Religion is not a choice but being gay is, GOP leader’s spokesman says

By Raw Story
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 -- 2:37 pm
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JohnBoehner Religion is not a choice but being gay is, GOP leaders spokesman saysYou were born a Christian, not born gay. Religion is not a choice.

Or so the spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) would have you believe. Questioned about why the House's top Republican opposes a hate crimes bill penalizing violence against gays, his spokesman said he "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics," just not protections for things like being gay -- which conservatives occasionally claim is a choice.

"He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes," Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith added. The statement was made in an email to CBS News.

In other words, religion is a trait you're born with.

Gays and their supporters contest the assertion that being gay is a "choice," asking why individuals would deliberately choose to be gay in a society that often treats them as second-class citizens.

Story continues below...

Republicans who oppose hate crimes legislation say they do so because they think it is criminalizing "thought."

"All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance," Boehner said during debate on the issue. "The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and should be defended with equal vigilance."

CBS also points out that Smith's claim that Boehner supports existing hate crimes laws for "immutable" characteristics such as gender isn't accurate, because gender isn't currently a protected class under federal law.

What does House Republican caucus leader Tom Price think of the bill?

It's an "absolute disgrace," Price said.

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Story comments are below...

  • Aaron Mina
    If you think being gay is a choice, then you're insecurely gay.
  • danniebenedi
    I see the logic for both arguments. But it's just reversed for opposing views.

    Republicans argument is that Religion is something you believe, but it's not a choice, because you consider part of you, part of your life. This is true.

    They argue that homosexuality is something you choose to do, but they fail to mention that it is also part of you. They state that the choice of homosexuality is not BEING gay, but acting upon it. The same argument could be used on religion. They fail to acknowledge this.

    People that say that religion or homosexuality is a choice are wrong. Neither are a choice. You may be born gay, but you BELIEVE and TRUST your religion with your LIFE and AFTERLIFE.

    So, in summary, neither is a choice, and neither should be a basis for discrimination.
  • trevors02
    What a mindless, indoctrinated, idiot!
  • coreypaul
    But doesn't GOD contact these people..."CALLS" them?

    Id say religion is NOT a choice by their own argument!!!

    And what about all those fat people at the Tea Bagging orgies....many, more than not, are overweight and unhealthy because they CHOSE to eat badly.
  • Jack_in_Ann_Arbor
    Poor Congressman Boehner is living proof that even if you can't choose to be homosexual, you certainly can be born a homely dog-faced bigot. That is a choice no amount of plastic surgery can remedy.
  • angelo
    gay is programming, though schools (check a local psychology class) teach otherwise.
    the article was written slanted; think. see the bigger picture.
    ~SHOCKED~ that rawstory would make this an article written directly by them. No one even put their name on it?
  • witheredconstituant
    Ohioans also realize that Boehner can't help himself: being a douchebag is born, not a choice.
  • I thought maybe I had been banned. None of the posts I put on two different threads appeared yesterday, and they still haven't. There was at one point a big red blurb that said, "your post is awaiting moderation" or such like.

    Whew! What a relief! Glad to be back in the land of the living. Must have been a glitsch. I wonder what it was . . .
  • shag11
    It's hard to believe people like this actually exist. We are definitely talking neaderthal here.
  • Satan
    Speaking of gay, Boners choice for a sweater in that photo is pretty fucking gay.
  • hillcrestdenizen
    Perfect example how intellegent design doesn't work..
  • Harvey
    Normally in crimes such as murders, there is a relationship between the murderers and the victims, and the victims were killed because of who they are. Local police have everything they need to solve the crime. If they catch the perpetrator, everyone can rest easy.

    In the case of a "hate" crime, there is no such relationship between perpetrator and victim. The victims were chosen, not because of who they are, but because of what the perpetrator perceives them as being--that is, their perceived membership in a class. Because there is no relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, it's very hard to solve murders like that, and an entire class of people are endangered. So hate-crime legislation allows local and state police to get help from federal agencies who have more resources and more expertise.

    The key in what I said is PERCEIVED membership in a class. Murderers are not infallible when it comes to identifying, say, who is gay. You don't actually have to be gay to be mistaken for gay and murdered for it. If someone is out murdering gays, everyone is in danger.

    "Hate crime" is an unfortunate term. It has nothing to do with thoughts and nothing to do with whether traits are chosen or innate. It's about how many people are in danger, and giving local police the resources they need to solve a crime that is difficult to solve. If someone is out there murdering gays, you are in danger even if you aren't gay.

    Hate crimes legislation like this protects white-bread Republicans, too. The tragedy is that apparently to be a Republican lawmaker, you have to have an IQ that is smaller than your shoe size.
  • chicagojeff
    Let's not try and figure this moron out. He is clearly just doing that Orwellian thing that all those on the far right do: call something the opposite of what it really is, regardless how blatant or laughable it is. The media always picks it up because they always love to have two sides (or "twists") to report on.

    Religion is a choice and being gay is not. He, I assume, is neither so why should anyone even listed to this ass?
  • ulfur
    Republicans want to protect the right to murder and torture gay people. In their fantasy world, you are born to a religion and you choose to be gay. They also don't believe in evolution. They think the world is only 6,000 years old. Black people are the sons of Ham and should be punished. And lets not forget they believe Jesus is a warrior god.

    These people should not be allowed near sharp implements.
  • "Black people are the sons of Ham" — no one is stronger historically on this stone-age mentality than the Mormons, who claim Jay Bybee, torture reinventors Mitchell & Jessen, Orrin Hatch for whom John Yoo worked, and Glen Beck.

    Check out this highly interesting web page I just found: Opus Dei-Moonie-Mormon Axis Behind Pro-Torture Policy of US Government
  • Interesting too that John Yoo worked for Mormon Orrin Hatch, Jay Bybee is a Mormon, torture system reverse engineering experts Mitchell and Jessen are Mormons, as is Glen Beck. Here is a very interesting site I just discovered in confirming these names: Opus Dei-Moonie-Mormon Axis Behind Pro-Torture Policy of US Government
  • I was raised Catholic but don't believe in God. I have chosen to become an Atheist. Children aren't born with a religion. It's taught to them by their parents. A child could be raised in a completely straight environment--without knowing anyone or anything gay--yet they grow up and are gay. It wasn't because of indoctrination, like religion. It was, and is genetic. I could decide to be a Scientologist tomorrow, but I'll still be gay. A gay person can live a "straight life," but they are still genetically gay. Nothing will change that.
  • In a great song from "South Pacific", Lt. Cable says:
    You've got to be taught
    To hate and fear,
    You've got to be taught
    From year to year,
    It's got to be drummed
    In your dear little ear
    You've got to be carefully taught.

    You've got to be taught to be afraid
    Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
    And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
    You've got to be carefully taught.

    You've got to be taught before it's too late,
    Before you are six or seven or eight,
    To hate all the people your relatives hate,
    You've got to be carefully taught!
    You've got to be carefully taught.
  • nader paul kucinich gravel
    Thank you ProudPrimate for the stripped fix.

    Melissa Etheridge
    West Side Story
  • I love West Side Story (but only the caster, not the movie), and I'm not sure who Melissa Etheridge is. But the striped/stripped typo, that's a comment that never appeared during my blackout day, and I still can't find it. Is it in this thread?

    I (Ctrl-F) searched every instance of my name in this thread, and on my screen it's not here. You must have seen it, but all my comments from that day (Wednesday) never showed up on my screen and still haven't. I'm amazed that you ever saw it.

    Also, interestingly, every comment of mine now goes through instantly as before, unless I include a link. Those just never appear. But, if I post a comment without links, I can go back and edit them, add links, and they remain.

    I'm guessing some level was raised in the Disqus user options page because of some instance of abuse by a poster. Hopefully that's the worst it will get.
  • CornetMustich
    Sad. And luckily he's in the minority.
    Joe Mustich, Justice of the Peace,
    Washington, Connecticut, USA.
  • So if your parents are voodoo practitioners, you're stuck. No way to change. All you can do is "pretend to be a Christian"
  • Max_1
    Dear John Boehner,
    Christ wasn't born a Christian...
    ... Shall we damn Him, too?

    .
  • Joy4
    I believe practically all gays are born that way. It seems their homones are out of kilter. You know some very young kids act like the opposite sex , such as a young boy playing with dolls. We all know of a star that had a gay partner, then switched. I think it's uncommon for a person just to adopt a gay lifestyle, that is really straight.
  • Joy4
    I believe practically all gays are born that way. It seems their homones are out of kilter. You know some very young kids act like the opposite sex , such as a young boy playing with dolls. We all know of a star that had a gay partner, then switched. I think it's uncommon for a person just to adopt a gay lifestyle, that is really straight.
  • Ateisti
    Atheists are the only sane people in this country....
  • That's why my website is titled "When Will We Evolve From Animals?"
  • The title of my webpage is "WHEN will man evolve from animals?"
  • johnbis
    So John Boner descends from the mountain with his paleolithic "commandments." His intellectually vacant gaze tells it all. Why is this nation "blessed" with this idiot? The Founding Fathers would have made short shrift of this Tory.
  • These are indeed the very ones who lost the American Revolution — heirs of the Essex Junto that tried in vain to get New York and New England to secede from the infant union and rejoin Britain in all but name, that wept like the Mock Turtle at the loss of their slave cotton and slave tobacco and slave indigo in 1860, spending good money to help the South
  • and his 151-proof tan
  • dredd
    Mom and Dad can't be chosen at birth, but after that science and religion are both choices.

    Like choosing a football team.

    Science is the mother of WMD in quantities sufficient to destroy the human species and who knows how many more other species, and religion has fuelled a lot of the rhetoric which causes the WMD to be used in the first place.

    Much of this is caused by looking backward and battling about where we came from, while we plunge headlong into the future, barely noticing its approach.

    The better aspects of science and of religion look forward so that we all get to the proper destination.
  • this is a very innovative comment — the way you put it, the whole argument between science and religion is irrelevant. There is obviously, though, an important dichotomy, which you touch briefly in the phrase "the better aspects".

    I would love to hear your best effort at naming that dichotomy in a few words. Is there an evil gene out there, a "bad seed"? As my mother used to say, "what gets into people?"
  • john martin
    no boner, golfing is a choice, booze is a choice, tanning is a choice, what religion you practice is a choice. Being born gay is not a choice. It has been proven that the hypothalemus gland of gay and lesbians are not of the same size as their bonehead counterparts..
  • john martin
    no boner, golfing is a choice, booze is a choice, tanning is a choice, what religion you practice is a choice. Being born gay is not a choice. It has been proven that the hypothalemus gland of gay and lesbians are not of the same size as their bonehead counterparts..
  • christoofar
    wow....just.....wow.
  • nader paul kucinich gravel
    History recalls how great the fall can be
    While everybody is sleeping the boats put out to sea
    Borne on the wings of time
    It seemed the answers were so easy to find
    Too late, the prophets [profits] cry
    The island is sinking let us take to the sky

    Called the man a fool stripped him of his pride
    Everyone was laughing up until the day he died
    And though the wound went deep
    Still he is calling us out of our sleep
    My friends we are not alone
    He waits in silence to lead us all home

    Ventura Sheehan Perot Paul
    Nader McKinney Kucinich Kaptur
    Grayson Gravel Gonzalez Clemente
    Choate Carter Baldwin Anderson
  • disgustedindc
    If his male member is as small as his brain - he's really got problems.
  • KJFuller
    um... has anybody noticed the golf ball is still on the tee? nice shot dipshit... where'd it go? did anybody see where that shot went?
  • golfer345
    It's called a practice swing you "dipshit". Play golf much? Apparently not.
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