Creepo pervs & the great gay debate

Not being gay myself, I wouldn’t dare assume to know what gay people think. But I’m a compassionate individual and an observer of the world around me. In my opinion, there’s two kinds of gay people: those who were born that way and those who choose to be gay.

What’s that you say? I’m coping out on the world’s most controversial topic since Tastes Great vs. Less Filling? I don’t think of it as a copout…more like my way of saying everybody is right.

There are those who will tell you homosexuality is in your DNA–some people are born gay and some are not. I believe there are a lot of things out of an individual’s control. I wish I was taller. And no matter how much milk I drink or much I practice, I’ll never get taller. I think it’s the same way for a lot of gay folks. I don’t choose to be short; they don’t choose to be gay. Life can’t be easy as a homosexual. There’s the ridicule from parents and friends. They ugly stereotypes portrayed in Hollywood. The ruthless beatings from small-minded brutes. Why would anyone choose that lifestyle? All your inert desires contradict everything our society teaches about love. I can’t imagine the burden and conflict within. Surely no one chooses to live that life. At least no one who takes it seriously.

Which brings me to my second gay person: the kind homo who chooses to be that way. I’ve know a lot of girls who thought it was ‘cool’ to date another girl. I don’t think they were necessarily attached to women–they were just more open than I am (I never thought it would be cool to date a guy…except maybe Derek Jeter). I’m not sure why they do it. Maybe it’s for the shock value of freaking out their friends and parents. Maybe it’s because they wanna try something different. Maybe they merely want to double their dating pool. Regardless, there’s a larger number of “gay” people out there who I don’t believe are genetically driven to be gay. Lindsay Lohan is great example of this. That girl ain’t gay. Maybe it’s all the drugs. Maybe it’s backlash from being a child actress. Maybe she’s doing it to keep her name in the papers. But a girl like that is not predestined to date women. Her girlfriend is (she looks like a man). But Lindsay is just your typical screwed up/confused/egotistical 20-year old diva.

It’s a shame because the Lindsay Lohan’s of the world really screw it up for the Ellen DeGeneres’s. The right-wing evangelicals see Lohan on the cover of “People” and think all gay people are like that. Meanwhile, there’s thousands of confused teenagers girls who hate themselves because they aren’t attracted to Brad Pitt. If it was for the attention-grabbing flamboyant queers out there, the closet homosexuals would probably be more comfortable accepting themselves.

That being said, I saw something once “Law & Order” that got me thinking (that is a whole lot of exposition for the point I really set out to make). Assuming one has no choice about being gay (and I’d say you’d hafta be pretty closed minded to not think that way), that means one’s sexual desires and interests are substantially determined by their genetic code. So if some people are born gay, can others be born a pedophile?

I’m sure this isn’t a groundbreaking perspective–but it’s something very much to think about. I don’t want to make excuses or have sympathy for anyone who attacks a child, but what if those people truly didn’t have a choice? It’s easy to label someone a pervert, sicko, or freak. Maybe that helps us all sleep better at night knowing that anyone who would do such a thing is unquestionably evil and a social deviant. But did anyone every really look and research why pedophiles feel the way they do (probably not: no self-respecting individual or organization would ever create a grant for research like that).

Do pedophile know what they’re doing is wrong? Not just in the eyes of the law but in the grand scheme of things before god and what’s just in the world? I would have to think the majority of them know it’s wrong. I’m willing to be even some of them feel guilty afterwards (I know I feel a little dirty after sex acts that are considered perfectly normal). If the pervert knows he’s doing something wrong and doesn’t want to do it, isn’t that the definition an addict? Smokers know cigarettes cause cancer. Alcoholics know not to drive drunk. There’s sympathy for the ‘victims’ of these uncontrollable urges…what if pedophiles are driven by the genetic encryption? It doesn’t excuse anything–but it certainly would help explain their behaviour.