Homosexuality and choice

[asterroc]

From the same place as I got that video on same-sex/interracial marriage comes the following comment.

I’m always puzzled when people bring up choice when it comes to equal rights for homosexuals. It’s not at all clear that homosexuality is a choice. But assume for a minute it is 100% choice, completely. So what? We don’t get to discriminate against people for choices they make unless they are breaking the law. You can’t refuse to hire someone, for example, because they are a parent–clearly it is extremely likely that they CHOSE to be a parent. You can’t legally discriminate against someone based on their religion, whether or not they CHOSE to convert to that religion at some point.

Never looked at it that way, it's an excellent point.

Comments

[rosefox]

See also http://www.queerbychoice.com/ . I use the phrase "protected choice" a lot when talking about this; I think the whole biology question does no one any favors, especially when people go crazy trying to twist studies to prove things they don't prove.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

These same people that deny equal rights would love to have it be a law that is being broken, if they could. If it WERE a choice, you can bet that they would immediately push for anti-homosexuality laws.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I suspect that argument, good though it is, will only work on a subset of the anti-homosexual crowd. There's a lot of overlap between the assholes who think it is a-ok to discriminate against people for who they "choose" to be attracted to and the assholes who think that the sex you are born as MUST and WILL determine all manner of things. Like who you want to pair up with for life or a tawdry fling or whatever. Which makes using the argument against them even more fun, because usually they're pretty vehement about how sacred their religious choice is.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

The notion that it should be irrelevant whether it's a choice has been the basis of my stance for some time now.