What Atheists think about Homosexuality?

[Sweetdeath]

How does, what other people do in the bedroom, impact you?

If it is about how homosexual's dress, walk and talk in public then do you think the government ought to put in place laws to support Struggling Atheist's etiquette of public dress, walking and talking?

Those that are caught infringing get sent to a 6 month finishing school boot camp to be taught the Struggling Atheist's standard of behavior in public.

LOL
But... But I don't want to be a sexually pent up christian who only does it missionary position!!

[DeterminedJuliet]

I don't think all Christians are sexually pent up. The Duggars must do it like bunnies if their progeny are any indication.

[Recusant]

The OP freely asked for peoples views and opinions on homosexuality ;  was I required to be tolerant of every view in this Forum,  even if i disagree with it ?

You are not required to be anything, Struggling Atheist,* and as far as I'm concerned your honesty in regard to this topic is a good thing. However, I think it would be rather naive to think that you could express your negative opinions about a group of people who have suffered oppressive discrimination and outright persecution for centuries, without getting feedback of equal honesty from those who strongly disagree with such an attitude.

I gave honest answers to the OP questions and without personal defamation toward the OP .    Further,  it is NOT a case of me being 'homophobic'  because 3 days ago at the Walmart checkout register , i was standing next to two obvious homosexual men  and I didnt feel an ounce of fear toward them,  didnt fear acquiring homosexuality from them, nor feared being in their presence.   Thank you.

Well, you might benefit from learning the proper definition of "homophobia" then.

From Anti-Defamation League:

Homophobia is the hatred or fear of homosexuals - that is, lesbians and gay men - sometimes leading to acts of violence and expressions of hostility. Homophobia is not confined to any one segment of society, and can be found in people from all walks of life. Organized hate groups have viciously attacked homosexuals and have used especially violent language in attempting to persecute and intimidate them.

Now, I don't know that you actually hate or fear gay people, but your post used language that is commonly used by homophobes. Those who read that post might be excused for drawing their own conclusions.

_________________

* You can say whatever you like, as long as you observe the Forum Rules; see Whitney's post below.

[Sandra Craft]

I'm fairly sure Minneapolis was named the gayest U.S. city in 2011 . . .

Yes it was, and I understand San Francisco is very put out.

http://www.citypages.com/2011-12-28/news/gay-community-apologizes-to-amy-koch/

Now that's one of the funniest things I've read since Jon Carroll's Unitarian Jihad

Not all homosexuals have anal sex. That is a gross misconception. Although no one wants to bring up the straight males that love to fuck their girlfriends in the ass.  or male drag queens whom over half of are heterosexual, even married to great women.

Not to mention the straight men who like getting anal sex from a woman with a handy strap-on.


(Edited to fix quotes. -- Recusant)

[Whitney]

Struggling Atheist - As an atheist, can you please tell us why you object so strongly to homosexuality?  Thx.

I already did . Read Post 105 .  I replied in accordance to the OP asking me what i thought about it.

Your post in 105 had absolutely no information on WHY you had those views; it's was just a irrational rant that made lots of baseless claims and honestly crossed the line under our rules here (see the part of the rules about no racism; it covers hate speech).  The views you provided are only common to people of a southern christian upbringing...hence the question of how an atheist could hold such views.  If you are an atheist and have arrived at those views through a process of logical reasoning then provide the logic (without being an ass about it...it's possible to discuss why you don't approve of homosexuality without using derogatory language).

[DeterminedJuliet]

Speaking of "cramming agendas down peoples' throats" I came across this little gem in my Facebook feed:
California teen calls for girl guide cookie boycott because the organization allowed a 7 year old trans-gendered girl to join a troop.

Gay folk aren't the only ones who want to make individual sexual/gender identity a public issue.

[Sandra Craft]

Struggling Atheist - As an atheist, can you please tell us why you object so strongly to homosexuality?  Thx.

I already did . Read Post 105 .  I replied in accordance to the OP asking me what i thought about it.

Your post in 105 had absolutely no information on WHY you had those views

I'll explain my reasoning for not objecting to homosexuality, and  I'll admit right off the bat that I'm bisexual with a preference for other women, in case anyone wants to factor that in as a bias.  Even before I was aware of my sexual leanings however (and I was a very late bloomer) I had no objection to homosexuality and couldn't understand the fuss so many others made about it (this was back in the 60s and 70s, when there was even more fuss than now).

To me, it seemed perfectly natural in the sense that it occured in nature, among animals other than humans.  Even back then we had examples of that and there's far more evidence today.  It's also interesting to me that homosexual behavior seems to increase with the intelligence of the species.  I don't know if anyone has found homosexual behavior among insects and reptiles, but it can be found nearly everywhere among mammals and birds, and is particularly commonplace among dolphins, apes and elephants.  Just going by that alone it seems perfectly natural that humans should be among the gayest of the gay.

Which brings me to its normality, which I see as different from its naturalness.  To me, natural is a biological designation, and normal is a cultural one.  Some "antis" used to mix the two issues by claiming that homosexuality only happened among domesticated animals, and those in zoos, as if that were proof of abnormality tho it seemed to me this only strengthened the normality of human homosexuality, since what are humans but domesticated apes?  In any case, the abundance of homosexual behavior found in nature among wild animals has put that argument to rest.  

Anyway, while I'm willing to concede that homosexuality is not the norm in American cluture at this time, that doesn't mean that it's abnormal everywhere or at all times or that it's good or right to class it as abnormal.  Or that it's good or right to attempt to force people to conceal it.  If it were honestly endangering the public health or causing the destruction of society with increased violence or indifference to peoples welfare (that could be traced directly and conclusively to homosexuality) that'd be different.  I think there are enough examples now of societies where homosexuals are treated as full citizens without it causing a massive collapse of the public health, or social upheaval, to put that aside.  

Unless the social upheaval being feared is the lack of the ability to discriminate against and persecute homosexuals -- I don't know what to say to that.  I never considered bigotry a cherished right to be upheld at all costs.  And wanting to step on other peoples lives because one doesn't like what they do naked as consensual adults is bigotry, no matter how much one dislikes the idea of being a bigot.  

[Recusant]

  Well said, BooksCatsEtc.

[Sandra Craft]

  Well said, BooksCatsEtc.

Oh, thank goodness!  I was afraid I'd screwed up the quotes again.  Thank you, Recusant.

[Sweetdeath]

I quite enjoyed that read, bookscats. ^__^
My gf is bisexual as well with a preference for women. She once told me "if everyone just accepted they were bisexual in SOME way, the world would be  happier place."

[Traveler]

BookCatsEtc, I wish I had an applaud button on here. +1 for a well thought out response.

[Ali]

BookCats, LIKE!!!

[Firebird]

Well, that was interesting. Is Struggling Atheist still around, or has he been kicked off at this point? I'm curious if he'll even try responding to these questions, but perhaps we're better off if he's not, as I can't imagine it will be anything more than the ranting that he's already posted here.
Either way, while I assumed most people on this forum were probably socially liberal, it is refreshing to see how you all responded to this. I feel like a lot of the people who are that homophobic never knowingly met a gay person (knowingly because everyone has whether they realize it or not). While I was always supportive of gay rights, I became especially supportive when some people close to me came out.

[Sweetdeath]

Well, that was interesting. Is Struggling Atheist still around, or has he been kicked off at this point? I'm curious if he'll even try responding to these questions, but perhaps we're better off if he's not, as I can't imagine it will be anything more than the ranting that he's already posted here.
Either way, while I assumed most people on this forum were probably socially liberal, it is refreshing to see how you all responded to this. I feel like a lot of the people who are that homophobic never knowingly met a gay person (knowingly because everyone has whether they realize it or not). While I was always supportive of gay rights, I became especially supportive when some people close to me came out.

I say this to people a lot. There are gay people everywhere. I guess most ignorant homophobes think all gays ae flaming fairies'

When I had someone tell "you dont seem gay" I was pretty offended. I was like "well, I left my axe , plaid shirt and chord pants at home" e_e.
So many idiotic stereo types for gay people. People are people. Tom boy girls can be heterosexual too.

[Sandra Craft]

I quite enjoyed that read, bookscats. ^__^

BookCatsEtc, I wish I had an applaud button on here. +1 for a well thought out response.

BookCats, LIKE!!!

I wish I had a blushing smiley.  Thank you all -- just a subject I have a bit of familiarity with.

Well, that was interesting. Is Struggling Atheist still around, or has he been kicked off at this point? I'm curious if he'll even try responding to these questions

If he is, in fact, an atheist I'd be very curious to hear his reasons for objecting to homosexuality to the point of insisting that we keep ourselves closeted.  It is very unusual for atheists to be homophobic; I remember reading an article where the author mentioned that his atheist father hated homosexuals and homosexuality, but he didn't say why either.