■ 28 December 2011 | 5:00 AM
The meaning of normal
Re 'Moment to remember,' letters, Dec. 24: According to the writer, publication of the photo (front page, Dec. 22) of two female sailors kissing on the pier 'leads us to believe that this is normal behavior.'Who is to say what is normal and what is not? For some individuals, this is normal behavior. Just because it goes against what the writer believes doesn't make it abnormal. I encourage the writer and others who may object to this photo to open their minds and hearts.
People are the way they are, be they gay, straight, black, white or otherwise. And if publishing this type of photo 'desensitizes' us to this issue, as the writer says, then I say it's about time. Homosexuality isn't a moral issue. It's a biological issue. Live and let live.
Catherine Goeke
Norfolk
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James King
My guess is you are definitely not a minority and are very comfortable in your nice white bread world. Heaven knows what would happen to your constitution should you ever be forced to remove some of your protective layers to get to the core of what it might feel like to be a minority whether it be race, creed, religion, or gender.
Parade
Why not have a parade of people dressed in street normal clothes to celebrate heterosexuality? We could march alongside the scantily dressed homosexuals to celebrate their normal homosexuality. While we are at it, let's make a few laws requiring the teaching of heterosexuality to kids in school or is that too far out.
Considering we're talking about . . .
Considering we're talking about the kiss between a Naval attired woman and her fully clothed partner, kissing on a pier, I have yet to connect the dots between the picture and the phrase, 'scantily dressed homosexuals'.
I think you took a detour that all of us didn't follow, JK.
As for teaching heterosexuality in schools, I'm still laughing at that. While I have no reason to appose age-appropriate sex education in school, I remember being a teen in school in the 60s and I don't believe I ever met a guy who tried to teach me anything about homosexuality. Now, heterosexuality, we gals fought those fellas off every, single day. ha ha. And, I'm talking with tongue planted firmly in my mouth, of course. Some of the gals I knew didn't fight all that hard, but that was their business, not mine. ha ha.
Ahhhhh, the high school days. If only we could all go back and know what we know now. We would all RULE! ha.
Tongue planted firmly in CHEEK! was the
"Tongue planted firmly in CHEEK!" was the old saying I was going for there. Sorry.
Why the hate?
Sounds like you have personal issues you've yet to work out.
Not hate
I just want equal treatment. You seem to be enamored over homosexuals and lesbians.
I'll bet you did not want equal treatment
a few years back.
Back when gays were blackmailed, beaten, prosecuted, persecuted or even killed.
Back when even the rumor of being a homosexual could ruin your career, and your livelihood.
Did you want to be treated like those folks?
Don't be ridiculous
Heterosexuality is pushed in nearly every aspect of our culture from literature to movies to music to commercials. We are inundated with it yet, as soon as a gay person is visible and accepted you go off on it as if your sexual preference was somehow repressed? Really, grow up, get over it. More than on narrow kind of sexuality is normal and all love is worthy of celebration.
You may be on to something.
There are numerous studies that correlate the degree of homophobia with the involuntary response to homosexual images which is taken to be evidence of an underlying ambiguity in sexual orientation.
Here is one such study ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=8772014
We have all seen examples of this where the most aggressively homophobic ministers or politicians frequently turn out to be leading double lives.
Pot, meet kettle
At one time, homosexuals made me uncomfortable. But even then, I saw no reason for government to treat them differently.
Over time, as I got to know more homosexuals on a face to face basis, and learned that some of my longtime friends had been closeted homosexuals all along, they ceased to make me uncomfortable and just became people.
But many people remain touchy about alternate sexuality. You feel what you feel, and I won't judge those who are discomforted by homosexuals any more than I will judge people for being homosexual, so long as they do not initiate force against others or violate public decency where children are present.
But what I do judge harshly is when people seek to use the power of government to squelch those things which make them uncomfortable, and Al, you are every bit as guilty of that, on other topics, and anyone here is about homosexuality.