Pageant contestant disqualified over strange circumstances.

[AstroFool]

I'm an oldschool Planetside player and I just found these forums. I am very excited about Planetside 2. I saw some interesting discussions with some intelligent posting and decided to sign up. I am also bi-sexual AND European (judging by the latest republican party elections, I'm not sure anymore which is worse), so I thought I'd chip in.

Sexuality is 100% genetic (bold to start off with, right?). Engaging in homosexual acts is a choice, but it's a choice that's completely natural if you're born gay. The only reason why so many feel held back about it is because they know they'll be negatively judged by some. All you need to think of is the last time you were in love with a girl (or guy, if you're a girl). To homosexuals it feels the same, except with the same sex. To deny people the right to act on these emotions would be intensely cruel.

Conservatives often claim they're fine with it, just so long as "they do it behind closed doors". What they mean is that they're actually not fine with it, but that it's easier to ignore when they don't see it. I find this hypocritical because most of the time they're completely fine with heterosexuals showing affection in public as well. You can't claim you're fine with people being gay and then condemn every act that actually defines them as such. It's like saying you don't like salads, but then don't want anyone else to eat them either (even though salads are entirely harmless). When you confront them with it, they often refer to gay pride parades, as if that somehow sums up all that homosexuals are and do. I keep having to explain that gays are naturally more extravagant due to the slight differences in brain structure and hormone levels, and that they're just acting out because they've felt discriminated for so long, but it doesn't seem to matter. Some people just don't want to understand.

There are also still plenty of fears going around, such as that it's somehow infectious. If we tolerate gays, it'll become a trend and we'll soon have men kissing each other and annoying old people with it all over the place. This is of course extreme nonsense. There's also still the fear that somehow HIV is a "gay thing", just because it was first discovered in a homosexual man in the early 80's. Of course it's already been shown over and over that this is not the case, but the fear still remains. Another fear is that of rampant liberalism in general. Tolerance of homosexuality is often guilty by association it seems. It's symptomatic of a divided culture. It's part of the ideology of that 'other group', which is the group we're supposed to hate, so therefor it must be wrong.

These fears are irrational, so they cannot be fought with rational arguments. You cannot 'enlighten' a devout conservative about these issues. The only way to make it happen seems by force, but always with a smile. In the end they will grow used to it.