"This national same-sex marriage struggle animates a clash between convictions regarding the value of state decisions reached by way of the democratic process as contrasted with personal, genuine, and sincere lifestyle choices recognition."The term "lifestyle," or the even worse "lifestyle choice," has always gotten in my craw, as it has most people. Unless you're talking about "desert living", the term is almost always applied by anti-gay people to refer to gay people. That alone tells you something. But that's not why the term itself is bigoted.
For one, if we were talking about "sincere life choices," the argument doesn't sound nearly as convincing. After, few would ever refer to heterosexuals getting married as a "lifestyle choice", or having children as a "lifestyle choice." And yet, without fail, the term is almost always used to gay people when they do those exact same thing. Why is that?
For one, the term "lifestyle" evokes a particular vision. And for heterosexuals, there is no one way to be straight. Maybe you have children. Maybe you don't. Maybe you get married. Maybe you don't. Maybe you take up back packing with your girlfriend and hike across Europe. See! There's absolutely no one way to be straight. There is no such things as a "heterosexual lifestyle" because there's no one way to straight.
And it's the exact same way with gay people. Maybe gay people get married. Maybe they have children. Maybe they don't. Maybe some girl takes up backpacking with her girlfriend and hikes across Europe. See! There's absolutely no one way to be gay either!
And this gets to the crux of the argument. There is absolutely no such things as a "homosexual lifestyle". "A" is a definite article meaning "one". To even imply there is "a" homosexual lifestyle is bigotry. The term is designed so when you think "homosexual lifestyle" (or even "lifestyle" by itself since the two terms are so synonymous), you think of only one thing, and more often that not, that term is designed to whip up stereotypical, negative images about that particular group, whether it's warranted or not, whether it applies to the individual you're talking about or not.
Did you get that? The term is designed to stereotypically paint broad strokes about members a group with little regard to whether it actually applies to the individual you're talking about.
That's the very definition of bigotry.
For after all, don't all of us have a constitutional right to be able to make our own determination about how we live our lives? In fact, I know many same gender couples who have a far more similar "lifestyle" with their heterosexual counterparts than they do with many gay people. To call getting married and raising kids a "homosexual lifestyle" ranks as absolutely preposterous.
And so it's about time we called a spade a spade. The term "lifestyle" is bigotry. And bigots, you're on notice: If you continue to use a bigoted term, you're going to get called out on your bigotry. It's not a "lifestyle". It's a life. And unless you apply it equally to gay and straight people, as in "desert living", you're going to get called a bigot.
