The Solutn to "Gay" Insults: Freedom of Speech | Psychology Today

Contents:

• SHOULD YOU RPECT GAY PEOPLE IF YOU FD HOMOSEXUALY IMMORAL?
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY
• GAY RIGHTS OR WRONGS
• 10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED
• DISAPPOTG REASON TO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS: "MY SON IS GAY"
• THE SOLUTN TO "GAY" INSULTS: FREEDOM OF SPEECH

SHOULD YOU RPECT GAY PEOPLE IF YOU FD HOMOSEXUALY IMMORAL?

Broad Support For Same-Sex Relatnships: A May 2022 Gallup poll found that 71% of Amerins believe gay and lbian relatns are “morally acceptable, ” vers 25% who say they’re “morally wrong. “Don’t Say Gay” Laws Unpopular: A March 2022 ABC/Ipsos poll found 62% of Amerins oppose legislatn like Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn law—known as “Don’t Say Gay”—that rtricts classroom teachgs on genr inty and sexual orientatn. Some events Florida have been nceled rponse to ncerns over recently passed anti-LGBTQ legislatn—which rtricts genr-affirmg re, drag performanc and expand the tnal rtrictns the “Don’t Say Gay” law, among other measur—and LGBTQ anizatns have also issued travel advisori for the state.

Defendg himself agast allegatns by punter Chris Kluwe that he went on an anti-gay tira the Mnota Vikgs locker room, special teams ach Mike Priefer released a statement nyg that he said gays would burn hell and claimg he was “rpectful of all dividuals. ” Charlie Crist, the former Republin ernor of Florida who is now nng to re-take the office as a Democrat, gave an terview to an LGBTQ webse apologizg for his earlier anti-gay posns. In an email to me about my recent piece on Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, the nservative Christian who was briefly spend as a realy show star after llg homosexualy a rdal s and parg to btialy, the rear wrote, “This natn needs to learn that disagreement do [not] equate to hatred” (except that, a possible Frdian slip, what my rear actually wrote was that “disagreement do equate to hatred”) “and that any Christian who is tly a disciple of Christ will disagree wh homosexualy while genuely lovg and rpectg those who practice .

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

For nservative Christians like Phil Robertson who ce the Bible to jtify anti-gay views, homosexualy is not jt any old wrong but a gateway s, the praved act om which all other misbehavr flows. Why should people who believe the thgs about gay people get to pe rponsibily for the judgment that’s an herent part of subscribg to such beliefs by mutterg benign platus about rpectg everyone?

Let’s ll a spa a spa, wh a remr and challenge to those who believe homosexualy is a moral wrong: We gay people rry around ep-seated feelgs of sire for members of our own sex; we love and sire this way on a daily basis; many of make the choice—which we fd morally acceptable—to exprs our feelgs wh same-sex sexual behavr routely. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child.

He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia.

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program. ”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe. “I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay.

“I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn. A mon rponse om this set of statistilly signifint rpons me om Nate, a 22-year-old gay man om Indianapolis: “While there ntu to be certa thgs I disagree wh, disagreement would still be a part of any muny I’m volved wh.

“The nscienc of today’s Christians are beg rpted by the opprsive cultural i and the extreme social prsure surroundg the issue of homosexualy, but we know that the law of the Lord is wrten on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-33) and though we may succeed mutg our nscience, the Word of God is eternal, ” Cook said. Those who are sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who subm to homosexual acts, men who practice homosexualy, thiev, greedy people, dnkards, revilers, and extortners will not her God’s Kgdom. Most people the LGBTQ+ muny know om experience that acceptg your sexualy will lead to your beg a happier, more open this gui, the term gay has been ed to clu all forms of non-heterosexual attractn, whether that be people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, or otherwise not straight.

GAY RIGHTS OR WRONGS

The laws the Bible were maly for health purpos - shunng homosexualy is right next to not gettg tattoos, not eatg pork, and not wearg mixed lens, but you n bet your bottom dollar all your neighbors do those thgs. Article SummaryXIf you stggle wh acceptg your attractn to the same sex, know that beg gay is pletely normal and you n be proud of who you are by fdg support and embracg your dividualy. It is also my aim to equip the members of the church wh the nfince to rpond telligently to the false arguments beg ma for the homosexual liftyle by Gays and their sympathizers (Published 1996).

The chang are associated wh creased visibily of openly gay characters on televisn, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Supreme Court cisn that legalized same-sex marriage. For every highly publicized act of vlence toward sexual mori, such as the recent mass shootg at a gay nightclub Orlando, there are many more physil and verbal asslts, attempted asslts, acts of property damage or timidatns which are never reported to thori, let alone publicized by the media. In many untri where homosexualy has been crimalised, LGBT advocy has foced s attentns on the mand for same-sex marriage laws, legal adoptn, parenthood, and further down that road, rights to divorce and ctody.

In this view, human rights n be nsired to be a regulatory and ernance enavour that produc a “tolerable homosexual” rather than a project that mov the directn of lastg eedom or brgg about a radil transformatn of the sexual orr. Ever sce born-aga sger and orange juice pchwoman Ana Bryant helped kick off the ntemporary anti-gay movement some 40 years ago, hard-le elements of the relig right have been searchg for ways to monize gay people — or, at a mimum, to fd arguments that will prevent their normalizatn society. But addn to hawkg that myth, the legns of anti-gay activists who followed have add a panoply of others, rangg om the extremely doubtful claim that sexual orientatn is a choice, to unalloyed li like the claims that gay men molt children far more than heterosexuals or that hate crime laws will lead to the legalizatn of btialy and necrophilia.

10 ANTI-GAY MYTHS DEBUNKED

The fairy tal are important to the anti-gay right bee they form the basis of s claim that homosexualy is a social evil that mt be supprsed — an opn rejected by virtually all relevant medil and scientific thori. Depictg gay men as a threat to children may be the sgle most potent weapon for stokg public fears about homosexualy — and for wng electns and referenda, as Ana Bryant found out durg her succsful 1977 mpaign to overturn a Da County, Fla., ordance barrg discrimatn agast gay people.

DISAPPOTG REASON TO SUPPORT GAY RIGHTS: "MY SON IS GAY"

Others have ced a group lled the Amerin College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) to claim, as Tony Perks of the Fay Rearch Council did November 2010, that "the rearch is overwhelmg that homosexualy pos a [moltatn] danger to children.

THE SOLUTN TO "GAY" INSULTS: FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Gregory Herek, a profsor at the Universy of California, Davis, who is one of the natn's leadg rearchers on prejudice agast sexual mori, reviewed a seri of studi and found no evince that gay men molt children at higher rat than heterosexual men. The fixated child molter — the stereotypil pedophile — nnot be nsired homosexual or heterosexual bee "he often fds adults of eher sex repulsive" and often molts children of both sex.