Homosexuality: I love you, man

    There is a sizable group of people who believe that, despite all evidence, homosexuals are wrong, evil or making a choice. They also believe that they don't need to act as if homosexuals are actually people, like them.
I gotta be honest with you. This really ticks me off.
 Now you might be asking, "Shawn, you're a heterosexual. Why should this bug you so bad?" Well, it's for a verity of reasons. First of all, I have several good friends that are gay.  I'm the kind of guy who considers good friends part of my extended family, and treasures them, because really good friends are remarkably hard to find.
 Secondly, I've been treated like shit for a long time for being "different" and I can completely and happily emphasize with being crapped on for something that makes me me, because people would rather be ignorant dicks then get to know who I really am, or arrogantly assume they already do.
 Lastly because it shows a demoralizing lack of critical thinking, empathy and basic common fucking sense. I've been subjected to a ridiculous amount of bullcrap by people who think being smart is somehow wrong, and I have to tell you, I'm pretty damn tired of it. So please, allow me to share my humble view on the subject.
 So why do people have such an issue with homosexuality? Barring most of the religious reasons, I'll start with gender roles. We are generally all raised to identify with our gender. If we are boys, we usually grow up playing with action figures, playing army, stuff like that. Girls; barbie dolls, playing house, etc. This is what the foundations of our beliefs, and ultimately our whole set of perceptions are based on, that boys are supposed to act a certain way, and girls a different way. And the way humans are, is that our minds will fight to keep it that way, especially when we hit puberty and those foundations start being built on. They are further reinforced by our parents, our peers, and society in general.
  When we straight people see two guys holding hands, it creates a bit of an inner conflict with what we were raised to believe is how people are supposed to act. Some, like myself, simply incorporate this new information into our world view, find out what they can about it and accept it, because really, it doesn't threaten anyone personally. Others, for whatever reason, can't get over it, and come to the conclusion that, since it's creating a conflict, it must somehow be wrong. So they start looking for facts that justify this, and latch on to any tiny little thing that supports that flawed line of thinking, while ignoring facts to the contradictory and It's just stupid. Our minds evolved to be extraordinarily elastic, to problem solve. That's how we got to be 7 billion strong.
  There's still elasticity in the thinking of a homophobe, but it's creating an enemy, and then elastically finding ways to justify keeping that enemy. Blame evolution. We evolved through brutal competition, and that continues to drive us. But the problem is that we've reached a point when we don't need an enemy anymore, but a lot of people are just too damn stupid to realize that that competitive nature could be better used to push our entire species to it's full potential, not waste time on petty, useless, ignorance driven conflicts.
Now, some things to shine a light on:
 Some seem to think that gay men, in particular, are raving sex fiends, waiting to catch any man alone, so they can have their way with them. They are overlooking the fact that gay men have standards, just like straight men. Think about it: Are you insanely attracted to every women you see? Why would a gay guy be any different?
  There's this huge deal made about gay marriage violating "the sanctity of marriage". Oh, come on. So only people of the opposite gender can love each other? So straight people can get married, divorced, then married again(and again and again) and that's not violating anything? Screw that noise. I knew a gay couple that worked together better then most of the straight relationships I've seen or have been in. All gay marriage would be violating is an archaic, sexist, outdated view of perceived gender roles in our country that don't even really apply anymore. Why does marriage have to be between a man and a woman? I was under the impression it had more to do with being in love, right?
Which brings me to the religious aspect of this: blow it out your ass, Kirk Cameron.
It's perfectly fine for people to worship how they choose, but when they are using their belief system as an excuse to pass judgement on others based on their own hangups, it's hypocritical bullshit. If anyone started trying to ban Christianity because another religion said it's wrong and morally damaging, there would be a huge uproar from Christians about being unfairly attacked for being who they are. But yet here they are, doing it to someone else. I'm using Christians because, in the US, they are the largest organization on the gay-bashing list. And look, they put themselves in that position, not me. Bitch at Pat fucking Robertson if you need someone to blame.   
Oh, but wait! Homosexuality is some deviation in brain chemistry, and can be classed with pedophilia and other sexual perversions, right?
Jesus tap-dancing Christ. Really? Two consenting people who happen to be the same gender is anywhere close to kiddy-diddlers? Can I strangle you now?
 Do you actually know what pedophilia is about? It's about having power over someone. Someone who won't say no, who is not threatening to your ego, who you can use to your liking. Pedophilia is the brother of rape, and they stem from the same need to be completely in control. They don't involve love, they are about fulfilling a sick need for a deranged mind's ego and purpose. Pedophiles and rapists are sociopaths, who can't and don't care about how their actions affect other people.
Homosexuals care and love, and can feel empathy just like anyone else. In fact, more empathy then the morons who presume that there's something sick about them. There's nothing wrong with their brains, much less the concept of same-sex coupling.       
 Next up, that old standby: "It's unnatural."
News Flash! ...It's not.
  Homosexual behavior has been observed in close to 1,500 other animal species, and is pretty well documented. It don't get more natural then that. So evidence suggests it serves a purpose, even though those couples are unable to reproduce on their own, because there's also plenty of documentation showing same sex animal couples are just as good at parenting as male/female pairings. It has solid science backing it up, and I'd like to point out that science is a process, not a philosophy. It works with evidence. Lots of evidence.
 The other aggravating popular delusion is that your sexuality is a choice. OK, sure. Now tell me when exactly you chose to be attracted to members of the opposite sex. Oh, wait. You didn't, did you? I didn't think so.
 It's so unbelievably stupid to actually believe that someone would choose to be gay. Right, because they want to be targeted by dimwitted hatemongers like the KKK and the WBC? They want to be ostracized for being different? Why? It makes no freaking sense. Can you pick your skin color? Because that's how much of a choice you have over your sexuality.
 Some homosexuals I know knew they were gay before they even knew what the word implied. And it was awful growing up for them, because people kept trying to "correct" them. Do you have any idea what it would be like, being a child, constantly getting told you're wrong, and having no idea why? This is what some of my friends have faced. Some of them just didn't know what they were, and went with the norm, because they didn't really know what else to do. And when they finally figured it out, they had to face family and friends who all the sudden didn't seem to love them anymore, just because they had the audacity to go against the norm to be themselves.
No one would willingly subject themselves to this, and it's a fucking shame that people have to go through this disgusting, damaging shit in the first place. Because it's really not that hard to wrap a mind around the idea that gay or straight, that person is the same person they've always been, and it's not that hard to accept that person for who they are, and let your personal hangups go. 
People don't need to accept the reality of homosexuality, but they also don't need to open their mouths and spew ignorant shit about them either. We're all humans when it comes down to it, and the golden rule applies to all of us.