With all the hub-bub about homosexual marriage in the news recently, I thought it timely to reprise this post (adapted) from March 27, 2007:
A leader in Christian Evangelical circles, Ted Haggard, after undergoing extensive psychological testing has been proven to be “100% heterosexual” – not at all gay – in spite of reports to the contrary.
Thinking about this, it brought to mind a conversation I once had riding in a funeral procession. The driver asked me about my family. I told him about my wife and kids. I asked about his.
“I’m gay,” he said.
“OK.” I replied.
Then, we went on to talk about other things. Come to find out, we had a lot in common. We were both crazy about Patsy Cline. We knew about everyone in town and loved sharing stories. He smoked and drank too much and I used to do the same. We were both happy to live in a small town and had little desire to advance professionally.
Now, after the Haggard revelation, I’m wondering, just how gay I am? I mean, I’ve gotten along pretty well with several gay persons. It couldn’t be that I’m 100%, because I’m not sexually attracted to persons of the same gender. Also, when it comes to upholding Church standards on sexuality, I am a fairly staunch traditionalist. I could be labeled a “homophobe” with the best of them.
But, if you look closely enough, you could easily say I’m part gay. What about my not wanting to do manual labor or get my hands dirty? What about my one-time penchant for day-time soap operas? What about my vocation itself? Don’t more homosexuals enter the clergy than any other field?
I need a test. Someone like Dr. X needs to devise a reliable, hardcore pschological test for measuring the degree to which someone is a homosexual. Dr. X, are you up for the challenge?
Maybe you (other bloggers) could help? Submit your questions that might help measure a person’s “gayness”. And don’t get ugly about it. Get reflective. Ask yourself the question –
“How gay am I?”
for more on homosexuality, check out -
“The Bible and Homosexuality: Part One“
“The Bible and Homosexuality: Part Two“
Ha! I think I must be part-gay as well by that definition. My daughters are serious ballerinas and i got involved in their annual Nutcracker production as one of the “party dads” in the opening bit (basically a crowd scene role . . . no real ballet dancing).
This will come as a big shock, but several of the guys in the production who are real dancers are gay, and we share a big changing room. Oddly, this “Bible-believing homophobe” got along great with everyone and treated them like normal people. I forgot to read the part of the script that said I had to have an irrational fear of them. Go figure ;-).
Neil, I love it.
For the “test”:
Have you ever had a crush on someone who turned out to be gay?
-_-
The “Test” goes something like this:
Question 1:
Are you Gay?
That is the only question that matters, the response is either yes or no. Period. Everything else is fluff.
Now if you mean “How feminine are you?” or “By societal standards, how flamboyant are you?” then that is quite a different matter. These qualities you seem to attribute to the homosexual is based on stereotype and what society has qualified. That “test” would be as absurd as to ask someone how “straight” they think they are.
Love
I love the concept of quantifying percentage “gayness”. Even if that means demonstration of stereotypical gay behaviors, it would still show a shared humanity. It is more a test of percentage of Jung’s anima vs. animus, and no one can be absolutely yin or yang and be well-balanced.
As one commenter said, however: the test for homosexuality is your choice of sex partner. If you choose same sex, you are gay. I am not referring to situational choices, but long-term yearnings.
The Pistol fires back: Thanks for weighing in, Lisa. I appreciate the Jungian reference.