Question: Why does being gay generally encompass a persons entire identity?

[armyowalgreens]

It just seems like a gay person is judged more so by his or her sexual identity than other parts of his or her character.

I don't see the same thing happening to straight persons and I think it tends to polarize the issue.

[cali]

1. that's actually a complicated issue.

some gay folks identify so strongly as gay and are so immersed in gay culture, that they're seen through that prism. In many other cases it's just bigotry. Look, some women identify so strongly as feminists that they're seen through that prism- though that's more a thing of the past.

[armyowalgreens]

4. That's ironic considering the fact that the right is always bitching...

About gay people being so open with their sexuality.

"I don't have a problem with gay people. I just want them to shut up about it."

They create the original problem and then whine when they polarize the discussion.

ugh. Makes perfect sense now.

[MrScorpio]

2. It's a rightful reaction to blatant homphobia in a "free" society

If gays were accepted unconditionally the subject matter of their sexual orientation would be just as unremarkable as heterosexuals.

[cali]

3. and that's pretty much how it is where I live

[krispos42]

5. Because somebody is MAKING is the only issue they care about.

And since there are a lot of them, it becomes an issue.



I suppose to those kinds of people it defines in a very stark, clean, unambiguous way that person's character. After all, if the gay person in question is unrepentent about it, then they are unrepentent about a mortal sin, and therefore presumebly treat other mortal sins the same way. And since they think that morals can only come from the Bible/God/Jesus, if you're not getting them from that source you simply can't be trusted to have the right moral foundation for the rest of your life.

They never know when the gay person will be in a situation where the moral Christian thing to do is obvious... and the gay person will do something else. So that gay person is now suspect. And worse, that kind of example can be picked up by other people who will then be led away from God's Will... and towards the Devil!

And of course, you can't approve of a blatant, unrepentant violation of God's will, either. So you disapprove, and you feed off your other religious people with your disapprovals.

[Jacobair]

6. I think this is amplified by the fact gay people are still

not afforded so many basic civil rights.....not the least of which is not being allowed to marry, and not being allowed to keep their job in the military like in the UK, Australia and Israel.....and the lack of ENDA, which would protect them from showing up to the office and finding out they were fired for their sexual orientation.

[WVRICK13]

7. Not In The Least

Being gay is a core part of my being since it defines me in this culture. However, that is society's doing not mine. I am a person who happens to be gay, nothing more. I have many more straight married friends than gay friends, I do not go to gay bars, marches, or organized activities. I go to work every morning to my straight office, eat lunch with straight friends, and shop in stores with mostly straight people. When I go home it is to my partner of 20 years and then we are just a couple, not once do we say gee we are a gay couple. I live in the world as a whole and do not make choices based on gay or straight. It wasn't until the RW started making such an issue of being gay did straight friends even talk to me about being gay, they just accepted me for who I am.

[tekisui]

8. We live in a heterosexist society.Your question reinforces that,IMO.

[customerserviceguy]

9. You could say that about anything that is outside the norm

I've known fundie Christians like that. Being for "Jaysus" is the first thing you know about them, and you are reminded of it constantly.

I would suppose that the same would be true of a person of any other faith tradition that tries to assert itself on a constant basis, even silently, as through a manner of dressing.

Part of the problem with the heterosexual/homosexual thing is that straight people "notice" all kinds of things with gay people that they routinely do themselves, such as having pictures on the desk of you and your significant other. I think that was the reason for a favorite protest line that says, "get used to it."

[izquierdista]

10. Ghettoization

Unless gay people can live a mild-mannered life like Clark Kent and not be recognized when they put on their tights and feather boa, there will be friction with a straight world. If you were to follow a heterosexual through a complete day (like some reality shows attempt to do), you would see that their straight sexuality encompasses their entire identity during the day. Sexuality is a basic component of a person's identity, just as their gender is.

The whole point of the women's liberation movement was to show that men and women could work together as equals in the workplace. That's pretty widely accepted these days. What hasn't come as far is the notion that gay and straight people can work, live, and play together as equals. Until then, there will be ghettos, like Castro St. in San Francisco, where gay is normal and straight is unusual. Those places exist so that people there don't have to answer the question in the OP.