Should we tolerate GAYS? No (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly; Sonali Kohlhatkar (uprisingradio.org), S.N. Walters, Tolerance Trap 1

The Tolerance Trap

Texas Governor Rick Perry, speaking in San Francisco last week, likened being gay to being an alcoholic. “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle...” he said, “you have the ability to decide not to do that.”

“I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic,” he added, “but I have the desire not to do that. And I look at the homosexual issue the same way.” 

 

His controversial remarks come on the heels of the Texas Republican Party expressing its support for so-called “reparative therapy” for homosexuality -- a discredited counseling treatment to “cure” people of homosexuality.

• AUDIO: Segment with Suzanna Walters (entire show)
• David Feldman asks, "Is Rick Perry gay?" answers, yes
• VIDEO: There IS a cure for homosexuality! (Rated R)

What's Republican Perry doing with that pig in his mouth, cannibalism, swallowing? (DFS)

 

We're here, please tolerate us

The progressive response to the idea that homosexuality is a choice is the assertion that people who are gay are born that way, perhaps with a gene that makes them prefer people of their own sex, or in Judeo-Christian terms, “God made them that way.”

Westboro Baptist vs. US Army

Northeastern University Sociology Professor Suzanna Walters has a problem with this approach. She maintains that using the “born this way” approach to gay liberation reduces the LGBT movement to one that will be happy with “tolerance” or “acceptance” by mainstream American society.

 

Gays are evil! God hates them! (Westboro)

But is tolerance something worth fighting for? In asking to be tolerated, aren’t gay rights advocates simply asking society to tolerate the LGBT community like one tolerates anything that is uncomfortable or undesirable?

What does Buddhism say?

In her ground breaking book The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Are Sabotaging Gay Equality, Walters demands liberation over acceptance and warns against declaring victory for gay rights too soon.

Analyzing pop culture’s depictions of gay characters, the marriage equality movement, scientific research into homosexuality, and religious approaches, she makes the case that nothing less than full equality and a societal transformation is worth fighting for. More

GUEST: Prof. Walters is Director of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, author of All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America.

Bob/David explain Overcome, a Christian Center for Reparative Therapy