is gay. For someone that finds homosexuality so repulsive I sure do get subjected to an awefull lot of media exposure to it, and if I complain I am suddenly branded as an ignorant redneck homophobe. How do I apologize for being grossed out by someones behaviour, and why is it now a social taboo to not be totally comfortable with gays?
I am sure that this post is going to cause alot of people on this forum to hate me. I am not the most profound or sophisticated thinker and I am sure that I probably presented my thoughts in a less than perfect manner, but I think that I got my point accross, and it really felt good to finally get that out. I am sure that the percieved anti-gay views of some of the people on this board were really agitating rumbach and it probably felt good for him to finally get his thoughts on the subject out as well.
Disclaimer, no gays or straights were harmed in the making of this thread and the thoughts and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of this websites management...
