Dear Myles:

I never heard someone say or write: “I disagree with your lifestyle”- definitely not being said regarding sexual orientation. But you heard it and your comment regarding disagreeing with immutable characteristics is brilliant, says I. It is almost humorous, absurd.

Thing with homophobia, the dislike, distaste some people have toward homosexuality, it is not a dislike a person is born with, it is “caught” from the environment, parents being the first environment and influence. Once “caught”, once such a neurological pathway has been created in the brain (the “homophobic pathway” I would term it), there it is. The purpose of laws is that no matter the pathway, people are expected to not execute their dislike in harmful behaviors.

To the title of your thread: “To examine all beliefs for truth”- my input this morning: most often homophobia is not about rational thinking (which would call for one examining those, if one chooses). What it is about primarily is a simple dislike, a distaste, a feeling, nothing more. The rationalizations after the dislike has been formed are just that, rational that tries to justify the dislike that is already there, and so, it is not reliable rational, not one that calls for examining.

anita