[Kidder]

There's been discussion in this thread about whether it even matters if being gay is a choice or not. Which is nice, because the people posing this notion are advocating equality for all. But here is why it matters, and why it's such a contentious issue to all parties involved.

For those who oppose gay marriage and homosexuality in general, it matters because if homosexuality can be proven to be a result of upbringing, that is not part of the genetic make up of the individual, it offers a formula for the eventual eradication of homosexuality from society.

Working from this standpoint, the influences and composition of the gay individual can be studied and analyzed to create a systematic approach to ensure future children are steered clear of the same path.

For the homosexual, it matters because listening to pious harriers question the integrity of their word and their being is enough to make their blood boil. Growing up gay and religious you are faced with incredible confusion, hardships, guilt, remorse, and frustration. How some people have the audacity to proclaim their opinions and subsequent judgment with no experience of the unimaginable internal suffering a gay person can go through in their childhood and adolescence is beyond me.

Those that cried themselves to sleep on innumerable nights praying for God to change them, hiding their sexuality, abstaining from their desires of love and pleasure. What foolish people, didn't they know that their orientation was a choice, they consciously or subconsciously made? Some people just love taking the road less traveled dont-chu-know?

I have a theory that a lot of the most adamant homophobes are actually bisexual in nature. So in their viewpoint and understanding, the desire for same sex or opposite sex relations is actually a choice. To me that is the most probable explanation as to why some are so vehement that homosexuals are gay by choice. Because they themselves are actually straight by choice, by denying their homosexual desires and satisfying only their hetero ones.

Perhaps this theory is closeminded because it's unconscionable to me that some people would extrapolate their own self experience onto every single other human being. "I am a man and I am only attracted to woman, therefore all men must be only attracted to women."

It is common for homophobes to dodge the "when did you choose to become straight?" question. And their reluctance to answer actually fits the theory, as it was an actual choice but they wouldn't dare answer it truthfully. Either that or they must admit they're projecting their own life experiences and views among all humankind. But it's just a theory. And qualifying it as such is doing more than most homophobes do in their proclamations.