Words add and change meanings all the time (like "cool", "hot", etc.). While "gay" used to mean happy - and still does in certain contexts - it has gained several additional meanings these days, one of which is homosexuality and another of which is stupidity. The original poster is 17, by the way. Are you much older, by chance?
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, I think you are working too hard to take offense at a word whose origin is not nearly as important as its meaning. "Denigrate" means "to disparage" and is negative. But no one using it cares a whit what its derivation is. You might also be offended by the word "niggardly" (which means "stingy") and expressions like "a black cloud hung over his head," but the language has evolved the way it is and words have meanings completely apart from their component parts. In Russian, the word for "German" means "deaf," because the first Russians to speak to Germans couldn't make themselves understood so they thought Germans must be deaf (at least, that's the story my Russian teacher taught me).
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, You sound like you're very angry with a whole group of people you don't even know. If you replace "high society" with "black" in your response, perhaps you can see how prejudiced it might sound to other people. "High society" people are just like other people. Some are snotty, some are not. Most of them don't want to be part of a "scandal". If I communicate differently with different people it's because different situations demand different behavior. I always try to respect people - no matter what socio-economic class they are in - with whom I am speaking because that is the way I wish to be spoken to, and I teach my children the same thing.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Let's turn the comment around. If Tiger Woods said that the presence of more blacks in golf would result in more blacks being interested in golf, I don't think anyone would disagree (I have heard commentators make this very point on TV). Certainly the Williams sisters have had a similar effect on tennis. Bird's comment is only questionable because it talks about having more white players, which automatically sounds racist. I don't think there's anything wrong with what he said. And I guarantee you that if an openly gay player were to become a part of the NBA, there would be a huge increase in attendance by gay people.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Where is your evidence for this 'inextricable link' between sexual orientation and (opposite) gender specific behavior? I and hundreds of gay men that I know naturally act exactly like straight men and have no feminine traits other than being sexually attracted to men. Some gay men do; some straight men have typically feminine traits too. Orientation and behavior are loosely linked, not 'inextricably linked'.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, I have in the past been on both sides of anal sex. There was one man I dated with whom I enjoyed receiving it, probably because it stimulated my prostate just the right way, and another man with whom I enjoyed giving it, probably because he was limber and made it very easy. But throughout my life I have generally not liked it because it is uncomfortable, and there are plenty of others ways to have sex without it.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, You say "People against same-sex marriage believe it will damage society.' How exactly will it damage society? If you were to fall in love with a woman, marry her and have a family, how exactly would the fact that your neighbors were two married gay men affect your family? You say "that it will further damage the institution of marriage." Again, exactly how would two women marrying have any effect on your marriage, or any other marriage? You say "that it will further encourage young gay people to enter a lifestyle that gay rights opponents consider degrading, destructive and sinful." These gay rights opponents consider promiscuous sex sinful, so why wouldn't committed sex be better? Actually, they consider gay sex to be sinful no matter whether it is committed or not, and they do not want a gay man to marry their daughter, so they really want gay people to commit themselves to a life of loneliness and chastity. Is it any wonder that gay people object? Personally I think straight people have a lot to answer for in the way of destroying marriage ("Do you want to marry a millionaire?", 80-year-old movie stars marrying 20-year-old women, etc.). Also, abortion does personally affect men (since without it they would be fathers) and racism does personally affect whites (since they get advantages over blacks).
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, The short answer is "no." Speaking as a man, sexual attraction to others does not "turn off" after falling in love (although acting on it does). Speaking as a gay man, being attracted to men does not stop or change after falling in love. Your friend may love you and have good sex with you, but he'll never stop being attracted to men.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, I don't think it's abnormal to be attracted to a particular kind of person. I am white and like Hispanic men best, have dated both black and white men, and am not attracted to redheads. Go figure. Some gay men only like "bears," some only like "fems." And I know a few black men who only date white men. It's no big deal.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Brittany is 15 years old, and young people like to see life as black or white. Teens tend to think they know everything. They don't. Religion in combination with youth can lead to a harsh and destructive attitude, and Brittany has tons of that. To answer her question, the world is slowly coming to the realization that people are entitled to live their lives as they choose, and every human being has the same human rights as every other, regardless of whether one religion or another disapproves. By the way, I agree with her in that I don't think homosexuality is genetic; I believe it is a function of the prenatal environment. To think it is a concious choice, however, is simply childish.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Whether you are driven by fear or anger or simply righteousness, gay people are threatened by your comments. We are not drunks, and our behavior is not inappropriate to us. It may well be inappropriate to you, however, we live in a free society where you do not have the right to curtail my freedoms simply because you are offended by my actions. I have values, I have a family, and my children are well taken care of, so you needn't worry about their long-term health. In fact, my children will grow up without the vitriolic us-vs.-them philosophy you have, and I daresay they will be all the healthier for it.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, If that's the criteria then to be fair we shouldn't necessarily call anyone 'straight' just for feeling attracted to the opposite sex. So a horny 18 year old boy whose eyes bulge out as a girl walks by is neither 'straight' nor 'gay'? Of course not. Being gay, just like being straight or bisexual, is about who you are attracted to and not who you have sex with, or whether you have sex at all. As for sexual preferences changing, that's an interesting theory but of little practical value other to give parents of homosexuals hope and make parents of heterosexuals fearful. If it does happen it's pretty rare; for the most part people remain attracted to the same gender their whole lives (which is not to say that they try to fool everyone, including themselves, when they are young).
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Medical science uses facts, not faith, to make decisions. Just because science can't 'guarantee' that a given method will work (in reality there is no such thing as a 'guarantee') doesn't mean that that method is no better than any other method. Some methods are measurably better than others. By the way, as an adult you are entitled to rely on faith and deny yourself proper medical care based on religious beliefs, but I do not think you should be allowed to make those decisions for minors.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Were any of the people in your class gay? Have you consulted any gay people to test your prediction that they agree with you? Just because you all disagreed with your teacher doesn't make you all right and him/her wrong. Isn't it possible that people who are older than you and have lived being gay (not just talked about it) and people who have studied homosexuality know more about it than some high school students in Oklahoma?
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Long ago being left-handed was considered sinful by Christians (something to do with Satan being associated with the left). Today we know that handedness is determined by nature, not nurture, but back then, children were punished for using their left hands to write with. They did it anyway, in secret, and pretended to be right-handed when they had to. No one chose to be left-handed, and no one chooses to whom they are attracted. I know it is hard to believe, but it is as hard for me to comprehend how you could be attracted to women as it is for you to comprehend how I could be attracted to men. Churches are administered by people, people who sometimes make mistakes. It wasn't that long ago that churches condemned interracial marriages and endorsed segregation. It is good that you are thinking about what they are teaching now.
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Name : James D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 47, City : Summit, State : NJ Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, 
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