Gays Are Immature

MYTH:

Basically, Rick Warren tells us that homosexuals
should control their pre-defined sexual desires.
Those who can not are emotionally immature.

TRUTH:

Here is the difference:

Warren has the inclination to have sex with every beautiful woman he sees (God forbid!), on account of his biological predispositions. What straight male doesn't (and a certain percentage certainly does!). But, Rick still has the right and the acceptability to marry ONE and call her a life long partner.

If a gay person, who has a biological predisposition toward the same sex (and yes, naturally attracted to many a beautiful same sex form), wishes to be with ONE loved partner in a mutual relationship, why is that wrong? How is that fundamentally different? How is that harmful to themselves or others? Should they remain celibate?

Silly Rick Warren:

Homosexuality is a part of the normal, healthy spectrum of sexual orientations. Regardless of what your religious texts tell you. Please don't compare it to disruptive human behaviour such as violence and sex addiction. Homosexuality isn't a behaviour.

-GayTruth

Our religious beliefs don't hurt gays!

MYTH:

"The gay community constantly asks: If we want to marry, how
does it hurt you? Here’s a similar question: If religious people
don’t approve of homosexual behavior, how does it hurt you?"
-Ben Shapiro

TRUTH:

BEHAVIOUR should never be confused with SEXUAL ORIENTATION!

We've said this once and we will say this again: Homosexuals are no different to their straight counterparts. The only difference is their sexual orientation. Period.

Being gay does not and should not affect other aspects of their social and personal lives, aspirations and life accomplishments. Depictions of homosexual lifestyles are stereotyped and exaggerated. The evidence of such allusions are more a result of the destructive influence of an anti-gay society than sexuality itself.

Back to the hurt part...

The fact is, religious institutions who try to influence civil laws that affect homosexuals and their families DO hurt gay people. We are all for religious freedom, and the right for these individuals and groups to practise the religion they choose. What we don't approve of is when these ideologies extend to influence the lives of minorities such as homosexuals in a negative way.

Here are some examples of how this DOES hurt gays and lesbians:

• using church funds to influence laws that affect homosexual people and families in a negative way,
• using church funds to spread mis-information about homosexuals to the general population,
  
• homosexuals who are born into religious families who do not approve of homosexuality,
• the very negative and very real destructive influences of religious leaders sending messages that homosexuality is less valid and natural than heterosexuality,
• the violence, depression, confusion and self abuse resulting from the affects of aforementioned.

Gay marriage will in no way affect the heterosexual marriage, or marriage itself. It WILL, however, help validate the families that already exist. It WILL be psychologically supportive in promoting the reality that homosexuals, gay parents and children of gay parents are equal. It WILL help promote education that homosexuals are just like heterosexuals in the way they live, their wants, needs, lifestyle, and yes... behaviour!

In fact, it DOES everything we have mentioned above through observation of what has actually happened in countries and states that have made this civil right legal, regardless of whatever mis-information has been depicted to mask this reality.

Homosexuality Is A European Invention

MYTH:

"Homosexuality is solely and unequivocally a European sexual lifestyle that has spread around the world, just like all European cultures, languages and religions. The first mention of male homosexual behaviours in world history is Ancient Greece."
-dabeesta17 (Youtube User)

TRUTH:

We will say this again: homosexuality IS NOT a lifestyle. It is a sexual orientation.

You do not require to have sex to know they are homosexual. It exists in all cultures and religions. The difference being some cultures have evolved to a point where they recognise homosexuality as a normal part of the spectrum of human sexual orientation - regardless of religious or social stigma.

Although some cultures may choose to deny its existence within the community, one thing is certain: the fact you can hide homosexuality doesn't imply it any less real or common than in cultures where it is more widely visible. It is like saying there are fewer registered cases of divorce in Arab nations compared to the USA because the former is happier than the latter. We're sure both cultures experience the same level of relationship fall outs, but one obviously embraces the concept of divorce more than death by stoning.

Finally, it is more widely documented in recent history of men marrying 12 year old girls, using marriage as a way of financial arrangement, and polygamy as socially acceptable. There are some cultures in Africa that find it acceptable to father many children with different women as a sign of good fertility. Yet this doesn't reflect at all badly on the heterosexual "lifestyle".

Being Gay Is Debatable

MYTH:
"Being born gay is debatable. Being born female or without limbs
or mentally challenged or black are facts of life."
-dabeesta17 (Youtube User)

TRUTH:

We are sure some black people would hide their blackness if they could. In the predominantly white, male dominated western society, fitting in is a way for survival for minorities. Just because something isn't a physical phenomena, or that we don't fully understand it, it doesn't mean it is an less real or a less fact of being.

Left Handed Marriage Is Unnatural

MYTH:


TRUTH:

Of course, the caller was probably not convinced that homosexuals aren't any different than left handers. Gay people are all promiscuous and addicted to sex right? Just like left handers only write obscenities and are the main cause of graffiti. Right? Something like that.

You can be ex-gay, but not ex-black!

MYTH:
"You can be ex-gay, but I can't be ex-black"
-an African American woman on Dr Phil

TRUTH:

Of course you can. Just look at Michael Jackson!

On a serious note, we're serious! Ex-gay people are just as ex-gay as Michael Jackson is an ex-black. It is a skin deep transition. You can't change your sexual orientation. Ex-gay ministries can only claim a change in outward behaviour.

We invite you to watch this video (again):

I'm Not Gay!

MYTH:
"I'm not gay. We all sin. I don't do that stuff anymore."

TRUTH:

We believe internal homophobia is possibly the most damaging barrier to the gay community today. This is especially strong when taboo and deep social/religious messaging is involved. Here are some examples of people in religious and influential positions who've expressed strong views against homosexuals, only to have fallen by homosexual "scandals":

• Catholic sex abuse cases - of both heterosexual and homosexual cases, where the official stance from the Vatican is focused on filtering out ministers with "homosexual tendencies".
  
  
• Mark Foley - A Republican member of the United States House of Representatives who was involved in homosexual sexual liaisons and Internet contact with teen-aged boys for over ten years. He denied these claims describing them as "revolting".
  
  
• Ted Haggard - A Christian American evangelical preacher who paid a mail prostitute to engage in sex with him for three years. His earlier responses strongly denied these accusations. Upon admitting the truth, he described them as "sexual immorality" and as "repulsive and dark". He taught that homosexuality was an abomination and actively lobbied against gay rights.
  
  
• Larry Craig - An American politician from the state of Idaho caught soliciting sex from an undercover cop in an airport bathroom. His stance against homosexuals include a clarification that he would vote "yes" on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. He also voted not to extended the federal definition of hate crimes to cover sexual orientation.
  
  
• Bob Allen - An American politician who was a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives and made a sexual proposal to a police man. He was one of the twenty one Florida legislators to sign a brief supporting the state’s ban on gays adopting children.
  

Notice that the denial and even acceptance statements are intensely degrading to the homosexual orientation. Use of language such as "revolting", "immoral" and "dark" is an example of internal homophobia in action. Organisations connected to these people are quick to sweep it under the rug and call them bad apples. There is just no room for acceptance.

The key (and saddest) point we wish to make is that none of the above examples include acceptance of sexual orientation. Through the filter of their beliefs, they still hold the view that homosexuality is a sin under the eyes of God; that their actions are an example of giving into a sin. Of course, this a completely misinformed standpoint. Ted Haggard has been known to claim that Christians do not need to think beyond the Bible on moral issues; that the Bible tells you what is right and wrong without argument. This only outlines the unfortunate consequence of such blind faith.

Another point we make is the nature of the sexual scandals. We are not condoning prostitution, indecent public exposure, pornography, or any other particular form of sexual activity. We do ask:

• Why and what kind of people (not just homosexuals) feel that they need to take these paths? Can it be related to individuals who are required to hinder their natural sexual desire?
• Could these acts be the result of social expectation, and finding an underground way to meet their sexual needs?
• If a person is homosexual and needs to suppress their sexuality, what other choice do they have apart from abstaining from it altogether?
• Is this suppression healthy or correct, regardless of religious beliefs?
• How does this differ from religious requirement that impose restrictions to other desires, teachings, attire and consumables?

The only unnatural acts we see here are the very unhealthy attempts to suppress sexual orientation. Of course, we're (still) talking about homosexuality as a normal, natural and valid part of human sexuality; and how its repression can be dangerous.

Something more to think about:

Gay People Are More Likely To Cheat

MYTH:
Gay people are more likely to cheat and hit their
partners than those in "normal" relationships.

TRUTH:

It is true that there is one key factor that makes homosexual relationships different to heterosexual ones. It isn't what most people think though: the fact that they are homosexual. The key difference is their placement within a predominately homophobic society. The lack of positive, visible examples of homosexual pairings. The uncertainty of family support. We cover this is more detail in our myth entry "Gay Relationships Don't Work".

It is often easy to to make a statistical conclusion like "gay people are more likely to cheat" without examining the full picture. Apart from the fact that many very committed and successful gay couples choose not to publicise their relationships for fear of social isolation, there are also key social factors as to why these relationships suffer from a greater occurrence of the challenges that even heterosexual couples face. It is all about an overall lack of support and nurture for these relationships.

Just Another Mythunderstanding

MYTH:
I can convince you that homosexuality is...
(every myth under the flat sun)

TRUTH:

Some groups of people still argue that the planet is flat. Sometimes it is easier to wrap a mythical notion in logic based on misconceptions, religious teaching, fear and ignorance rather than to accept the truth. It is much harder though to prove the Earth has four corners when we've had the blessing of making our way into space to see the big picture.

People who believe in the many myths about homosexuality can logically bury themselves in a dented notion, regardless of where the myth was seeded. They just haven't seen the big picture. Hopefully, one day, we will all be enlightened enough to realise that sexual orientation is was never, ever flat. Nor will you fall off its edge.

Harmful Homosexuality

MYTH:
Homosexuality is a problem and is
harmful to themselves and to others.

TRUTH:

Of the many perceived "risks" associated with homosexuality, these are never directly attributed to the actual sexual orientation, or even their sexual acts. We have touched on this subject before. We know that the homosexual social desire, needs, and lifestyle is parallel to their heterosexual counterparts.

In light of provoking a little more thought into this topic, we ask:

Does homosexuality...

• deprive them of anything apart from a socially unacceptable expectation?
• make them less capable of loving?
• make them run slower?
• directly pre-dispose them to obesity?
• cause blindness?
• make them any less intelligent?
• harm anyone physically?
• decrease their life span?
• ...we are done with insulting your intelligence!
  

The truth is, (and if you have been paying attention to Gay Truth) the answer to all of these is a bold NO.

What is the problem apart from the fear and misunderstanding people have of homosexuality?

Technically No Good

MYTH:
Technically, homosexuality isn't natural.
Humans are meant to reproduce.

TRUTH:

The "technicalities" of sexuality and nature in general isn't something we endeavour to scope through here, but technically...

• some people are born with both genitals and have fulfilling sexual lives,
• some species thrive and depend on the inclusion of homosexuality,
• we are not advanced in our understanding of homosexuality to make any conclusions on whether this state is technically incorrect,
• left handed people aren't normal because most things are made for right-handedness, and
  
• homosexuals CAN and DO reproduce in the many alternative ways that are technically available to heterosexuals.