According to 23 and Me genetic research, I am among the less than two-tenths of one percent of all human beings who have blue eyes and red hair.
I don’t like the taste of asparagus but do like jalapeno peppers. Speaking of eating, I eat one item on the plate at a time, which seems odd to some people. I don’t like coffee and I don’t smoke, although I am somewhat addicted to Diet Cokes. I don’t wear jewelry, and I’m not sexually attracted to women with large boobs. My IQ is around 130, I read about 100 pages per hour, and I’m analytical. I am a natural introvert.
Why am I like this? I don’t know that one learns to like spicy foods or get turned off by buxom ladies. I certainly didn’t opt for red hair and the ridicule I got in grade school for being different from the other kids. Sometimes I wished I was less analytical.
As Lady Gaga said, “I was born this way”.
My wife Charlie is unlike me in most ways. Charlie likes coffee, jewelry, asparagus, is impulsive and is a slow reader. She is an extrovert, people love her, and she loves to love people.
She was born that way.
We two “opposites” have been married now for about 48 years. I think that proves that there is room here on earth for people of all types to enjoy the wonderful diversity of the human species. As the French say, “Vive la difference!”
A bill was passed by the Florida legislature and recently signed by Governor DeSantis which prohibits sexual orientation from being discussed in Florida public schools. It’s called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the idea being, I suppose, that if homosexuality is not discussed in school, that it will… go away.
It seems to me that a lot of people (particularly Conservatives and Christians) think that being gay, for instance, is a choice. I believe that there has been sufficient genetic and behaviorial study done in the past thirty years to indicate that homosexuality is a sexual preference wired into the person similar to my curious dislike of asparagus. There is no single “gay gene”, just like there is no “asparagus gene”, but there are clues in the research to indicate that several genes in combination with others may affect same-sex attraction.
Choosing to be gay, to be different from your peers, to subject oneself to ridicule, physical intimidation and even death threats … would be a very poor “choice”: only an idiot would do it. It would be as ridiculous as someone “choosing” to be an Albino, to have a cleft palate, to be deaf and blind, or to be poor.
If children are not educated about the differences in human beings and how it’s okay, for example, to have red hair, then those people who are different from most people in the community will be viewed as wrong, in some way. This leads to persecution of a minority, and we all know where that ends up. Oriental people, for example, have been subject to horrible atrocities in the U.S. since the Covid-19 pandemic was blamed on China. The people getting attacked are American citizens, for Heaven’s sake.
If children who are wired differently than others are perceived to be defective or Satan’s Spawn, then they will have less self-confidence, will withdraw socially, and consider self-destructive things. Suicide rates are high for sexually confused pre-teens and teens. If they were taught that differences in human beings are normal and, in fact, wonderful, then they would view their existence in a more positive way.
If everybody was like everybody else, what a boring place earth would be!
Charlie and I have known many gay people over the years, have socialized with them in our/their homes, and have relatives who are gay. There’s nothing wrong with them; they’re just wired a bit differently than us. We don’t feel threatened by their sexuality in any way, and they certainly aren’t interested in ours. So, what is the big deal?
We’re very “open” people, by the way… we even consider Trump cultists among our closest friends. They’re wired differently, too. It’s okay.
Should gays be “converted” to straight people? It’s a popular idea in the Bible Belt. The verdict on such “therapies” is that they don’t work. And why should they? The people that really need help are the folks who are afraid of gayness, dark skin color, Jews, people who speak in different languages, and things that go “Boo!” in the dark.
I used to hate my red hair because I was different from my young peers. I look at it differently as an adult, particularly since, at 74 years old, I still… have plenty of that cursed hair! I’m now proud and grateful for those genes that provided for this and feel sorry for those old school chums of mine who were dark-haired and popular… because they now have male-pattern-baldness and not much thatch on top. Hee, hee!
Thank goodness that I was born this way.