The last bastion for bigots actively working to curtail the civil rights of gay people is proclaiming that we choose to be gay. This assertion gives them license to completely dismiss us and work to deny us our basic human rights and dignity. The notion that being gay is a choice and that by choosing this "lifestyle" we deliberately turn our backs against their god and our society lies at the heart of our struggle for equality.
This three minute video made by Travis Nuckolls and Chris Baker in Colorado Springs turns the tables by asking the simple question "when did you choose to be straight".
When framed this way, people are clearly at a loss to explain the immutability of their own sexuality. They take their straightness for granted, something that has never required examination. Gay people aren't allowed that luxury. We are constantly having to explain ourselves. We are publicly and humiliatingly placed in the position to defend who we are against people who make it their business to scorn and belittle us while declaring that we are a danger to the fabric of society.
In some ways, yes, being gay is a choice. Rather, living your life as a gay person is a choice. Some choose to embrace the honesty of being who they are and living openly and proudly. Some choose to stay silent about their sexuality, usually due to feared reactions by their family, friends, or employers. And then there are some people who sadly choose to deny their sexuality and suppress it in order to appease a moralizing and judgmental segment of our society.
However, the fact remains. Homosexuality exists not only in human beings but in the whole of nature. Numerous studies have proven this true. It is only in man that we find bigotry. This bigotry is practically the sole domain of people who adhere to an authoritarian religious doctrine. It is a construct made by people who have put themselves in the position of deciding that LGBT people have no place at the human table because their god says so.
At this very moment the highest court in the land is deciding whether or not gay people have the same rights to the institution of marriage as straight people do. When the church is completely separated from the state as our constitution dictates, the answer couldn't be more clear. Whether or not the nine individuals tasked with this decision are truly able to separate the two remains to be seen. It would serve these Justices well to watch this short video and ask themselves when it was that they chose their own sexuality. If they are at a loss to answer, then their decision should come quite easily.