A discussion about me over at Wayne Besen’s blog has turned into a debate over whether homosexuality is normal and natural. I thought I might weigh in on that debate.
Besen wrote: “Finally, homosexuality is normal, in that is a fairly constant percent of the population. It is also natural, as it occurs in nature.”
Well, pretty much, yes. I have not seen any studies that show that homosexuality “is a fairly constant percent of the population.” That seems more of an ideological statement than a scientific one. But in the 21st century, gay orientations appear to happen throughout society, and across space and time there is wide evidence of people engaging in relations with members of the same sex and entering loving relationships with members of the same sex. As for occurring in nature - i.e. the animal kingdom, there is tremendous evidence of same-sex intercourse in many different species (though no proof of gay orientations in any animal but Homo sapiens).
(On the other hand, Besen’s statement that the existence of homosexuals “is a norm in every known society” is simply ignorant. He should read some of the great works of gay social science by historians and anthropologists like Jonathan Ned Katz, Esther Newton, and John D’Emilio, all of whom are gay or lesbian themselves. No scholar with a Ph.D. in gay history or anthropology working at an American university today thinks there were gay and lesbian people with homosexual orientations in every society across time and space. Gay orientations have only existed for the last 150 years or so. Before 1860 there were certainly same-sex relationships, same-sex love, and same-sex intercourse. But those people didn’t have gay or lesbian orientations in anything near the way we use the terms today.)
So I agree that gay sex is both normal and natural. But just because something is normal and natural doesn’t make it moral, right, or good. In fact, in my religion (Orthodox Judaism) often something is moral precisely because it is abnormal and unnatural. Who, exactly, thinks we should define as moral the behaviors of people before and outside Judeo-Christian civilization, as well as widely observed practices in the animal kingdom? If we did, it would be moral to punish poor people more harshly than rich people. Infanticide would be moral. So would murder of the weakest members of society. Human sacrifice? Go for it.
Most people are appalled by the refusal of bystanders to come to Kitty Genovese’s defense. Yet the “normal” behavior in that situation was to ignore her plight. The abnormal response - and the moral one - would have been to try and save her.
I believe gay sex is normal, natural, and immoral. I believe same-sex relationships are normal, natural, and mostly immoral. So arguing in favor of same-sex marriage because homosexuality is normal and natural is not going to be terribly convincing for someone like me.
Side note: I’m annoyed that I feel I have to respond to Wayne Besen’s ongoing campaign of lies about me, but since I’m linking to yet another one of his blatantly false screeds, I thought I should point out what’s not true. I never demanded that Besen pay for my ticket. (If I did, Besen should be able to produce E-mail evidence of his allegation, since we have not had a live conversation in years.) The two main reasons I decided not to pay my own way to go to NLGJA are both Besen’s fault in part or in whole. Besen announced that I was invited to be on the panel to be a “stage horse” - to be laughed at. I was concerned that might be true and asked NLGJA’s president and he said it wasn’t… and then I found out Besen was scheduled to be on my panel. I’m not willing to spend my money to serve on a panel with someone who says I’m there essentially as a buffoon. Second, I was justifying the expense of attending in part by the potential customers I might sign up for my gay-press column who would be in attendance. But Besen and some of his colleagues have been calling gay newspapers to urge, cajole, and even threaten them to cancel or never run my work, so I decided to refocus my efforts on mainstream newspapers, which pay better and reach more people. So at this point there’s just no point in my spending money to attend.
The notion that Besen considers me a “coward” yet bans me from commenting at his Web sites to respond to his lies about me is ludicrous. Besen is welcome at GaysDefendMarriage.com. What is he afraid of in letting me post at his sites?
Commenting on the same story at Besen’s other site, Truthwinsout.com, he writes “mainstream newspapers don’t pay for op-eds. It seems that Bianco may be misleading people as far as getting paid by these publications.” Uh, no. I already told Besen via E-mail how much a few papers have paid me for opinion pieces. He could have called them to verify. But anyone who knows anything about opinion writing for major newspapers knows that the biggest publications all pay. I have sold op-eds to various daily newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Post, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and more. The pay ranges from $50 to $400 per piece. That Besen would do no investigation but still raise suspicions I may be misleading people because of his own ignorance of industry standards shows the shoddy quality of his “research” about me.
Finally, I E-mailed him that I will be in Spokane for a friend’s wedding in September and then in Seattle to visit my Dad (who lives there) around that time, and he uses that as evidence I live like a “rootless hobo.” Going to a friend’s wedding and visiting one’s parent makes one a hobo? Getting a little desperate to find things to criticize me about, are you? Please.