Comments on: Peter Tatchell on gay identity

By: Jimmy Gatt

Jimmy Gatt — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:58:45 +0000

Timothy Kinkaid wrote:

I donâ€™t personally know anyone who engages in coprophagia, golden showers, sexual torture, or nightly orgies. And Iâ€™ve never heard of anyone who insisted that others â€œcelebrateâ€ these things. To say that the â€œgay communityâ€ insists that you celebrate this stuff suggests that you are not being intellectually honest.

I have dared to contest that hyper-sexuality is harmful to gay people and that I resent it representing me as a “gay man”. In response, I have been called “Stepford”, “conservative”, and a “control freak”. So for you to insist that the “gay community” does NOT insist that I accept (or even celebrate) all forms of human sexuality suggest that you are living in denial. Have you ever heard the phrases “sex negative” or “afraid of sex”? Those were slurs that were flung against Bruce Bawer’s book _A Place at the Table_ for his suggestion that gay men integrate into straight society.

It seems that you define â€œgay cultureâ€ to be those things which you find unpleasant.

Wrong. I define “gay culture” as I see it and it is a topic open for discussion. I only object to those things that I dislike. I particularly dislike the fact that the “gay pride” parade claims to speak for ALL gay people and portrays ALL gay people as being accepting (or even celebrating) of cross-dressers, leather freaks, and hyper-sexual gym bunnies. The other, more normal, gay people who march in the “gay pride” parade don’t offend me at all, but I don’t understand why they choose to march with the cross-dressers, leather freaks, and hyper-sexual gym bunnies.

By: Warren

Warren — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 21:54:59 +0000

Labels shape our perception of reality, but they donâ€™t touch the thing itself.

Self-perception theory proposes that during attitude formation, labels and the social context may indeed shape the thing itself.

By: Boo

Boo — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 05:30:32 +0000

I can’t speak with 100% certainty, of course, but I have to think that even if the culture undergoes some dramatic seismic shift, penises and body hair just aren’t suddenly going to start turning me on.

By: Warren Throckmorton

Warren Throckmorton — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 02:09:55 +0000

And this has led me to be suspicious of anyone who holds too tightly to a theory, or a viewpoint, or a definition. It keeps you from seeing the much larger picture, one that cannot be contained by theories, viewpoints, or labels.

Although I do believe some things are objectively good and true, for the most part about many issues, I think this stance seems right.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:04:17 +0000

Thinking just a little further, I would add that I am also suspicious of those who believe that if labels are made obsolete, the things behind them disappear. That, to me, is still clinging to the idea that the label holds the power to reality. Labels shape our perception of reality, but they don't touch the thing itself. Ceci n'est pas un pipe.