Homosexuality & the Race Analogy - John Corvino
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- Опубліковано 4 лют 2025
- Many LGBT rights advocates have drawn inspiration from the civil rights movement for African-Americans. In response, social conservatives often object that the analogy is illegitimate, because race is "non-behavioral" whereas homosexuality is a "chosen lifestyle." Here John Corvino explains why this response misunderstands the nature of racism, the nature of homophobia, and the connections between the two.
Dr. John Corvino, also known as the "Gay Moralist," is a writer, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the author of What's Wrong with Homosexuality? and the co-author (with Maggie Gallagher) of Debating Same-Sex Marriage, both from Oxford University Press.
Find the book here: amzn.to/ZuIF2A.
Video by Chase Whiteside. Read more at JohnCorvino.com.
I keep seeing these videos to train myself so whenever someone throws me any topic like that "Ill be ready".
And of course, non-white gays have got to deal with multiple forms of discrimination, including racism internal and external to the gay community.
I would LOVE to see the other side of this argument have someone as articulate and logical present a counter point that's as well thought out and fact based as this. For good reason, it will never happen. John you're a boss and I love you.
I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Corvino when he spoke at Texas State University a few years ago. Change my life. He is a great role model for young GLBT students.
I've been enjoying these videos all day.
Bravo John, bravo. I am a mixed race man and so perhaps it's unsurprising that it has always been very clear to me that LGBT rights are CIVIL rights, it's that simple. As a result, I cannot say how much it pains me when other people of colour choose, yes, choose to speak out against other peoples right to equality.
Short memories some of you bothers and sisters have got there.
I've always been a gay rights supporter, but you're arguments are so well structured. It's like you take my opinion and turn it into poetry. go you!
This guy is freakin' brilliant!
I'm honestly not sure why his videos are not more widely viewed.
I would love to meet you. You should make more videos! :)
This is great. Thank you, John!
Another thing that makes homosexuality similar to racism is that in both cases people are rejecting others because of their differences. Racists reject based on skin color while homosexuals reject based on gender.
In both cases, the groups are dehumanized because they are different from the majority in some way. The racists believe that they are intellectually superior, the homophobes believe that they are morally superior.
YOU ARE A GREAT TEACHER/INSRTUCTOR!
THX, KEEP INFORMING.
Also... another thing to consider is the fact that white gay folks still have white privilege.
Nearly all same sex marriage activists equate their goal of SSM civil rights equality to the black civil rights movement. This is the reason why black folks are majority opposed to SSM, and NOT because of the issues Corvino describes in this video. Corvino is silent on SSM and race relations in this video. He sidesteps the main issue while highlighting what is known by all reasonable, non-homophobic folks.
Thank you for the video, it's great.
Thank you so much for putting my feelings into language..
Amen I love this man.
Discriminatory behavior may have different effects in different spheres. That is, different oppressed groups often face different challenges. Even different racially oppressed groups face different challenges.
That said, bigotry and the ways that people justify it are fundamentally the same in all spheres. Homophobes and racists, even when not literally the same people, use the same kind of fallacious arguments in an attempt to find a morally relevant difference where there really isn't one.
I appreciate all the work you have done for these videos, and they are very good. But I hope you take can time to just enjoy being gay.
Sir, why arn’t you doing more videos?
Being gay isn’t a choice and it is hurtful to have to say a gay person has to stay alone.
i like ur voice u should be in a pixar movie or something
LMAO, 'Mom, Dad, I'm Asian.' Sorry It was just too funny for me. LMAO
Baby, baby, I was born that way.
Actually, many people in the LGBT Movement do not have such a nuanced view of this analogy. They will simply equate sexual orientation with race or, even, as the recent uproar against Trump's re-instatement of the trans ban in the military shows, equate sex with race, and when you do that, something like this happens:
Person: So, yeah, let's see the new Star Wars.
Person 2: Great, but we should leave now. It's Friday, there'll be a big line.
Person: Oh, right. Okay, just let me get changed, and then we can go.
Person 2: Great.
Person: Er, yeah. Just let me get changed, and I'll be ready in about two minutes.
Person 2: No problem.
Person: Um, I said that I'm going to change. That means I'm going to change clothes.
Person 2: Yeah, no problem. I understood.
Person: Well, I thought it was understood that you should wait outside while I, you know, change.
Person 2: Why should I wait outside? It's cold outside.
Person: Um, did your parents vaccinate you too early? Because you seem a bit autistic.
Person 2: No, no. I just don't want to be in the cold tonight longer than I have to.
Person: It's only the hallway!
Person 2: They don't heat the hallway. University has a bigger endowment than most developing countries, and they don't heat the hallway.
Person: You have your fucking pea coat on.
Person 2: Why so testy? And, wow, we gotta go. Are you gonna change or not?
Person: Yes, after you step outside, close the door behind you, so I can have my, you know, privacy while I, you know, UNDRESS.
Person 2: Oh, is that what this is about?
Person: Ding, ding, ding!
Person 2: Oh, my apologies. I am so very sorry. I'll wait outside. I had no idea you were such a devout Christian.
Person: Excuse me?
Person 2: You believe nudity is something shameful or that it will cause me to look at you with uncontrollable lust. That's the Supernatural Christian belief in Original Sin, committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I would have never known, especially since I only got a B in our evolutionary biology class. You got an A. Geez, you think you know people.
Person: I'm an atheist!
Person 2: Yeah, that's what I thought.
Person: Don't you see the big poster of Sam Harris right above my bed?
Person 2: Well, yes, maybe you're just a right-wing Christian double agent sent here to spy on our safe spaces.
Person: Seriously?!
Person 2: Yeah, seriously. I really resent that you would profile me as someone who would go all psychopathically horny at the sight of you undressing merely based upon my perceived gender. You're all in favor of racial profiling, too, right?
Person: What the fuck?
Person 2: Stop and frisk?
Person: You gotta be--
Person 2: Black lives matter, you know.
Person: What does that have to do--
Person 2: Intersectionality. Everything goes together. Gender profiling is racial profiling, and racial profiling is racism. You voted for Trump, right?
Person: I DID NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP!
Person 2: I don't believe you.
Person: Oh Mother of, er…
Person 2: Mother of God? Come on, just say it. The closet is a lonely, stifling place. Even for a bigoted Trumpkin like you.
Person: You know what? Fine. I’ll just go like this. Okay, let’s just forget this surreal-
Person 2: You think I want to be seen now with a Trump Voter out in public?
Person: You can’t be serious.
Person 2: You’ve got be prepared to pay the price for your beliefs. Didn’t they teach you that in Sunday School?
Person: THAT’S IT! FUCK YOU. I AM NOT A CHRISTIAN! I DID NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP!! I AM NOT A RACIST!! I DO NOT BELIEVE IN RACIAL PROFILING! STOP AND FRISK WAS A FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF OUR FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS, AND I AM A RED DIAPER BABY. I NEVER WENT TO SUNDAY SCHOOL. MY PARENTS RAISED ME TO BE A MARXIST WHO REGARDS RELIGION AS AN OPIATE THAT DISTRACTS THE MASSES FROM GAINING CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS REQUISITE FOR REVOLUTIONARY CRITICAL MASS! I HAVE NEVER BEEN NOR AM I NOW A MEMBER OF THE REACTIONARY CHRISTIAN IDEOLOGY.
Person 2: Then prove it. Get naked in front of me now!
Person: FUCK OFF, PERV!! GET OUT OF MY ROOM RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!
Person 2: (in a mocking sing song voice) You voted for Trump!
Person: GET OUT! NOW!
Person 2: (still sing song) Putin is your secret boyfriend!
Person: OUT! OUT! DAMN YOU! GET OUT OF MY ROOM NOW!
Person 2: Well, we wouldn't get tickets anyway. See ya. (exits)
Person: Oh, Jesus Christ.
Person 2: (offstage) I heard that!
preach
I say that be homosexual is no more a choice than being black is a choice. Since I am a black person who is also a lesbian I find the argument of who is most oppressed laughable and a waste of time. We should work to get rid of oppression in all it's forms.
Smart dude!
Not sure why authorization would be required. Have you tried again recently?
It is just as much of a choice as a behavior. You choose what opinions you have, that's how having opinions work. I'm not saying it is wrong to have such opinion, but it is a choice.
Being gay is not a lifestle choice as every persons sexuality is decided in their mothers womb ,prior to their birth ---------- just the similarly some people are born left handed
While one may indeed choose to express their sexuality, said expression is not what defines one's sexuality. But rather,the fundamental orientation itself. And that orientation is not chosen neither is it a lifestyle. The reason that we never hear the term " heterosexual lifestyle " is because there is no need to categorize heterosexuality with such descriptively inherent connotative oversimplification in order to subconsciously justify contempt and hatred through subjective ( and, therefore ,contextually unfair and invalid) comparison.
@dickwatson5329 the description of homosexuality as a lifestyle is a blatant oversimplification of human sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular. Such indoctrination of the collective societal psyche is paramount to both the formation and maintenence of the self validating delusion of heterosexuality possessing moral validity. The reason that we never hear the term " heterosexual lifestyle " is because there is no need to categorize heterosexuality with such descriptively inherent connotative oversimplification in order to subconsciously justify contempt and hatred through subjective ( and, therefore therefore, contextually unfair and invalid) comparison. While such complex reality is certain to come with a threat to the subjectively comparative sense of moral superiority of many, such is the cost of growth demanded by truth.
@kimballamye Being afraid of gay people is not a choice, but forcing your opinions on people. I can hate all gay people, but until I bully someone because of my phobia then there is nothing wrong.