Why Are Religious Conservatives So Scared of Gay Sex?

[SecularMotion]

The past year has been a remarkable one for moving the ball forward for gay rights: the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the addition of New York to the list of states where gays can marry legally, and the Obama administration first declining to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, and then going on the record opposing it as unconstitutional.

Subsequently, those on the right who are still willing to strongly oppose gay rights are becoming more shrill in their opposition. The National Organization for Marriage, which already had a gold medal in the "bigotry Olympics," felt the need to respond to these changes by appointing a new leader who had criticized the supporters of Prop. 8 in California for not being bigoted enough, saying that any rights given to gays in relationships was too marriage-like for his tastes.

What gives with all the hatred for gay people coming from conservatives, even as the rest of country is beginning to get over long-held prejudices? Part of it is just straight-up protectiveness of heterosexual privilege. Part of being conservative is relishing things (like rights) other people don’t have, and so of course they object to letting gay people have the things that straight people have always had. But quite a bit of what’s going on is that anti-gay bigotry is just one piece of a larger picture of conservative fear and loathing of all forms of sexuality.

http://www.alternet.org/story/152577/why_are_religious_conservatives_so_scared_of_gay_sex

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Part of it is if they accept gay sex, then they accept people who engage in gay sex,

and that could eventually lead to incorporation of gay individuals into their families. Like race, I see the issue as a criterion for families rejecting their own.

My own family is a collage of people of a different race, who are gay, of different religions. When families start embracing members who aren't alike, maybe then this country will really progress.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Probably for the same reasons any other homophobe

Plus the 'righteous indignation' that extreme religiosity imparts to their hate-on. Here's an interesting series of articles from PBS: The Roots of Homophobia.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/roots/

[fredamae]

3. I believe they are fascinated by it and curious...

They also feel deep guilt when they are attracted to same sex due to their years of conditioning since birth.
Further, they want to destroy anything that they fear & don't understand...

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[RKP5637]

5. K&R!!! n/t

[RZM]

6. I think part of it is biological

Maybe one of the most important parts. I believe that there is a natural aversion toward gay sexuality that can be found in many people. Some are capable of looking past it, others aren't. Many conservatives probably fall in the latter category.

[MADem]

7. It's the LAST WEDGE ISSUE!

They can't keep women barefoot and pregnant, they have to give them equal pay for equal work and "let" them join the military, they can't force people into church every Sunday, they can't wag their fingers (with any effect, anyway) at young people with tattoos and unusual clothing choices, everyone swears and runs around exposing stuff that would have gotten them arrested forty years ago, pot is being decriminalized all over town, abortion is a nonstarter due to improved birth control, and no one really gives a shit about all these issues, because they're too busy with their own lives trying to make ends meet.

What's left? What the kids used to call "Teh gay!" But much to the flaky right's disappointment, no one really gives a shit about this issue, at least not in the way they'd like. State after state is either legalizing marriage or civil unions, and surprise, surprise...the sky hasn't fallen, the ground does not open up and swallow us all whole, and the only thing that results is an improvement in the economy due to all the wedding planning expenditures, venue rentals and hotel/restaurant receipts due to the influx of wedding guests.

They're going to beat this issue to death, and slowly realize that no one gives a shit what other people do. That "shrillness" is the last expenditure of poutrage and drama by a failed effort to stem the tide of logical progression. They'll be left, pouting and panting and whimpering, with a "cause" that people simply roll their eyes at, and life will go on.

[Blue Meany]

8. I think it is about gender roles more than about sexual oreintation--

Accusations of homosexuality have for a long time been used to define the boundaries of and reinforce gender roles ("if you act like this you must be gay"). In this sense, the GLBT movement is a serious critique of traditional masculinity and femininity. Those that cling to traditional gender roles experience this as an all out assault on their way of life (because, after all, it shows that there are other possibilities than those they have chosen, which they hold to be innately "natural"). Finally, many of them, having been grown up with the threat that they are homosexual or have "homosexual tendencies" hanging over them, secretly fear that deep inside they might really be gay. To prove that they are not, they attack gays all the more fiercely.

[rrneck]

9. Money. nt

[RKP5637]

10. It's a threat to authoritarianism and indoctrination/domination of people. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

11. It is a smokescreen. They hype out about 'teh gay' to give the

impression that they are fulfilling their own religion's teachings to a tee. They like that because the Bible gets tough for them when one looks at the rules for women and the support for slavery. They do not approve of their faith's teachings, nor do thy live by them. So they pretend the entire religion is about being anti gay. All the other rules are 'antiques' or 'no longer relevant in today's world' but those few anti gay words give them a foundation to build a facade of faith upon, one that requires nothing of them, and allows them to do as they please in all areas of life and morality, as long as they keep quoting those few words against their scape goat. They do not practice, accept, or even believe most of their own 'Word Of God'. If it says 'don't do this' and they want to do that, they just talk about teh gay some more. I mean seriously, read the passages about the role of women, then tell me that any of the anti gay public women are living by the rules they ask me to live by. They are not. They should not. But they should also stop opposing my rights because of a faith they do not follow.
It is not faith, it is affectation.

[xfundy]

Because those who protest so loudly

do so to draw attention from themselves.

[xfundy]

12. Because those who protest so loudly

do so to draw attention from themselves.

[jwirr]

13. Because their god is a hateful god instead of a loving God who

accepts all.

[Thats my opinion]

14. Good question.

A number of us from the progressive arm of religion spent months in our churches fighting Prop 8 in California. We lost at the ballot box--but not by much. Somehow the Mormons combined with Hispanic conservatives and other right-wingers to eek out a victory. But it looks as if we may win in the courts, and marriage rights will again come to California. Keep the pressure on. I cannot answer for the religious right. I just think they have misconstrued what the Christian message is all about;

[laconicsax]

16. You also had the Dem presidential candidate helping the homophobes.

When the Democratic presidential candidate told a national audience, two days before the election, that he believes that "marriage is between a man and a woman" and that he isn't in favor of marriage equality, he handed the Prop 8 assholes a prepackaged advert.

BTW, I assume this is a good example of where an elected official should have kept his religious views to himself.

[darkstar3]

15. Misogyny.

[laconicsax]

17. Careful...

this isn't exactly a feminism-friendly board.

[The Doctor.]

19. Sure it is.

:shrug:

[darkstar3]

22. Stumble across GD sometime.

[laconicsax]

23. Not really.

DU doesn't tolerate overt misogyny (usually), but there's a reason that this board has a reputation for being anti-feminist.

[The Doctor.]

20. That may have something to do with it.

Though I think it's simply more incidental to their problem.

Conservatives are naturally afraid of damn near anything. Strong women scare the bejeezus out of them. Seriously, look at the bimbos they field. Conservatives can only deal with cartoon versions of successful women, not actual ones.

They don't know how to express sensuality and women that know what they like and want are simply out of their league. They're intimidated.

I believe that their misogyny is in part due to their inadequacy at expressions of sensuality. Anyone who is capable of doing so is therefore a threat, which is also why a) they can only ever picture LGBT people as 'having sex' and b) Why they're so damned afraid of them.

That's just one of my theories, but I'd put some weight on it.

[darkstar3]

21. Fear could be involved, but there's more to it than that.

You see, conservatives have invested far more effort than some other groups in ensuring that women are "lesser". In the mind of a misogynist, women have less power, less value, less humanity than men. So when a man takes on the ultra-feminine trait of liking cock...

The sad thing is, most conservatives are misogynists, but not all misogynists are conservative.

[The Doctor.]

25. And there's also latency, of course.

I'm pretty sure that most conservatives are either gay or bisexual. They're egos will not allow them to just be what they are because of the 'machismo' they are so keen to project.

Funny thing: I was talking to a religious 'conservative' once whose whole anti-gay stance was, of course, bible-based. I put Leviticus in front of him (he actually had a Bible with him) and read off a few of the other 'forbiddens' and asked him if he was going to hell. I love dealing with people in person because they can't hide from you or just ignore what you've said. In this case, he hemmed and hawed and eventually I asked him why he chose to be 'straight'. Again he said that it was because it was 'morally wrong', but then he said; "I mean, I'm sure I could suck a man's dick, and I'd swallow. If I were going to be gay.". I almost blanched, but kept composed as if 'no big deal'. I was amazed at such an admission. It told me clearly that he not only wasn't appalled to the idea, but he'd enjoy it! The only reason he was anti-gay is because of the image he felt he needed to project.
Obviously, you won't get such a candid statement out of most people, but it was so very telling.

[darkstar3]

26. I don't buy it.

I used to, but then I realized that what these "fuckin' men" are really afraid of is being treated like a woman. To be seen as a sexual object by another man scares the shit out of them, because they know how they view sexual objects.

[The Doctor.]

27. Nothing to 'buy'. It's an assortment of issues.

From one to the next it may be more of any given insecurity or behavior or another.

As for 'misogyny' causing homophobia, it doesn't directly follow. There may well be elements of what you suggest, and I can see how your hypothesis can apply, but as a singular explanation it is thin.

I'm pretty sure it's quite a number of specific aversions and insecurities all forming a cotillion of fear and hate that create a homophobe. While there are certainly individuals that may have singular issues as the one you suggest, they are likely few and far between.

[darkstar3]

28. I'm not saying it's the only issue, I'm saying it's the root.

Every homophobe is a fucked up a little snowflake, but the core is always the same.

[The Doctor.]

18. What does a conservative consider 'foreplay'?

Conservative; "What the hell is 'foreplay'?"

[fightthegoodfightnow]

24. Hypocrisy

Conservatives believe in states rights until a state enacts gat marriage.
Conservatives believe in religious freedom until some church celebrates gay marriage.
Conservatives want government out of homes unless to regulate who is in my bedroom.
Conservatives bash gays because it's the last group they still can and it's easier than talking about jobs.