This is slightly off topic but none the less, one that boggles my mind. I have occasionally, both, read and heard that being gay is a lifestyle choice. That a person has to make a conscious choice. This leaves me completely befuddled.
Being straight, I have never had to make a choice over being gay or straight. I just am. Over the years I have had many friends who call themselves gay. All of them have had 2 things in common.
First, they are gay, not by choice anymore than one chooses to be straight. They are what they are. They chose to come out but not to be one or the other.
Second, they are accepting of people for what they are. Im my experience, all have been friendly, kind and loyal friends. Unlike some of my straight friends.
The reason I am posting is that I was reading one of my favorite blogs this morning and the author Alicia Sparks has posted about a study at the University of Utah. Please take a gander by clicking the link (her name). Comments are most welcome.
Hey there,
Love the blog post. Let me tell you something. Being a lesbian and being surrounded by lesbian and gay people, I can tell you..if we did have a choice, most of us would NOT have chosen to be gay. The hardships are just so great that it would be in our best interest to stick with the gigantic pool of straight people that we are surrounded by.
Now on to whether or not they are good friends is a TOTALLY different subject. Most gay/queer/trangendered/bisexual/lesbian/trans/questioning individuals that I know are extremely excepting. But just like the straight community, there are is a lot of cheating and back stabbing. Not everything is perfect over the rainbow.
There is a really big community online that would relate to your post. I personally am part of the queer community at dailystrength.org. I think they would really benefit by having an open-minded supporter of the gay community. You can check it out if you like:
http://dailystrength.org/support/Lesbian_Gay/Families_Friends_of_Gays_Lesbians/
Well. Have a good one!
Warmest Regards:
Chantal
You are 100% correct being gay is no more a choice than being straight is. Gay people do not wake do not wake up one day and suddenly decide to be gay. Why would someone want to be something that is so hated by so many people? Not to mention condemned by religion?
I think it is potentially offensive to say that being gay is a choice, although I agree we have to explore these things.
As has been said, real life experience will tell you people do not choose to be gay. It is simply to hard in this world to be gay, why would someone chose to go through that?