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Any time someone is afraid of people (not persons) because of who they are, and not what they've done, it is a sign of an unsound mind. If you witness or experience behavior in a person that is threatening to you there may be cause to have a fear of that person, but to experience fear of a group of people is a form of paranoia. It's also prejudice.
I think it's easy to call anything mentally ill that you don't agree with, whether that's homosexuality or homophobia. Honestly, I don't think either are mental illnesses and I think the term "mentally ill" gets thrown around too lightly. As someone who has been through mental illness, being gay or hating gays doesn't even come close.
Being gay is just one of many ways of being, and being homophobic is just one of the many manifestations of hatred and fear all humans are capable of. Both are within the spectrum of normal human behavior, and just because you have a hard time relating to another way of being human doesn't mean that makes it so far out that it is mentally ill. "Mentally ill", more often than not, is a word people throw around when they simply cannot relate to another way of being. But that's all it is--you just can't relate to that way of being. That doesn't necessarily make you or the other person mentally ill.
In some cases it may be mental illness that makes you unable to relate to someone, but that doesn't mean that any time you don't totally click with a person or a concept, that person or concept is "an illness".
Any time someone is afraid of people (not persons) because of who they are, and not what they've done, it is a sign of an unsound mind. If you witness or experience behavior in a person that is threatening to you there may be cause to have a fear of that person, but to experience fear of a group of people is a form of paranoia. It's also prejudice.
I agree that it's paranoia and prejudice, but if that's mental illness, then we are all mentally ill. We have all had times where we erroneously generalized about a group of people, whether or not we want to admit it. Even if it was for a split second. Do you know people are afraid to come up to me in school and talk to me because I'm blind? Whenever I meet people, they always say "I was just afraid I would offend you." Don't you think it's a little paranoid to think greeting someone might offend them, just cause they can't see? Does that make every single person in my school mentally ill?
People are afraid of what they don't know. That's true of everything--gay people if you've never had a balanced image of them, super-religious people if you're secular, atheists if you're super-religious, and anti-gay people if you've never had a balanced view of them, blind people if you've never met or really known a blind person, etc.
Everyone does it. It's part of human behavior. It's something we should strive not to do, but mentally speaking, it's far from abnormal.
While I don't doubt the validity of the science that shows behavior reacts to perceived health threats, I seriously doubt the validity of your specific contextual application of it to gay people. My observation has been that people who are intolerant of others don't tend to have anything with their immune system in mind; they just simply hate others who are different from them. This was the case with racists who used to own black people as slaves and hang them from trees. This was the case with chauvinists who liked to violently subjugate women. And it's still largely the case with homophobes who like to disrespect homosexuals. Whatever it is, it's certainly not hard-wired into me and many of my friends and associates.
In truth, none of these types of people pose a serious health threat to you - your odds of adverse contagious health events are probably greater with people you are around on any given day who you identify with in terms of race, class, and sexuality. So basically, everything you're telling me here is just another way to rationalize and excuse the hatred that some people feel toward others who are different from themselves. People probably made very similar arguments to yours when they supported the need to have separate drinking fountains and bathrooms for blacks back in the 1950s. "It's perfectly acceptable that we don't let those blacks pee in our toilets; we're scared we might catch something from them!" It was bunk then, and it's still horse puckey now...nice try.
"Individuals belonging to unfamiliar groups, especially those who engaged in unusual practices regarding food, cleanliness, and sex, posed a higher risk of carrying novel (and therefore particularly dangerous) infectious agents."
Is it a reading comprehension problem or willful ignorance?
A "defect"? So by your rationale your ability to shove a penis into a Vagina is normal?
You have basically compared yourself to a dog or mice since all they do is screw and replicate.
Shove? Really? And yes, that does make it normal. Ever do any plumbing, some part just don't go together.
Dogs and mice can reproduce, so can normal people.
I dont care what other people do as long as it does not effect my life or my family. But when these 'gay pride' parades take place, there are nearly naked men running around...painted in rainbow colors....and they are sometimes very lewd in their actions. Point is that there are kids around seeing this crap....that is an infringement on MY family if my kid is seeing it.
The fact is that man and woman are born with sexual parts that were made for sexual union which are ultimately designed to reproduce the species. . THAT is what is natural and normal. If people are born with a proclivity for same sex unions, then that realy is not the norm. this is not based on religion...it is based on the simple FACT of the physical makeup of a man and a woman.
Again....I don't care what people do with their private lives...I don't even care about gay marriage. But don't try to tell me that gay sex is normal. If that makes me homophobic in your mind then I really don't give a damn. I could label you just as easily.
Homophobes frequently refer to homosexuality as a mental disorder, despite there being no evidence to support that viewpoint. It is actually them, the homophobes who are mentally ill, often times relying on bogus and puerile religious doctrine to form their ill-informed viewpoints.
What do you think? Are homophobes suffering from a mental disorder?
A homophobe is someone who is afraid of becoming, or being turned into a homosexual. Yeah, that would be a bit strange and abnormal frame of mind.
Being a homosexual is also a bit strange and abnormal state of mind for a member of any species to be in. It's normal in nature, for a member of any species of mammal to want to reproduce with the opposite gender, because if homosexuality became normal, that species would soon become extinct.
A homophobe is someone who is afraid of becoming, or being turned into a homosexual. Yeah, that would be a bit strange and abnormal frame of mind.
Stop with the literal Greek breakdown. Homophobia includes more than just fear. It literally means "fear of the same." Disliking twins, by that definition could be homophobic.
Quote:
Being a homosexual is also a bit strange and abnormal state of mind for a member of any species to be in. It's normal in nature, for a member of any species of mammal to want to reproduce with the opposite gender, because if homosexuality became normal, that species would soon become extinct.
You obviously do not understand biology if you think this. Evolution does not work at the individual level, it works on populations. Not every individual must reproduce for a population to evolve and spread. Homosexuality is a natural evolutionary mechanism to control populations and encourage social behavior.
Over 1500 animal species have been observed as engaging in homosexual behavior, including lions, giraffes, penguins, and apes. It's especially common among social animals. It has evolutionary benefits including social bonding, increased female fertility, care for sibling children, etc.
You also ignore the fact that homosexuals are not sterile. Many gay men have biological children.
labeling objections to bad behavior, as a mental disorder, is not helpful to a healthy society.
what people do in private is their own biz, public behavior has standards which need to be upheld. gay pride parades have repeatedly missed the standard.
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It was bunk then, and it's still horse puckey now...nice try.
For me....
