Final Paper ( Draft )

黃新雅( 961002010, Sophia Huang)
Professor Liang
English Composition 2A
Jan. 8, 2009

Could Gay be Gay?
Homosexuality is a description of those people who tend to love the same gender as they are. Those people are so-called gays or lesbians. Nowadays, homosexuality has become a controversial issue that provokes the public to think whether such sexual orientation is acceptable or not because it was once said to be shameful and abnormal. “ In the closet” is a form to describe such kind of situation that they are in. Since the concept of homosexuality was still not broadly accepted, those people are not allowed to pursue their love directly; thus, they suffer from great pain. However, as time went by, they started to fight for their rights for pursuing and expressing their affection to their love ones without being repelled; during these campaigns, conflicts could not be avoided. I am of the opinion that the concept of “ all men are created equal” can be used in this situation. Everyone has his/ her right to live in his/ her own style and pursue happiness. Homosexuality is nature born for sure; therefore, they should not be treated as abnormal people. I was attracted by a website whose topic was “ My son is a gay. What Should I do?” The topic did express the “ fear” of some parents to find out there kids are gays or lesbians. As in the website, it mentioned that a research was done and pointed out homosexuality happened not only in human world but also in animals’s. In China, the public was said to accept this concept in the Han Dynasty. It was not until the discrimination of homosexuality spread into China that the Chinese started to show despise on them. Therefore, we should start to change the stereotype among those people by heart and not be influenced by the hatred that was not base on equality.

“ The gay Liberation Movement drew much of its inspiration from other revolutionary groups of the 1960s, especially feminism and the Black Liberation Movement. There was a difference, however. Whereas women and people of color could not pretend to be ‘ the other,’ most homosexuals could pass for straight. They often did- and still do- because of the social prejudice against them. ” Based on Louis Giannetti’s Understanding Movies(1997), the eleventh edition, the ideology of the issue had brought in the thrive in queer cinema.

In the paragraph, it mentioned the psychology of the homosexuals, and the different theory on the issue. The researchers as Kinsey and Masters and Johnshon regarded all sexual behavior as learned, not innate. Freud thought that the sexual tendency was influenced by social conventions. Thus, everybody must learn what’s a “ normal” sexually. On the other hand, other researchers believe that homosexuality is inborn. Recent medical findings proved that the brain structure is the cause of sexual tendency. Homosexuals did not choose to be gays/ lesbians; it chooses them. As for them, their sexual tendency is natural. Some people would not tell people the truth if they were homosexuals for fear that they might be discriminated. However, still a lot of people tend to accept the fact and told the public. According to the paragraph, 10 percent of the American population is homosexual; as high as 33 percent of people have had at least one homosexual experience. Many people believe the idea because everybody has his/ her masculine and feminine sides.

Some actors and actresses told the public the truth, and much to their surprise, they were still popular and favored by people. McKellen is a leading gay activist, and also a famous actor. He once said, “ I’ve had enough of being a gay icon! Since I came out, I keep getting all these parts and my career’s taken off. I want a quiet life. I’m going back into the closet. But I can’t get back into the closet, because it’s absolutely jam-packed full of other actors.” From the speech, we knew that his career did go smoothly well, and even better after he came out of the closet; people did not treat him as a weirdo. However, the stereotype in the public still forced most actors to stay in the closet. In my opinion, homosexuals could only feel relieved and truly accept themselves when they themselves get rid of the stereotype.

Some people held the opinion that people decide our sexes according to productive organs but could we not put people into categories according to other physical features? This question showed why some people object homosexuality. Why couldn’t a guy like the same gender of himself? Of course he/ she could. This is the problem of self- identification. Here comes another problem: Even those homosexuals accept themselves, how can they get rid of the stereotype of the public? As far as I am concerned, we could not bother everyone’s stereotype and their attitudes toward things; as long as homosexuals accept themselves first, they could live in broaden mind. There is still a long way to go to shift the public’s concept but we could still make progress steps by steps.

LeVay, Tim had done the examination on the structure within the human brain and the genetic link of male homosexuality, and we could see his theory in Gay Genes, Revisited. Different sides of the scientists pointed out their own perspective of the topic: homosexual. Some say that homosexuality had something to do with the brains. While others were arguing whether homosexuality was the cause of chromosome X. They thought that as a gay, they might have the tendency by inherited exclusively from the mothers. However, all these lead to disputes, those scientists questioned the truthfulness of the experiment result of each other. Also, it was said that the cause of the sexual tendency was due to the fact that the relationships between gays and their fathers in the childhood were not as good as those with their mother.
Through the research of the scientists, we could know better about the issue of homosexuality in different perspective not merely from the cultural aspects but also the scientific aspects.

Epstein, Robert also mentioned that homosexuality is nature born in Do Gays Have a Choice? In the other words, it has something to do with the chromosome. Most people might think that there was deep-rooted stereotype against gays and lesbians in the public. However, as time passed by, the author pointed out that sometimes it was the homosexuality that had the “ discrimination” against themselves. They searched for therapy so as to change themselves into so-called “ ordinary people” (straight guys.) Some may succeed eventually, but most could not. Most people have the tendency of being homosexuality; thus, the environment may affect some of them in some way. That is to say, some people could accept both genders. From the other aspect, some homosexuality could not change their sexual tendency if they have strong genetic tendencies.

There was an example of a couple in the article. Matt Avery was once a gay for most of his young adulthood, but afterwards, he married a woman. With this example, some people claim that Matt’s life was based on an illusion and that he could not possibly be a good father and husband. “ Pressured by the society- a society that dislikes and shuns guys- Matt has simply run back inside the closet.” “ Gay activists favor this perspective at least in part because survey data showed that people are more sympathetic to gay cause if they believe that sexual orientation is immutable.” Such expression was mentioned in the article.

The article also talked of religious cause. “ According to the book of Leviticus, homosexuality- at least when practiced by males- is prohibited, punishable by death.”As we know, religions in not only Eastern world but also Western societies have always the strong influence on the public. This served as another example to explain why the root of stereotype over homosexuality was so deep through years. In addition, in previous years, some therapists even held that homosexuality was a psychological disorder. Fortunately, this concept had changed afterwards. I had a strong feeling when I read the sentence: “ It was largely gays themselves- understandably tired of being viewed as freaks of nature- who began to assert that their orientation was not pathological.” In my opinion, it was a nice change of their thoughts.

The author did not neglect the cause of cultural factors. To talk of the influence of the environment, Matt’s example could also explain it: “ My whole life, was defined by whomever I was with- whomever I could use to make up for my own faults.” This could be the support of the viewpoints of social influence.

“ We may not have in a traditional sense of raising up a family, but we take care of our family. We are very engaged with our parents, sisters, brothers, ...I think it was a misconception that black gay men don't want to have a children but I do want to have kids, ...” “ Is that being a gay is wrong ... so how can you really ever be one hundred percent proud of who you are in the society that does not accept us?” Such conversations among gays and lesbians showed the public that they are not different at all with heterosexuality. We, as the listeners, could understand their struggle and pain in heart.

In sum, a person should not be measured by the opinions of others. One should always love and accept oneself and others would treat them equally for sure. People may say that it was easy to say than to act out. They raised such opinion: It was for sure that a person should love and accept himself but it is still difficult for people to neglect the opinions of others. This was quite sure, but as a matter of fact, it was always a challenge and a struggle for those being the minority; as far as I am concerned, most people tend to be more respectful to one another nowadays and even though it may take time to change the stereotype within the society, it is still definitely a top priority for homosexuals to accept themselves first.

Could Gay be Gay? Sometimes it is the Homosexuals themselves that cannot fight against the discrimination toward them. They considered much more things than the public. In other words, they care the public thought too much. The fact that they think the public might not accept them cause their fear to accept themselves. However, nowadays, most people do treat them equally. The above-mentioned can be proved in the Video. The boy in the video showed his panic. There was a guess that perhaps people may act out that they could accept homosexuals in nowadays society. However, I do not think that it was a serious problem because we could never guess people’s mind and I am of the opinion that once we treat people well and sincerely, they would treat us well in respect in return.





References

Ideology- Queer Cinema.
Louis Giannetti (1997). Understanding Movies, the eleventh edition, p.483-p.489. New jersey.

Gay Genes, Revisited.
LeVay, Tim; Hamer. Scientific American(1994, May), Vol. 270 Issue 5, p44, 6p Abstract: Two pieces of evidence, a structure within the human brain and a genetic link, point to a biological component for male homosexuality [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] (AN 14327844)

Do Gays Have a Choice?
Epstein, Robert. Scientific American Mind, Feb/Mar2006, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p50, 8p Abstract: Science offers a clear and surprising answer to a controversial question [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN 23432303) Web site:
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=3&hid=3&sid=0ef80f05-7ac0-4011-a81c-1967ab28d5c1%40sessionmgr9

Anonymous (September 7, 2004). Taiwan.
Web Site: http://www.jamessteed.com/gayson/gayson.htm

Could Gay be Gay?
Anonymous; Web Site: http://www.youtube.com/v/V1iEpBsNIBU&hl=zh_TW&fs=1