Of course there are gay people!
I bump into many, possibly hundreds of times a day?
Many just go about their business, whistling a happy tune, smiling at all they meet, and just improving the general atmosphere, wherever they go.
Most are law abiding people, who stay off the grass, where legitimate signs request they do so, or it has been recently mowed and watered!
And where the sign says walk don't run, they comply there, with a happy oh so happy smile as well!
Why even the very idea of breaking a council bylaw, like keeping a dog tried up for more than six hours, or allowing to bark more or less nonstop for thirty minutes, is also equally unthinkable!
And would have them running with a happy smile to comply and keep their equally gay neighbors, reasonably happy also.
And the idea of drunk driving, when a really happy person would simply drive their drink home, would have them trebling, like an uninvited pussycat, at a Rottweiler party!
Always look on the bright side of life, and you'll have a bright, gay and happy day now, y'hear.
Rhrosty.

As the principal variation on the norm of
heterosexuality, homosexuality presents a
recurring issue for both society and sociology.
The behaviour occurs all over the world and throughout
history, although its form, acceptibility, and
apparent extent varies greatly from one society to
another.

There's a good deal of cross-cultural evidence about
male homosexuality, but much less information about
female homosexuality, or lesbianism. In many societies,
as we've seen, homosexuality is taboo, and therefore
practiced in secret, while in others the behaviour is more
acceptable and thus more public.

Perhaps one day we shall be mature enough to treat each other
as human beings first and foremost, rather than stereotyping,
or labelling people. Then a person's individual human
qualities, (rather than his or her sexual orientation,
biological sex, colour, race or religion) would be the primary
measure of that person's worth and achievement.

Perhaps I will live long enough to see this happen.

One can only hope.

Is anyone interested in my opinion of the workings of a jet engine even though the closest I have been is crossing the tarmac at an airport? This article is similarly irrelevant because the author does not even seriously attempt to describe the current usage of the word gay with respect to sexuality and likewise the word, gender.

Despite this we are however told about the words evolution and a quote from a Vatican paper is used to justify opinion. This is latter is particularly offensive given the Catholic Church denial of sexuality and that that denial has resulted in both persecution of gays, often to self-harm and suicide, as well as propagation of sexual abuse, cover ups and denial of harm caused. Sorry but I cannot come up with an example or analogy for straight people that would as mean or as offensive as this.

What is missing? Gay can mean gay men or it can include lesbians too but increasingly the context of gay refers to all GLBTI, all sex, gender and sexuality minorities which make up about 10% of our population. Does the author know what GLBTI (or LGBTI) means? He is in denial about the existence of intersex (I) and transgender (T) people because he thinks for everyone "our personhood is lived out as a male or a female". I have some empathy for straights who don’t get sexuality diversity but denial of intersex is you just mean-spirited refusal to believe in photographs.

Both practise and public identity are often different to personal identity which may or may not align with the person’s brain attraction, eg two bisexual men are a gay couple; a transwomen (MTF) with a gay man are gay to some but their union is heterosexual.

The article is homophobic, biphobic and transphobic denying the natural diversity of sex, gender and sexuality and in doing so denies biology such as the mountain of data that tells us that homosexuality is 40% polygenetically inherited or that gender develops in utero at a different time and circumstance to sex determination. Cultural and religious-based cognitive dissonance.

...The first salvo from the “nouveau” gay lobby, re-tuned for the era of post-conservative government. Softly, softly is it?

...Should we mention at this point, the nasty anti-conservative rhetorical rancor of the gay lobby of old; the one mouthing off at every convenient opportunity, and backed up by the Labor/Green alliance?

Beautiful article, Bernard.

I agree, but take it a step further:

<<At the most fundamental level a human person is just that, a person, and our personhood is lived out as a male or a female.>>

At the most fundamental level, not only are we not males and females - we are not humans and not persons either: we are who we are - we are God!

<<They describe us in a most intimate way because they describe our bodies which are the sign of who we are. We are born as human persons, nothing more and nothing less.>>

While describing us as a body is somewhat deeper than describing us as a sexual-orientation, this is not deep enough, certainly not the most intimate for we are not a body either. We happen to have and use a body for a period of perhaps 100 years, but that's just a blip in the big scheme of life.

Another prude trying to make queer folk invisible again.

Stick your "nuance" where the sun don't shine.

"made in the image and likeness of God"

Yet, you acknowledge we are "male" and "female".

So, what is God then, both sexes at once?
Why always refer to God as a male, then?

Male and female, eh?
Typical monotheistic dualism.

Pagan religions had gods who could change sex, have love affairs with either sex, were hermaphroditic, males who gave birth.

How come we can be labelled "male" and "female", but not "gay" or "straight"?

What does "male" tell you about someone?
Are they masculine, feminine or androgynous?
Do they have sex with men, women, both or nobody?

The beauty of language is that we can *invent* words to define anything we care to define.

So not only can you be "male", you can be "gay", a "sissy", "macho", "androcentric", "celibate", a "diva", a "libertarian", an "absurdist", a "minimalist", a "dandy", a "party animal", etc.

These additional words tell you much more than just "male".
And may mean more to that person than "male" ever will.

The closet is a charred pile of rubble.
Get used to it.