Posted on 06/20/2014 10:51:02 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Texas Gov. Rick Perry probably shouldn't have attempted to make the case that gay people can "decide not to" be gay despite genetic predisposition, he conceded Thursday, offering no semblance of an apology but trying instead to rally attention back to his message about jobs and the economy.
"I got asked about an issue," Perry, a Republican, explained during a lunch hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "And instead of saying, 'You know what? We need to be a really respectful and tolerant country - to everybody - and get back to talking about: Whether you're gay or straight, you need to be having a job.' And those are the focuses I want to be involved with.
"Instead," he went on, "I readily admit - I stepped right in it."
Perry was asked during an appearance in San Francisco last week whether he believes homosexuality is a disorder. He seized the opportunity to liken "the homosexual issue" with the physically debilitating disease of alcoholism.
"Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not," he said, "you have the ability to decide not to do that. I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that. And I look at the homosexual issue the same way."
The remark, delivered during an appearance at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club, drew "murmurs of disbelief" from the audience, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, though it merely echoed a similar comparison he made in his 2008 book, "On My Honor."
It's not the first time Perry - who's currently chewing over a 2016 White House run - has "stepped in it," nor is it the first time he's turned that particular phrase.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Excellent deductive reasoning. Clearly the queer lobby is not interested in any form of the truth. Their single campaign is to discredit those who consider marriage a sacred relationship between a man and a woman, Christians, and anyone who does not adhere to the belief that queerdom is the happiest state of man kind.
His comments were appropriate and had the added virtue of being correct.
The alcoholic Native American still has a responsibility as an adult to try and control his behavior.
We all have our weaknesses. A genetically inherited weakness, if it exists, is not a license to do the wrong thing.
If that's true then autism should have died out long ago as well since the number of autistic adults producing children is very low.
I agree. It is a good analogy. Alcoholics are addicted to alcohol. Gays are addicted to _____ . ....: )
Indeed - nearly all homosexuals are addicts of one kind or another, alcohol, drugs, sex
Let’s say homosexuality has a genetic element ( for arguments sake ), what follows? Should we celebrate it?
If Pedophilia has a genetic element, should we celebrate it too?
This mistake in thinking a naturalistic fallacy. You can’t get an “ought” from an “is.”
Even if homosexuality is natural, it doesn’t prove it OUGHT to be. You can replace homosexuality with Pedophilia or Alcoholism and the argument would be the same.
And scientists who are attempting to prove homosexuality is inborn agree.
Harvard geneticist Dean Hamer, himself a homosexual, says, “Biology is amoral; it offers no help in distinguishing between right and wrong. Only people guided by their values and beliefs can decide what is moral and what is not.”
Simon LeVay, a Harvard trained neuroscientist and also openly gay, concurs: “First, science itself cannot render judgments about human worth or about what constitutes normality or disease. These are value judgments that individuals must make for themselves, while taking scientific findings into account.”
The MORAL issue as to what predisposition our society should accept as normal in order for it to be beneficial to society is an entirely separate issue altogether.
It will now lie on MORAL FOUNDATIONs.
If our country’s MORAL foundation is going to be Judaeo-Christian and we still want to preserve that foundation, then we will say that homosexual acts are wrong and immoral.
If not... well I guess anything goes. One man’s meat becomes another man’s poison and it will all depend on who is in power.
RE: Alcoholics are addicted to alcohol. Gays are addicted to _____ . ....: )
Clever gays will take issue with this.
They will then turn around and say, why can’t you say heterosexuals are addicted to ___________.....?
I think Shakespeare wrote it best
Shall I compare thee to someone gay?
Thou art more lovely and don’t have some other guy’s penis in your behind.
Are you Rick Perry in real life? If so, I’m just letting you know I am available as a communications and strategy consultant for a sizable fee.
Are you Rick Perry in real life? If so, I’m just letting you know I am available as a communications and strategy consultant for a sizable fee.
It was a PERFECT analogy. Anyone who protests should be asked if they are saying that homosexuals are addicted to sex in the same way they need to breathe and eat.
I like Perry believe that gays are born that way (although it's a spectrum and not black and white) but in the end it's the CHOICE to act on that born predisposition that is wrong.
but equating those things is false, - see my post #5. Genes that altered how our ancestors metabolized alcohol would not have prevented them from reproducing, but having genes that caused them to avoid hetero sex would have.
The gay gene was first identified in 1993 as a correlation between the genetic marker Xq28 and gay male sexuality. The results of this original study were never replicated, and the biological reality of such an entity remains hypothetical. However, despite such tenuous provenance, the gay gene has persisted as a reference in science news, popular science writings, and in press releases and editorials about biomedical research.
One can debate the right or wrong of his beliefs, but one thing that obvious is only an idiot would take the bait of a question like this and run with it. Still not ready for prime time.
That said, if it were some part of the genetic makeup, some who may have that gene and don't act on it (i.e. don't give in to their homosexual urges or just grow out of them) may have families and pass it on.
I don't think there will ever be a way of proving for sure, but if I had a child who thought he/she were gay, I'd be getting some psychiatric help for them ASAP.
More gay newsroom activists waging a war of hysteria.
Heck they could even both get sex changes if they wanted and I would still be ok with it, as long as they were with someone who was born the opposite sex.
Our politicians need to quit sweeping this stuff under the rug IMHO. Our civilization is under attack from all sides and someone is going to have to lead.
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