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LGBT News President Obama support same sex marriage in youtube interview

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by RainDreamer, Jan 24, 2015.

  1. RainDreamer

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    [YOUTUBE]GbR6iQ62v9k[/YOUTUBE]

    Best start here when he talks about his personal view for same sex marriage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbR6iQ62v9k&feature=youtu.be&t=24m

    At one point (25:07) he say something like "if you disagree with their lifestyle choice, the facts that matters is that they are not bothering you." [Emphasis mine]

    A conservative new source cite this as proof that obama thinks homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, though watching the video in context I think it is more like he was saying it within air quotes. What do you think?
     
    #1 RainDreamer, Jan 24, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2015
  2. Austin

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    Why do people even give a crap if it's a lifestyle choice or not?
     
  3. Linthras

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    Because if it's a choice, it's something subjective and fickle and people can just choose not do/be it and there's no reason to protect that choice through legislation and rights.
     
  4. Skaros

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    Yea it bothered me that he said something about a choice, but at least he's still supportive of it.
     
  5. BryanM

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    I don't think he was talking about it as a lifestyle choice there, I think he was talking about others who do consider it one.
     
  6. Pret Allez

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    I know we've had this debate before, but I'll lay out my position again, unpopular as it might be.

    The nature versus nurture debate is a fruitless one for us as a community and it is capitulating to the forces of hatred. Let's suppose we convince the general public (which still has a very substanial hateful minority) that homosexuality is an innate characteristic. Then we can argue that we ought not be politically disadvantaged on that account. But the other problem it raises is that then it can simply be argued, "well, it may not be a choice, but it is a disease." That's why we still have to fight against conversion therapy, and that's why conversion therapy isn't illegal nation-wide. Now why in the world would we argue that being gay isn't a choice, and it's not a disease? (Rather than the much simpler argument that as queer people we are upstanding citizens with an interest in raising children, and that we are ethical members of the community who deserve legal and financial protection of our relationships.) We haven't made a whole lot of headway with this argument. And the implication raised by the disease component plays into their hatred, and it gives them another way to say that we're broken people.

    Now suppose on the other side we said that in some instances homosexuality might be a choice. (And here, I'm not going to deal with stupid equivocations about homosexual orientation and attraction being a choice versus "acting on it." This is also a stupid distinction.) If we say maybe it is a choice for some people, then it doesn't help us immediately in the political arena, because we are ceding the ground of "immutable characteristics" deserving the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. But then again, it's unlikely that as "diseased" people we were going to fully enjoy that protection anyway! By acknowledging for some people it might be a choice, sure it's not politically expedient, but it also gives us a chance to put the hateful on the defensive. In particular, it forces them to explain why homosexuality is a "bad choice." Similarly, it gives us a chance to explain that homosexuality is a good and ethical choice.

    I think science is converging quickly on "the answer," which is that homosexuality is not a choice. But my whole point in this conversation is I think we should stop entertaining the debate about whether it's a choice or not altogether.
     
    #6 Pret Allez, Jan 24, 2015
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2015