CHOOSE ME FOR ONCE

The Atlantic points to something that I've never been able to articulate; a gnawing discomfort with the For gay marriage argument. The 'lifestyle vs. biological' talk (uggh, 'lifestyle', hate that). The assumption that no one would choose to be gay, or black (racism being the correlation that quickly follows), because it's naturally lesser than heterosexual and white. I would not have chosen to be a woman and certainly not an Armenian woman, but still, the assumption is offensive. I'm sure there's some fat ugly self-hating Turkish freak out there who yearns to be an Armenian enchantress, alabaster olive oiled breasts swelling, able to for once acknowledge the genocide (whew, what a relief!).

Here it is from another Atlantic writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates:

"Several people referred me to Huck on the Daily Show yesterday. Good stuff. But here's one thing that's been boggling my mind lately. The case for/against gay marriage is hung-up on this idea of choice--i.e. we should frown on gay marriage because it's a deviant lifestyle. Or we shouldn't frown on it because it isn't a lifestyle, it's a biological fact. This is where the comparisons with race come in. But I always hated this argument. Whenever people say, "You should not discriminate against people because they didn't chose to be black," I hear the mild tones of wild liberal condescension.
Implicit in that logic is a kind of judgment, the notion that if I could choose, I obviously would choose to be white. But what if I just like being black? What if I could choose and would still choose black? Ditto for homosexuality. So what if you do choose to be gay? I understand that a lot of the science says you don't, but why do we accept this implicit idea that heterosexuality is, necessarily, what everyone would chose?"

Also, I understand Stewart's exuberance and need to crush Huckabee's argument, but he's got to learn to shut up, frankly. It's not an interview, it's a scolding. Plus, it's like stomping a puppy. Huckabee is so likeable, even when he's spewing shit. It's disorienting. His smooth-tongue and Kevin Spacey-dimples (GAY dimples) get me every time.

Thanks to The Atlantic