"The NBA’s Jason Collins says he’s gay"

[Spider-Dan]

No one is calling anyone a bigot because they disapprove of a lifestyle.

Sure they are!  Look at Wallace being hammered by the media simply becasue he says he doesn't understand why a man would want to be with a man when there are so many beautiful women around.  He didn't even say he was against gay marriage, nor that he even disapproved of the lifesyle.

Context matters.

Is it racist to tweet statistics on the black vote for black candidates?  Not particularly.
Is it racist to tweet them the day Obama wins the election?  It sure doesn't help.
Wallace's timing was poor, to say the least.

That all being said, I don't believe in any such thing as bigotry when it comes to one's personal preference in mates.  Whether you're a Hispanic man who exclusively dates Asian women or a white woman who only dates within her race, I say: whatever floats your boat.  I believe Wallace's statements were meant to apply to his own personal preferences, but it was dumb to tweet that right after the first player in a major pro sport comes out.  The timing implies malice, even though I don't think that was the intent.

[Phishfan]

You should run a litmus test on the statement to see if it holds up as being inoffensive.. lets try an example:

he says (and i'm quoting you because for our purposes it works fine)
is this bigoted ? (yes / no)

replace man/woman with white/black and correcting for gender to remove homosexuality as a factor

is this bigoted ? (yes / no)

if your answers don't match in both cases yes/yes or no/no .. please explain why

Terrible example Fau and I think you understand that. While I do appreciate black women and have had encounters with them, personally I prefer white women. Now, If I am attracted to white women more and do not "understand" why other people prefer black women I am not a bigot. I just do not feel the same way. I said nothing against the practice.

[Spider-Dan]

You should run a litmus test on the statement to see if it holds up as being inoffensive.. lets try an example:

he says (and i'm quoting you because for our purposes it works fine)
is this bigoted ? (yes / no)

replace man/woman with white/black and correcting for gender to remove homosexuality as a factor

is this bigoted ? (yes / no)

if your answers don't match in both cases yes/yes or no/no .. please explain why

I don't agree with this litmus test; dating preferences should not be examined for political correctness.  To wit:

"he doesn't understand why a white man would want to be with a white woman when there are so many beautiful Asian women around."
"he doesn't understand why a black man would want to be with a white woman when there are so many beautiful black women around."
"he doesn't understand why a Hispanic woman would want to be with a Hispanic man when there are so many beautiful Hispanic women around."

Are we to categorize those in order of offensiveness?

[Phishfan]

  I believe Wallace's statements were meant to apply to his own personal preferences, but it was dumb to tweet that right after the first player in a major pro sport comes out.  The timing implies malice, even though I don't think that was the intent.

While I agree it was dumb, you are completely contradictory in the second part of your statement. People can shout semantics all they want but I know your arguments well enough to call this out to see what you mean. If it implied malice, he meant it. If people infer malice, it is on them for reading too much into his statement.

[Spider-Dan]

Terrible example Fau and I think you understand that. While I do appreciate black women and have had encounters with them, personally I prefer white women. Now, If I am attracted to white women more and do not "understand" why other people prefer black women I am not a bigot. I just do not feel the same way. I said nothing against the practice.

I think you've hit on something with your statement.

Had Wallace said, "I could never be gay because there are just too many hot women around," that would be a non-story.  It's when one questions why others do what they do that you start to tread into the dangerous area.

So yeah, if you said something like, "I don't understand why anyone would want to date black women," that would probably not be good.

[Phishfan]

I think you've hit on something with your statement.

And you in your response as well.

[Spider-Dan]

While I agree it was dumb, you are completely contradictory in the second part of your statement. People can shout semantics all they want but I know your arguments well enough to call this out to see what you mean. If it implied malice, he meant it. If people infer malice, it is on them for reading too much into his statement.

Well, "the timing infers malice" makes no sense, as the timing can't infer anything at all.

I guess if you prefer the sentence reworded as "malice is inferred from his timing," consider it done.

[stinkyfish]

Neither is abnormal from a biological or evolutionary standpoint.

Just a note, this is a fact. It's not an opinion.

I beg to differ

We as a species clearly evolved with homosexuality being found in about 10% of the population.

ab·nor·mal
[ab-nawr-muhl]
adjective
1. not normal, average, typical, or usual; deviating from a standard

I wouldn't call 10% average, typical, or usual. If 10% of the population gets cancer. Are cancer cells normal or abnormal cells? The biological purpose of sex is survival of the species. Therefore, biologically homosexuality serves no purpose.

[Spider-Dan]

You say that as if biological functionality should be an important factor.

What is the biological function of an infertile person?  Of braces?  Of hairspray?  Of music?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

What is the biological function of an infertile person?

None.  But they are also abnormal. 

[CF DolFan]

Im glad someone hit on the "normal" aspect. While I agree "normal" is a relative term I hardly believe homosexuality would be considered the norm. Interacting with them may be a normal occurrence for most people but that's completely different.

[Spider-Dan]

Upon further reflection, I'm going to have to retract the following statement:

No one is calling anyone a bigot because they disapprove of a lifestyle.

If someone disapproves of the "desegregated college lifestyle" or the "interracial marriage lifestyle" or the "voting woman lifestyle," I think they likely will be called a bigot, and rightly so.

So then, it's a matter of degrees:

- it is politically acceptable to choose to date exclusively within your own race (or outside of it)
- it is politically acceptable to date whichever sex you prefer
- it is politically acceptable to choose not to vote
- it is not politically acceptable to try to control who other consenting adults date
- it is not politically acceptable to attempt to prevent qualified "undesirables" from voting

[Spider-Dan]

Im glad someone hit on the "normal" aspect. While I agree "normal" is a relative term I hardly believe homosexuality would be considered the norm. Interacting with them may be a normal occurrence for most people but that's completely different.

What percentage of the earth's population are Pacific Islanders?  How about the U.S. population?

I daresay both are well under 1%.  How should our legislation reflect this?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Im glad someone hit on the "normal" aspect. While I agree "normal" is a relative term I hardly believe homosexuality would be considered the norm. Interacting with them may be a normal occurrence for most people but that's completely different.

Homosexual is not "normal", but neither is believing that Jesus walked on water. 

[stinkyfish]

You say that as if biological functionality should be an important factor.

Fau Teixeira brought up the biological standpoint, as noted below. The absurd "fact" not based on fact, that homosexuality is not abnormal from a biological standpoint. The purpose of sex is reproduction and survival of the species. Biologically, homosexuality has no purpose and therefore abnormal.

Neither is abnormal from a biological or evolutionary standpoint.

Just a note, this is a fact. It's not an opinion.

What is the biological function of an infertile person? 

As already noted by Hoodie, infertility is an abnormal condition.

Of braces?  Of hairspray?  Of music?

None of those have anything to do with the topic.