Saturday, December 20, 2008

The difference between race and sexual orientation

According to Pastor Wayne Perryman: the difference is between behavior and a trait.
Homosexuality and heterosexuality is a sexual behavior expressed, it is not a physical status like black or white skin.

Having said that, Am I Homo-Phobic if I do not like, accept or feel comfortable with the gay’s sexual expression (behavior)? Homo-Phobic meaning: fearing or hating the gay person or the homosexual individual who engage in such behavior? Before answering this question, please let me share with you other behaviors that I am uncomfortable with.

I do not like (or I am uncomfortable with) heterosexuals who affectionately make out in public when they can do it in the privacy of their homes – Am I Hetero-Phobic and hate heterosexuals?
I do not like (or I am uncomfortable with) individuals who cheat on their spouse – This means I must have a Spousal Cheater-Phobic and hate or fear spouses that cheat....
Just because I do not like certain behaviors or that I am uncomfortable with certain behaviors, does not mean that I fear or hate the person who engage in such behavior....
As stated before, gays often compare their experience with the African American experience, but African Americans have never had the option of putting their black skin in the closet to escape or avoid persecution - and we were never hated because of our behavior, we were hated simply because we were black.


I would put it this way: the legal claim is that sexual orientation is an immutable trait, and forms the basis of a protected class. However, sexual orientation is not directly observable, only behavior is observable. Therefore, in practice, it is behavior that is being protected, not the unobservable trait of having a homosexual orientation.
BTW, I like Pastor Perryman's blog.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good post. It explains the issue clearly.

This term 'homophobic' often is used by homosexual activists to end rational discussion of the issue by accusing their opponents of having an irrational fear. This is unjust. One can disagree with and be critical of a behavior without having a fear of it. When the charge of "homophobia" is made, it signifies that those making the accusation do not have reasoned responses to their critics, so they switch to portraying their critics as irrational rather than responding to their arguments.