Robert W. Smith

Senior Composition
Argumentative Essay

Homosexuality: A Lifestyle, or just a Fad?

Part 1: Introduction

Once a man in my life told me, "What is it these days? Is being gay a fad?" I looked at that man and said, "You're an idiot." That man was my own father. That was a few months after I came out to him and said, "I am gay, and there is nothing you can do to change it." My own father attributes it to my schizoaffective disorder, but I just tell him, "Go fuck yourself, you can't do anything about who I am, so just stop trying." He said nothing back. This is what I am writing my essay on as you can obviously notice. My views on homosexuality, because it is who I am, and not what somebody made me.
The first thing that I would like to talk about in this essay is who I am. I am gay. I have a boyfriend in Arizona. I have participated in the gay lifestyle now for quite some time. I have known I was gay ever since I was abused at the age of 12, when my mother was dying of breast cancer, and my family was falling apart. That is when I first clued into myself that I was and am who I am. I denied it for three years. That is along time. I was also in denial to my mother's death for about the same amount of time. Then finally I went and am currently going through the final grief stages. I met Mark online, and that is when I truly accepted myself for who I really am. A year before I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, I came down to my dad crying, and telling him I was gay. He didn't believe me, and told me to go back to bed. He said it was just a phase that I was going through, and I would get out of it soon. At this current point in time, his belief that it was just a phase has disappeared, and I believe that he is beginning to actually accept me for being who I am.

Part II: A Background

Now, onto the major point, and question in this essay: Is homosexuality a lifestyle, or just a fad that people seem to be getting in? Personally, if you ask me, I believe that it is a lifestyle. My main reason for believing this is that I am a homosexual, and I am not afraid to admit it. For years homosexuals have been fighting a losing battle. And now it seems that tides are beginning to turn. We have managed to get laws passed accepting us, and people are becoming much more accepting. I think that this is why my dad asked me, "What is it these days? Is being gay a fad?" I still laugh inside myself to see what people of older ages are saying about the youth of today. I don't think that it is a fad, mainly because I believe that as the days go by there are more and more people that are accepting us, and more and more of us that are becoming brave enough to come out.
I am apart of an organization called the Gay Straight Alliance. This is a group that meets at Euclid High to discuss the diversity subjects, and ways to get our communities to accept us more than they already have. I am apart of it, as well as about 13 or 14 other people. We all have a good time there, and learn something new about each other. There is only one big rule. We don't ask if you are gay, or straight. It is your choice to share that with us. We won't pressure you to tell us anything you aren't ready to share. It is basically the same as the "Don't ask, don't tell." policy that the army goes by, with the minor acceptation that you are allowed to tell.
Next I would like to discuss the events that have set us back during our war for acceptance, and how we dealt with these things along the way. First I would like to say our main battle for acceptance is against the people that don't accept, and what they do to us. Take Matthew Shepard for example. In 1998 two men in Wyoming beat him to death. He was at a bar, and they asked him if he would join them on a ride. When they got out to a ridge, they took him, beat him senseless, and then tied him to a fence post with barbwire. In the morning, an ambulance came, and Matthew was still alive, but his wounds were fatal. He died after about 7 hours of extreme pain. He should not have had to go through that. The two kids said in their defense, that after they picked him up, he attempted to suck them off, and they got scared. Matthew did no such thing. He was beaten senseless by a bunch of homophobes that just wanted to get their message out. That we should all die a horrid death like Matthew did. This caused an uproar in the nation, not as big as the one in the 80's, but still a large one. Over the next year the two court cases went through. Everyone wanted these two men to be put away or life, or gained the death penalty. They got life I believe. Personally I think that is not enough.
Another major setback for the gay's war for civil rights was the AIDS scare. It is considered the gay disease. This was during the Reagan Administration. One of his presidential aids was diagnosed with AIDS, and Reagan just ignored it. He didn't care about us. HIV causes AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Basically what these two things do is knock down your immune system, and completely destroy it, leaving you vulnerable to the common cold. A small cold could basically kill you if you weren't treated in time. HIV is acquired by blood transfusions, anal sex, and normal sex. It is most common to homosexuals due to the ones that decide not to use protection. They are the foolish ones. In the 1980's a drug came out that was able to slow down the AIDS viral infections. We have yet to find a cure, but due to modern science and technology, we have been able to expand the living range of people who are HIV+ to about 40 years. And who knows, maybe in 40 years we will have an antibiotic, or even a vaccination we can give children to make their immune system strong against HIV, and be able to stop it before it stops them.
Another reason to believe that being a homosexual is not a fad, is that in 1973, the APA (American Psychiatrists Association) shot down the belief that homosexuality is a disease. They then used psychological evidence to prove that people who were homosexuals happened to have different thinking than heterosexuals. It was also proven that one in every ten people happen to be homosexual. That means that out of the 270 million people we have living on this earth, 27 million of us are homosexuals. That is a lot of people.
Now onto the other side of the story, that being the belief that homosexuality is a fad. They believe it is a fad, mainly because there are so many people suddenly coming out of the closet. The reason that this belief can be shot down so easily, is that we are becoming much more accepted, and we are stronger in our beliefs that we should be more open about who we are. It is truly the only way to find love, since there are about 9 times more heterosexuals than homosexuals. Many people also think that since this is a fad, it will disappear in a few years. Hate to tell you, but unfortunately we will not be disappearing in a couple years, or even a century, unless by some strange accident someone like Hitler decides to hunt us down. I personally don't think that will happen, but you never know, people are crazy these days.

Part III: The History

I want to go through some history now with you, so you can see where I am coming from a little better. Most of this history I have gotten from a book titled Making Gay History, written by Eric Marcus. First I would like to say the quote that is in the very beginning of the book. "When the dust settles, and the pages of history are written, it will not be the angry defenders of intolerance who have made the difference. That reward will go to those who dared to step outside the safety of their privacy in order to expose and rout the prevailing prejudices."-John Shelby Spong, retired Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Newark, New Jersey (Making Gay History). Now, I am going to give you just a little bit of information on this book. Making Gay History is a book that is basically interviewing fifty plus people who are all different, religions, sexualities, races, and sexes. There are also a variety of age groups that are interviewed.
I am going to start of in the year 1947. This is basically when things got started. In 1949, Dr. Evelyn Hooker was asked to do a research on Gay men vs. Straight men. After doing the research for some time, she concluded that the gay man acted just like the straight man, and was just as capable as doing things as a straight man was. Also in 1947, Visa Versa was the first gay woman's magazine to be printed and distributed.
In 1950, the two first big gay and lesbian societies formed. The Mattachine Society, and the Daughters of Bilitis. Another organization formed, that began to print out a gay/lesbian newspaper. Their name was ONE, inc. This was also the decade that Gay men, and Lesbian woman were associated with the Communist party. Some of that statement is true, but for most gays and lesbians, they felt it was something that the general public was saying to injure them even more. The first starters of the Mattachine society were Harry Hay, and Rudi Gernreich. It started off to be just a couple of people that would meet in the apartments of Harry, and they would discuss various topics having to deal with themselves, and not having to worry about being caught talking about them and such. Pretty soon within a few months of meetings, the Mattachine Society decided to begin expanding, and forming chapters in various other cities, including New York, Denver, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. The people, who originally started the Daughters of Bilitis, were two lesbians by the name of Del and Phyl. They started it in the city called San Francisco, which is now the gay capitol of the world. Pretty soon, the Daughters of Bilitis, and the Mattachine society got together, and began to print a gay newspaper called, The Ladder.
Quoted from an essay in Time Magazine dated, January 21st, 1966, "For many a woman with a busy or absent husband, the presentable homosexual is in demand as an escort-witty, pretty, catty, and no problem to keep at arm's length..The once widespread view that homosexuality is caused by heredity, or some derangement of hormones, has been generally discarded. The consensus is that it is caused psychically, through a disabling fear of the opposite sex. Both male homosexuality and lesbianism were essentially a case of arrested development, a failure of learning, a refusal to accept the full responsibilities of life. This is no more apparent than in the pathetic psuedomarraiges in which many homosexuals act out conventional roles-wearing wedding rings, calling themselves 'he' and 'she'. Homosexuality is a pathetic little second-rate substitute for reality, a pitiable flight from life. As such, it deserves fairness, compassion, understanding and when possible, treatment. But it deserves no encouragement, no glamorization, no rationalization, no fake status as a minority martyrdom, no sophistry about simple differences in taste-and above all, no pretense that it is anything but a pernicious sickness." (Making Gay History, pg. 73) This was all stated in an essay in Time Magazine, and I am quoting it from the book, Making Gay History. Personally, if you ask me, this essay was written to belittle us, and make us more afraid to come out, and spread our word that we happen to be people as well. The very first public demonstration was in front of the US Army induction center. This was in 1964, and 10 people came to picket it. The make up of the picketers were four gays, and six heterosexuals. There were more straight people in this demonstration than there were actual gays! That should be a foreshadowing to people about our acceptance into this world. In 1968, NACHO (North American Conference of Homophile Organizations), created the five-pointed Homosexual Bill of Rights. Here are the five points:
. Private consensual acts between persons over the age of consent
shall not be an offence.
. Solicitation for any sexual act shall not be an offence except
upon the filing of a complaint by the aggrieved party, not a
police officer or agent.
. A person's sexual orientation or practice shall not be a factor
in the granting or receiving of federal security clearances,
visas, and the granting of citizenship.
. Service in and discharge from the armed forces and eligibility
for veteran's benefits shall be without reference to
homosexuality.
. A person's sexual orientation or practice shall not affect his
eligibility for employment with federal, state, or local
governments, or private employers. Of course, these points were the main priority of NACHO. Quoted from Making Gay History, "Perhaps the most mainstream public acknowledgment of the homophile movement's impact up to this point was a Wall Street Journal article published on July, 17, 1968: "U.S. Homosexuals Gain in Trying to Persuade Society to Accept Them." What the article failed to note was that by 1968 many in the homophile movement had begun to abandon the gentle arts of persuasion, embracing, instead, a strategy of confrontation based on non- negotiable demands for equal rights." (Making Gay History, pg. 76)
Another organization that formed in San Francisco during the 60's was the Council on Religion and the Homosexual. One amazing event that happened in the late 60's and early 70's was the Stonewall Inn riot. This was and is a gathering place for gay men and women, and transvestites. On June 28th, 1969, the police raided the bar. Over the next two days, the gays would begin to throw coins at the police. Next they would start throwing rocks, then they threw a chair through the window, and the riot broke out. The gays had begun the first bloody battle to gain their rights. The city of New York was shocked to hear that the gays had actually fought back against the police. They were completely used to the college radicals, but they never thought that the gays would do something to this sort. During the early 1970's two major groups formed. One was named the Gay Liberation Front, and another was named the Gay Activists Alliance. Thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transvestites took to the streets protesting in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Washington D.C. They would have kiss- ins, demonstrations, and picket lines. Quoted from Making Gay History, "They were so effective that, in 1972, Democratic presidential candidates spoke favorably of supporting national legislation to protect gay people from discrimination." (Making Gay History, pg. 122) Finally though, the thing that was our most successful battle up till now that we had won was when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) took Homosexuality out of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Quoted from Making Gay History, "National efforts spearheaded by organizations and individuals resulted in a handful of significant accomplishments during this time. These included an end to official discrimination in federal employment, a widely publicized 1977 meeting between gay rights leaders and White House representatives, and the first national march on Washington, which in 1979 brought more than 75,000 gay rights supporters to the nation's capitol." (Making Gay History, pg. 188) But even as we were making these great advances, there were fallbacks. Quoted from Making Gay History, "The antigay backlash erupted nationally in 1977 with a campaign led by Anita Bryant, a pop singer and spokeswoman for the Florida orange juice industry. Deeply religious, Bryant successfully campaigned for the repeal of the newly passed gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. From there Bryant led a coast-to-coast crusade that resulted in the swift repeal of gay rights legislation in St. Paul, Minnesota; Wichita, Kansas; and Eugene, Oregon. Bryant drew support from conservative political and religious leaders and was able to build her crusade on existing networks of fundamentalist churches." (Making Gay History, pg. 188) A new organization was formed by a coalition of many gay civil rights groups. It was called the National Gay Task Force. The Co- executive Director in 1974 was Jean O'Leary. She took that position after only being there for two months. Quoted from Making Gay History, and said by Jean O'Leary, "'People have criticized me all my life' she explained. 'What doesn't kill you just makes you stronger.'" (Making Gay History, pg. 190)
Quoted from and Interview of Vito Russo in Making Gay History, "My friends and I knew the first people to get sick in 1979. At the time, though, we didn't know what was going on. I had met a guy named Nick through a group of people on Fire Island. Like me, Nick was a collector of films. He had a print of Some Like It Hot, which I used to borrow occasionally for parties. We would share movies to show in the community house in the Pines at Fire Island on weekends. In 1979 Nick got very sick. I remember his lover calling Larry Kramer and saying, 'Larry, I'm at the end of my rope with whatever this disease is that Nick has, but if we don't do something, Nick is going to die.' Larry said, 'Oh, how silly. This is ridiculous. He's not going to die.' But none of the doctors Nick went to could figure out what he had. In the end, we were told that Nick died of cat-scratch fever, which simply does not kill people. It was just not possible. I said to Larry, 'There's something going on here. There's more to this than what we're seeing because nobody dies of cat-scratch fever.' But the fact of the matter was that Nick had no immune system, so he did die of cat-scratch fever" (Making Gay History, pg. 229) AIDS, formerly known as Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRID), became a widespread panic among the gay nation. It caused three major groups to suddenly form aside from the National Gay Task Force, and attempt to figure out what the heck was destroying the Immune Systems of gays and straights alike. These three organizations are AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), and the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). GLAAD was started and co founded by Vito Russo. GMHC was started by Larry Kramer, and was officially organized in January 1982. Quoted from Making Gay History, "Larry Kramer was one of six men to found the Gay Men's Health Crisis. The other five were Nathan Fain, Paul Popham, Larry Mass, Paul Rapoport, and Edmund White. By the year 2000, GMHC had 169 people on staff, 6600 volunteers, and was serving 11,000 clients annually." (Making Gay History, pg. 252) Quoted from Making Gay History, "By the time of the October 11th, 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, it was no surprise that among the invited speakers was Barbara Smith. During the 1980's her profile and reputation grew as she continued to write and lecture on a range of progressive issues, including black feminism. She also joined the board of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays (formerly the National Coalition of Black Gays), helped organize the first conference on AIDS in the black community, and cofounded a publishing company, Kitchen Table: Woman of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher for woman of color." (Making Gay History, pgs. 297-298) At the October 11th 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, over 500,000 people attended, and many of them were straight activists that believed in the gay rights movements. Quoted from and interview with Jeanne Manford, done by Eric Marc, the author of Making Gay History, "In the spring of 1991, nearly two decades after Jeanne Manford first marched with her son, Morty, in New York City's gay pride parade, she was invited to be the event's grand marshal. Although she was cheered by the hundreds of thousands of people lining the route, the experience was at best bittersweet. Jeanne Manford said, 'Morty sat in the lead car with me. He looked bad. He had been losing his hair, so it was very thin. And he had lost weight. It was heart breaking to see him like that.' Jeanne's son had moved home to be with his parents in the early 1980's following his father's heart attack. Jules Manford died a short time later and Morty stayed on. Jeanne Manford said, 'Morty was very good to me. He used to take me out at least once a week for dinner. And he helped around the house. We got along very well. One day in 1988 he said to me, 'Sit down, Mom.' And then he told me. He said, 'I'm sick.' I don't know whether he said, 'I have AIDS,' but I knew. It just tore my heart out. Morty died on May 14th, 1992. Immediately after, my granddaughter stayed with me for a month or so. And then, I was alone'" (Making Gay History, pgs. 340-341)
Quoted from Making Gay History, "During these years the AIDS crisis continued to recede as the primary focus of the gay rights effort, especially with increased AIDS funding and, beginning in the mid-1990s, the availability of new life-saving drugs. As the domestic AIDS crisis abated, the issues that came to dominate this era included both new and long- standing concerns: the service of gay people in the military, same-gender marriage, the Boy Scout's of America's ban on gay people, federal antidiscrimination legislation, and hate crimes." (Making Gay History, pg. 345) Quoted from Making Gay History, "The survey of the general public found that nearly three quarters of American adults know someone who is lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and 62 percent have a friend or acquaintance who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual. (The report noted that in 1983, less than one quarter of the public said the had a friend or acquaintance who was gay, and in 1998, the figure was 55 percent.) And while half of the general public believes that homosexual behavior is morally wrong (down from 59 percent in 1998), two thirds believe that homosexual behavior is a normal part of some people's sexuality. Furthermore, a significant majority of the general public supports many antidiscrimination measures. For example:
. 76 percent support laws protecting gay and lesbian people from
prejudice and discrimination in employment;
. 74 percent support laws banning discrimination in housing;
. 73 percent favor providing benefits to lesbian and gay partners,
including inheritance rights;
. 70 percent support employer-provided health insurance to lesbian
and gay partners;
. 68 percent support social-security benefits for lesbian and gay
partners;
. 73 percent favor federal legislation that would mandate
increased penalties for people who commit hate crimes based on
prejudice towards gay and lesbian people;
. 56 percent support allowing gay and lesbian people to serve
openly in the military (64 percent of woman and 46 percent of
men). When it comes to family policies, such as gay marriage and adoption, the public holds more mixed views, although, in general, support for these issues is growing as well. For example:
. 39 percent support legally sanctioned gay and lesbian marriages,
which is up from 33 percent in 1998 and 27 percent in 1992;
. 47 percent support legally sanctioned gay and lesbian unions or
partnerships;
. 46 percent of the general public supports adoption rights for
gay and lesbian couples. In 1994, that number was 29 percent. Most encouraging for the future was that younger adults (18 to 29) expressed generally high levels of support for most family-policy issues. For example, 68 percent of these adults support gay and lesbian unions, 60 percent support marriage, and 55 percent support adoptions." (Making Gay History, pgs. 348-349) A statement made in an Interview of Vice President Al Gore, in the book, Making Gay History:

That was pretty much the same argument made against integrating African Americans into the military. All analogies are faulty and there are differences here, but I did think that most of the opposition was based on a misunderstanding of what it was really all about. I also felt that experience in other NATO countries had shown that it was a red herring.
By this time several NATO countries, as well as nations outside of NATO, allowed gay people to serve in the armed forces without restriction, and none had experienced the disruptions or problems with "unit cohesion" that the president's fierce opponents claimed would result. As the outcry and controversy grew in the days after President Clinton took office, and the Congress threatened to pass legislation codifying the military's antigay ban, the new president and his advisors proceeded with caution. But as Al Gore recalled during an interview at his office in Alexandria, Virginia, in November 2001, "the timing of the issue was not selected by the White House."
It was selected by senate minority leader Bob Dole (Republican from Kansas). He served notice that he was going to force a vote on this issue with the first bill that came along that was subject to amendment. There was also anxiety in the Senate from those who were generally friendly to gay rights, and there were some in the group who said, "Look, you have got to come up with some compromise on this."
The initial compromise, made a week after President Clinton took office, delayed for six months the president's executive order lifting the ban. It authorized the Pentagon to continue its ban on gay people for the six month period, but temporarily suspended the formal discharge of gay people from the military. In addition, new recruits would no longer be asked if they were homosexual. President Clinton ordered the Pentagon to use the six months to prepare an executive order banning discrimination against gay people in the military, and he gave Defense Secretary Les Aspin the task of working with the military to draft a new policy. Officials within the military establishment chose to use the delay to build their arguments against the president's plan, while gay activists organized a national grassroots lobbying campaign. In the Senate, Georgia Democrat Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that he would hold hearings on the issue and promised that, despite his opposition to lifting the ban, the hearings would be "fair, thorough, and objective." While Senator Nunn and President Clinton held polar opposite and very clearly stated views on the issue of gays in the military, there were more than a few people watching the unfolding events who wondered whether either man would keep his word. (Making Gay History, pgs. 350-351)
One of the most prominent groups around, which I believe our school should have, is called the Gay-Straight Alliance. In this paper, not only am I attempting to convince you that we lead a lifestyle of our own, I would like to personally ask you if you will be our teacher supervision so that I will be able to start a chapter of the Gay-Straight Alliance in our school. I believe that even though this is a catholic school, we should have one of these, since I am able to name at least 3-5 other gays, lesbians, or bisexuals. That is pretty much my brief history of the fight for Gay Civil Rights. Now onto my final argument over whether being Gay is just a fad, or is it really a lifestyle that approximately ten percent of the population in the world leads.

Part IV: The Choice

I have given you all of the resources that I believe you need now for your choice as to whether the lifestyle I myself lead, happens to be just a fad that will fade out in a few years, or a lifestyle that me, as an activist, will continue to protect and defend until AIDS takes my life, or a hate crime does so. Here are some key points that protect my side:
. The fight for gay rights has lasted over 50 years, and is still
going. We are beginning to win this battle, and I don't see our
pride fading out within the next few years anytime soon.
. Right now, more heterosexual females are contracting AIDS than
the homosexual males. This means that we will not die as quickly
as the rest of you, even though we may be at a 100% higher risk
of contracting the disease than the rest of you.
. I am currently apart of a Gay-Straight Alliance at Euclid High
School. I personally wish to start a chapter in this upcoming
semester, so that we will be able to show that even Lake
Catholic has a group of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals that are
not afraid to show themselves, and will defend their pride
whenever challenged.
. The National Gay Task Force is currently a widespread thing, and
one of the many organizations to have lasted over two decades in
existence. I am sure that the Gay-Straight Alliance shall last
much longer, even if jocks and other cruel people criticize us.
. We have almost succeeded in gaining the same equal rights as the
heterosexual population, and if we just "fade" out, then fifty
years of fighting will be wasted.

Now I am going to give you a few points from the people that said
being gay was a fad. I am going to give you a few points made by my
dad on the reasons that he asked, "Is being gay the new fad, or
something?"
. He just heard a lot of talk from a lot of different people that
a lot of kids are questioning their sexuality; it is not just me
(and I will cut in here saying that it is not a choice, but a
genetic part of us that makes us how we are.)
. There is a lot of advertisement by the media right now that is
sensationalizing it, and making it seem like the right thing to
do.
. Because of the media's advertisement, it is making a lot of the
kids on the fence think, Oh; it must be the right thing to do.
. It is not just him seeing the pattern. At his work, there was a
bunch of people seeing this pattern apparently.

Now that you have both sides of the story, it is my greatest honor to ask you the question, is homosexuality a lifestyle that is becoming much more accepted, and therefore more people are coming out, making it seem like a fad? Or is homosexuality just a fad that will disappear among the youth of today within the next few years?

Bibliography

1. Marcus, Eric. Making Gay History. United States of America:
HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2002
2. Smith, Robert. Personal Interview. 11 Dec. 2003