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04/30/2014
We all know you think gay people are 'same-sex attracted' and need to be chaste, Ryan; come out
Richard Evans is a gay man who chooses to be celibate because he believes his Catholic faith demands it of him. He writes:
"I have occasionally told a friend or even posted on my Facebook page that I thought a certain man was very attractive. This has scandalized a few, and they have told me so. My answer to them is always the same: 'When I chose celibacy, I did not become blind.; So try getting over the fact that I find attractive men attractive. I do. Appreciating the human form is not the sin here, whichever gender. The sin is in allowing it to lead you to lustful behavior. Let me be free enough with you that I can actually express even the less comfortable parts of myself.
Those with SSA who strive to be chaste face a daily struggle. We do not need you to “fix” us. We are working on that already, or we should be"
Befriending Those With Same-Sex Attraction: One Celibate Man’s View [Public Discourse]
"We should be" working toward a "fix"? Wow, that makes me sad to hear a gay man denying himself like this. But okay. His life.
However, when a young man who works for conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, testifies before legislatures, and tours the country advocating for discriminatory civil policy on marriage and other LGBT rights matters gets behind this view and pushes it out to the public, I do take notice. And that's exactly what Ryan T. Anderson is doing:
Ryan is not only promoting the piece on Twitter, but he is in fact the editor of the Public Discourse site that chose to push out this view. He is the driving force behind the promotion of this, an uncritical piece of advocacy for the Catholic idea that gay people are really just people with "same-sex attractions" who are fine so long as they don't "act on" them.
In Twitter exchanges with some of my pals, Ryan pretends he is simply sharing this one view and that people who push back are "discounting Richard's view." But come on! The obvious truth is that Ryan is pushing this out because he believes it to be true. This is what devout Catholic Ryan wants for LGBT people. He admitted as much, back when he was still in college and his words were of less liability to a larger political movement.
But let's be clear: just like the gay man who is foregoing his change at love, Ryan T. Anderson has every right to advocate for gay people putting a barrier between their "same-sex attractions" and their chance at love and commitment. But the next time he testifies in front on a legislature of tells a gay man that he cannot marry in a state where he factually can, Ryan needs to spine up and admit what he more fully believes: that gay people should not "act on" being gay. It's glaringly obvious anyway.
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