Being gay is a choice -- yada, yada, yada

Joy, as if you didn't know.

Joy Behar interviewed uber-idiot Herman Cain yesterday about his opinions regarding gay people. It's the usual nonsense: Cain thinks being gay is a choice rather than an orientation. You can read about it at ThinkProgress. He demands someone "show [him] the science" to prove this. Of course, this only means he hasn't looked into the issue at all. Science overwhelmingly backs up the fact that being gay is not a choice.

But what got me was Behar's response during the conversation (emphasis mine):

To think that gay is a choice, I don’t know how to respond to that. I mean, I don’t think anybody in this world wants to be gay considering all the vilification that is brought upon someone who is gay. Why would you choose that?

Now, I'm sure Joy Behar knows a ton of gay people and didn't mean anything disparaging by this remark. What she probably meant to ask was why would a straight person choose to be gay, when he or she could expect vilification for this choice. That would be a sensible question to pose to Cain. But that's not what came out of her mouth. Her words made it sound like being gay is the equivalent of having leprosy. "I don't think anyone in this world wants to be gay". Where did that come from?

I adore being gay and the last thing I want is to be straight. Plus, I can't think of one gay person among my friends and acquaintances who would rather be straight. Gay is who we are and we like it just fine, thanks.

There are so many silly myths out there about gay people, and we still have such a huge fight ahead of us. Consider what would happen if Herman Cain became president. After they reinstate DADT and outlaw gay marriage on the federal level, what will happen to the service members who have come out as gay, or the couples who have married in the states that allow it? Our position in American society has always been very shaky -- and it still is. Make no mistake about that.

I'm sure Behar thinks of herself as an advocate for glbt folks, and I guess she is. I just wish she had chosen her words more carefully.