Straight? Gay? Bi? Does it really matter

Why are some people so concerned about sexual orientation? Is this concern a reflection of a person’s ambiguity about his or her own sexual preference? Can a person be ‘taught’ or ‘influenced’ to become gay? Everyone in class last night pretty much agrees that you can’t.

Homosexuality is considered a ‘sin’ according to many Christian religions, and remarkably, if you do a search for the terms ‘homosexuality science’ on Google, the first hit is an article titled: “The Biological Research on Homosexuality”: this ‘scientific research’ (meaning it’s not) is a segment of a book edited by a conservative Christian and published by a well-known ultra-rightwing conservative publisher, the book denies that homosexuality is natural- though biological research of the animal kingdom shows us over and over that homosexuality occurs in almost every species of animal on our planet (see National Geographic: Homosexual Activity Among Animals Stirs Debate)

Christian groups attempt to dispel this fact about homosexuality’s naturalness also turns up first in Google for ‘animal homosexuality’ (look for the word ‘myth’)

This ‘mission’ or even ‘crusade’ to ‘educate’ America’s less-educated public about homosexuality’s indecency and wrongness that religious groups have taken on shows the narrow, tunnel-vision point of view of ‘modern’ Christianity especially in the US.

Last night during our discussion of this topic, it was stated that homosexuality in Taiwan is more accepted and gay couples have fewer reservations about being ‘out’ than couples in the ‘Land of the Free’-- America.

We asked the question again, why are (a majority of) Americans so closed-minded? Why is it that in the world’s most ‘open’ culture, are so many people so unaccepting?


We also used Seinfeld, Pulp Fiction, and The ‘L’ Word to explore the themes of being gay and of homophobia- the fear of homosexuals. We went on to discuss massages and personal views of giving/receiving massages from members of the same sex and the opposite sex. At the end of class we briefly discussed transsexuals and cross-dressing.

Both of these women- Harisu- left, and Chen Lili were both formerly males.