Gay Marriage and the Political Psychology of Disgust

National Journal ^ | July 28, 2014 | Brian Resnick

[reaganaut1]

When Michael Sam kissed his boyfriend on television to celebrate his successful draft into the NFL, some viewers were disgusted. The charged comments that followed demonstrated that when it comes to public displays of gay affection, some people have a gut reaction to recoil. But why?

The answer to that question is not fully known, but scientists are beginning to establish an understanding of how biology and the environment may interact to form such reactions.

First, it's important to understand that disgust in humans can be good. We should recoil from the truly gross things that can harm us—festering wounds, rancid meat, and feces, to name a few examples, are dangerous incubators of infection. "Disgust is a part of what is referred to as the behavioral immune system, which protects us from dealing with items and individuals that might make us sick, that might kill us," says Patrick Stewart, a political scientist at the University of Arkansas (and not of X-Men, Star Trek fame).

But it's not adaptive when healthy groups of people are reacted to in the exact same way as if they were pathogens.

Here's the state of the science of disgust right now. Conservatives are thought to have a greater propensity to be disgusted than liberals do. Many studies corroborate this idea (see here, here, and here). One illustrative study in 2011 found that people who were more physiologically disgusted, a reaction that was measured by skin reactions, by this photo of a man eating a mouthful of worms were also more likely to self-identify as conservative. They were also more likely to have a negative response to gay marriage.

Disgust reactions against gays are then correlated with negative attitudes toward same-sex marriage.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Not "homosexual marriage," it's "homosexual MIRAGE."

Looks like it's out there, but it's an illusion.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Since there are 50 times more heterosexuals than homosexuals, I’d imagine the pro-anal-sex propaganda is meant to encourage more of it among straights. If you’re already contraceptive-minded, it makes sense in a filthy kind of way.

[xsmommy]

yes, likely true, because one of the myths was “only dirty girls do it,” so the intent was to just make anal sex period more acceptable, with the side benefit being to mitigate against disgust towards homosexual behavior.

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[IronJack]

“Healthy groups of people ... pathogens.”

Homosexuals ARE pathogens. They are sick and they are contagious. The disgust normal people feel at observing homosexual behavior is natural. It’s also why the fags hide it behind euphemism and false declarations of “pride.”

[LibertarianLiz]

when healthy groups of people are reacted to in the exact same way as if they were pathogens

See, this guy doesn't really get it. Homosexuals have to be treated for many diseases, many, multiple times. They are not a "healthy group of people". They die much younger than heterosexual men, probably because of the frequent recurrence of diseases that the body can fight off only so long.

Also, I'd like to point out to the brilliant researchers, that I believe "disgust" is the proper reaction to watching someone eat a mouthful of worms. How else would a person react?

[Louis Foxwell]

Liberals express far more disgust than do cnservatives. Cons are disgusted by abortion and sodomy. Liberals are digussted by conservatives.

[Salvation]

Genesis 1

English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man^[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

[rlmorel]

I agree completely, but notice that I was careful to word it “what they strive for”...:)