Dan Savage has an interesting hypothesis about anti-gay arguments based on the false premise that it’s a choice around 09:30 into this web-only interview with Keith Olbermann: The people making these argument are gay or bisexual people who have chosen to be closeted and deny their own natures.
The idea that the loudest homophobes have issues with their own sexuality is nothing new, but it’s a fascinating possibility that they argue being gay is a choice because they themselves have chosen to deny their own sexuality. They want it to be a choice as a framework for their own self-delusion, and their vitriol against the out and proud is a mix of jealousy and a real threat to the rationalization they use as a coping mechanism.
Even so, I can’t feel much sympathy for such people. They cause as much harm–maybe more–than people like Santorum who use gay rights as a hot-button issue for political or financial gain. I just hope that increasing gay visibility now inoculates future generations against hurting themselves and others because of lives constructed on such faulty premises.