David Dreier, Ralph Reed, Gary Bauer, Lindsey Graham,

[mopaul]

what would make a gay man become a powerful politician who opposes anything to do with gay rights or gay issues? what would make a man like j. edgar hoover, a closeted gay man, harass and threaten and blackmail gay men and women? what would make a man hide his real life and pretend to be someone other than his true self? why would a gay man go to all the trouble of getting married and having kids and lying to his wife and himself so blatantly, and for so long? why would a gay man be so virulently against gay men, thereby hating himself? how could a man be straight all day, and gay after 9 p.m.?
how could a gay republican man stomp on and trash any attempts to give gays and lesbians equal rights under constitutional law?

i just don't get it.

[vi5]

1. Ralph Reed and Gary Bauer?

C'mon. I haven't heard anything about either of those two being gay, beyond the fact that they fit some stereotypical version of a guy who is slight and somewhat feminine. That really doesn't make them gay. Yeah, I've heard about Dreier and Graham in more specific terms, but have i just not heard about Reed and Bauer or are you making assumptions?

[mopaul]

2. i didn't say they were gay

i just used the old neoconazi trick of using two names in one sentence, like 'saddam' and 'nine eleven'. maybe i am making assumptions though, i do that sometimes.

i have no inside info, or journalism background. i have noticed though, that extreme conservatives who bark loudly about morality and family values, often turn out to be quite debased and debauched.

[xchrom]

3. until you have visited friends in the hospital

beaten to within an inch of their lives
or had a gun held to your head because you waled out of the ''wrong'' bar at night
or lost your lively hood because of your ''lifestyle''
the list can go on.

yes -- people experience self loathing and that too is by design within the culture.
but people have learned to survive -- and that's the key -- if you are straight -- you have none of that feeling that at any minute your whole world could come crashing down around your head.
or that you have deliverd a devastating blow to yourself and everyone you have ever loved.

how can parents throw their children out on the street because they are gay -- they do -- and more often than people realize.

no one loathes conservatives more than me -- no one.
but i am very ambivalent about visiting on a another gay person the very damage that society at large has designed.
i've lost friends to suicide because they could not handle being gay.
on this issue -- there aren't easy answers -- but there does seem to be a lot of self righteousness.

[TexasProgresive]

4. It's human nature-

We hate something in ourselves that we can't change and so we project that hatred on others. Jesus, said to remove the plank from your own eye before concerning yourself about the speck in your brother's eye. Shakespere wrote, Me thinks he doth protest too much, and my Aunt Marie used to say, The hen that cackled laid the egg. No doubt other wise ones have said the same thing in other words.

[progdonkey]

5. deflection

I think it comes from a desire to deflect any question of their latent homosexuality. Here you have people who are brought up in a strict religious environment where they are told that all homosexuals are evil. If someone from this group is gay, he has two options: 1) reject the strict religious dogma and come out as gay, or 2) reject instead the possibility of his being gay and go out of his way to prove he isn't gay (esp. if his latent homosexuality is very strong).

When this repressed homosexual is presented with gays who are open and honest with themselves, he can have one or all of three responses: 1) a deep hatred of these gays, purportedly because they are "deviants," but actually because he resents that they can live open lives while he must stay repressed ("he hates them for their freedoms" :-) ); 2) making fun of the "fags" and "homos" and over-asserting his supposed heterosexuality in a feeble attempt at deflecting his homosexual urges; 3) attempting to clear his environment of the "fags," purportedly since they are a threat to the social environment, but again actually because he wants to remove the agents which especially highten his repressed homosexuality.

Basically, how can I be gay if I have a wife and kids and go out of my way to harm the gay community? No gay man would do that, so I therefore can't be gay.

[izzie]

6. I think it has some thing to do with being human

If not why have I seen it all my life and you can read it all through history?

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. A gay DUer posted....

it has everything to do with their portfolios. I asked a question about the Log Cabin Republicans..."WHY would they support a party that hates them?"....Money. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Money. Money. Money. Money. Money. Money. Money.

[Swamp Rat]

8. OH! They're gay alright!

Give me a week, some rubber toys, lots of costumes, and a bit of libation mixed with Mardi Gras and they would "come out!" I can see Lindsey Graham in a dress right now. :spank: