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Jews! Gays! Jews and Gays!
Very nice piece this morning in the Wall Street Journal: an orthodox rabbi’s perspective on homosexuality. Unfortunately it’s behind the subscriber wall but if you can get your hands on a copy, take a look. I don’t agree that homosexuality offends God (if it did, he wouldn’t let them write all the good show tunes) but I love the rabbi’s classically Jewish sweetness and compassion, his willingness to negotiate with God to try to get the Big Guy to see things from our perspective a little. I was also taken aback by the idea – which he ascribes to Pat Robertson and other evangelicals – that homosexuality is “the greatest threat to marriage and the family.” Comes as a surprise to me. Frankly, the greatest threat to my shockingly blissful marriage has always been heterosexuality – namely mine and its indiscriminate attractions. Am I missing something here?
Published in General
You don’t choose to desire the opposite sex or not desire the same sex…
I myself feel I had some choice in my orientation.
You courageously raise some interesting topics. As I watch what appears in the scientific literature on this topic, I remain predisposed to speculate that, generally, there is no ontological (versus functional-behavioral) categorization of “gay” or “homosexual” any more than there are “parking meter violators” or “tennis players.” I am open to the demonstration of biological influences at any developmental stage, but am very skeptical of genetic determinants. The gratification of sexual desires is so powerfully rewarding, and the human capacity for creative and volitional associative learning is so great, that we are able to attach sexual significance to just about anything. In artificial social and economic environments (like dormitories) or under a deficit of marriage and family-generating opportunities, the sexual goals of the young can easily become misdirected. Were the previously mentioned biological influences even shown to be great, it would not argue for the creation of almost certainly dangerous, novel, social, political and legal experiments: oppressive burdens on me that threaten social-economic-criminal punishment.
…I’ve always thought a true family values conservative would see same-sex marriage as right in line with their way of thinking, and also as something the government has no right to restrict…”Only Nixon could go to China.” ·Oct 18 at 9:40am
Just to tune up one minor point at the outset, we probably should not say that governments possess “rights.” They do, on the other hand, possess powers. Further, this is a case where–just as a statement of Constitutional fact–governments do have the power to regulate. I would be curious to how you make a direct comparison of your premises and conclusions vis-à-vis those within the comments of the more traditionalist Ricochet members and Contributors when dealing with similar topics.
…conversus interruptus?