Persecution is a strong word. Most people fit into the "avoidance"
camp.

Some truisms about gays and why they upset people.

1. Too many compared to heterosexuals are completely sexual-centric.
When was the last time you saw a parade whose theme was
heterosexuality?

25 years of AIDS, many gays still have far more sexual partners than
heterosexuals. This indicates an social instability that
heterosexuals sub-conciously do not approve of.

2. They represent only 1-2% of the population but pretend that it's
10%.

3. If gayness is the result of a genetic problem and not a "lifestyle
choice"
they will likely be slowly eradicated as genetic engineering allows
parents
to spot the flaw and eliminate it before the birth of the child.

like
how female children are aborted in the Third World or how tests allow
aborting
of fetuses who have great potential for genetic diseases like cystic
fibrosis.
4. No one would care much about giving gays rights if those rights
didn't
directly conflict with religious beliefs. With over 50% of the
American public
identifying themselves as actively religious, this is expected.

5. Gay rights inevitably cost the public more money (as do all
rights) hence opposition from insurance companies, some governments.

6. Gender-bending appears to oppose instict-driven gender
differences,
hence it appears as "unnatural." Even back to Shakespeare, the term
"unnatural" has strong, repellent connotations.
7. Giving gays some rights appears to threaten the "fabric" or
Judeo-Christian
(as opposed to Western) civilization. This results in weakened
religious
beliefs, the foundations of religions and ultimately, the morality
preached
by various sects.

8. Giving gays rights will lead to other less palatable changes to
legal
and moral structures. Gay rights today, pedophiles rights tomorrow?

It's the old, "give 'em and inch, they take a yard" thing and there is
a logic
in believing that weakening one structure effects the stability of the
next.
Gay rights in the 1950s would have been unheard of, and the same may
be the
case 20 years from now for child abusers, outrageious as that sounds.
9. Changing "gender roles" may weaken society, make it less able to
compete with less "socially advanced" societies.

to prove
without actually experiencing it, then it's too late to go back.
10. Gays pretend they are no different (except for their sexual
predelictions)
but they do show inclinations toward differences in other areas such
as clothing, employment preferences, etc. Certain things seem to hold
more of
a fascination for them than for a heterosexual.

11. The perception that gays are somehow flawed and the natural
instinct to
shun this. Animals who leave weak offspring to starve, the eugenics
policies
of early America or Nazi Germany, the tendency of normal people to
avoid those
who aren't. Tests consistently show a very narrow set of
characteristics for
what people consider desirable traits in others, especially physical
characteristics.
This preference even crosses all cultural lines. Gays do not fit in
with these
characteristics.

Persecution is a strong word. Most people fit into the "avoidance"
camp.

Some truisms about gays and why they upset people.

1. Too many compared to heterosexuals are completely sexual-centric.
When was the last time you saw a parade whose theme was heterosexuality? Also, despite
25 years of AIDS, many gays still have far more sexual partners than heterosexuals.
This indicates an social instability that heterosexuals sub-conciously do not approve of.

2. They represent only 1-2% of the population but pretend that it's
10%.

3. If gayness is the result of a genetic problem and not a "lifestyle
choice" >they will likely be slowly eradicated as genetic engineering allows
parents to spot the flaw and eliminate it before the birth of the child. Much
like how female children are aborted in the Third World or how tests allow
aborting of fetuses who have great potential for genetic diseases like cystic
fibrosis.

4. No one would care much about giving gays rights if those rights
didn't directly conflict with religious beliefs. With over 50% of the
American public identifying themselves as actively religious, this is expected.

5. Gay rights inevitably cost the public more money (as do all
rights) hence opposition from insurance companies, some governments.

6. Gender-bending appears to oppose instict-driven gender
differences, hence it appears as "unnatural." Even back to
Shakespeare, the term "unnatural" has strong, repellent connotations.

7. Giving gays some rights appears to threaten the "fabric" or
Judeo-Christian (as opposed to Western) civilization. This results
in weakened religious beliefs, the foundations of religions
and ultimately, the morality preached by various sects.

8. Giving gays rights will lead to other less palatable changes to legal
and moral structures. Gay rights today, pedophiles rights tomorrow?
It's the old, "give 'em and inch, they take a yard" thing and there is
a logic in believing that weakening one structure effects the stability of the
next. Gay rights in the 1950s would have been unheard of, and the same may
be the case 20 years from now for child abusers, outrageious as that sounds.

9. Changing "gender roles" may weaken society, make it less able to
compete with less "socially advanced" societies. This is a tough one
to prove without actually experiencing it, then it's too late to go back.

10. Gays pretend they are no different (except for their sexual
predelictions) but they do show inclinations toward differences in other areas such
as clothing, employment preferences, etc. Certain things seem to hold
more of >a fascination for them than for a heterosexual.

11. The perception that gays are somehow flawed and the natural
instinct to shun this. Animals who leave weak offspring to starve, the eugenics
policies of early America or Nazi Germany, the tendency of normal people to
avoid those who aren't. Tests consistently show a very narrow set of
characteristics for what people consider desirable traits in others, especially physical
characteristics. This preference even crosses all cultural lines. Gays do not fit in
with these characteristics.