A platitude about homosexuals is that they were born that way, not made. In other words, same-sex attraction is biologically-based, not a choice.
So it's curious, to say the least, why a lesbian CNN political commentator named states in a Feb. 20, 2015 Washington Post op/ed, " I'm gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too, " that she wants her daughter, Willa, to also be a lesbian.
Kohn presents being homosexual as a CHOICE, much like a person choosing a profession or a religion. More than that, Kohn says being homosexual is actually desirable - "an asset and a gift" - and is dismayed that her 6-year-old daughter shows every sign of being heterosexual. Here are excerpts from Kohn's op/ed:
The idea that no one would choose to be gay is widely held - even in the gay rights movement. In the early '90s, partly as a response to the destructive notion that gay people could be changed, activists pressed the idea of sexuality as a fixed, innate state. Scientists even tried to prove that there's a "gay gene." These concepts about sexual orientation helped justify the case for legal protections. The idea that folks are "born gay" became not only the theme of a Lady Gaga song, but the implicit rationale for gay rights.
[...] Until 1973, the American Psychological Association considered homosexuality a form of mental illness. And while gay-positive culture has flourished since, our aspirations haven't kept pace. It's more widely acceptable to be in America today, but that's not the same as being desirable. In my house, though,
[...] If I lived in, say, North Carolina, with an adopted son from Morocco, I'd like to think I would encourage him to be Muslim, if that's what he chose. I'd do this even though his life would probably be easier if he didn't. It's also easier to succeed as a dentist than an artist. But if my daughter wants to be an artist, I'll encourage her all the way - and work to destroy any barriers along her path, not put them up myself.
Plus, I've never for a single second regretted being gay, nor saw it as anything other than an asset and a gift. My parents were ridiculously supportive from Day One, and I had a great community of friends and mentors who made me feel unconditionally accepted. By the time my daughter comes of age, she'll have even more of a support network, including two moms, for crying out loud.
More than that, though, being gay opened my eyes to the world around me. Learning that not every gay person had it as good as I did helped me realize that a lot of people in general didn't have it as good as I did. I wouldn't be a politically engaged human being, let alone an activist, writer and TV personality, if I weren't gay.
[...] I want my daughter to know that being gay is equally desirable to being straight. The problem is not the idea that homosexuality could be a choice but the idea that heterosexuality should be compulsory. In my house it's plainly, evidently not. We've bought every picture book featuring gay families, even the not-very-good ones, and we have most of the nontraditional-gender-role books as well - about the princess who likes to fight dragons and the boy who likes to wear dresses.
When my daughter plays house with her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad. Sometimes she changes her narrative. Sometimes she doesn't. It's her choice.
All I ultimately care about is that she has the choice and that whatever choice she makes is enthusiastically embraced and celebrated.
Time will tell, but so far, it doesn't look like my 6-year-old daughter is gay. In fact, she's boy crazy. It seems early to me, but I'm trying to be supportive. Recently, she had a crush on an older boy on her school bus. [...] I confided in a friend who has an older daughter. [...]
My friend wrote back with a slew of helpful advice, ending with a punch to my gut: "Bet it wouldn't bother you so much if her crush was on a girl."
She was right. I'm a slightly overbearing pro-gay gay mom. But I'm going to support my daughter, whatever choices she makes.
There is another reason why Kohn's op/ed is disturbing: it lends support to a belief among same-sex marriage opponents that homosexuals' hidden agenda is the recruitment of America's children to their "lifestyle."
Though homosexual activists and the media heap ridicule on that notion as the paranoia and bigotry of knuckles-dragging-on-the-ground troglodytes, prominent homosexuals themselves have admitted to recruitment as a goal.
In 1987, a homosexual activist named Michael Swift issued the , that was first published in the Gay Community News of Feb. 15-21, 1987, then reprinted in the U.S. Congressional Record. The Manifesto declared:
We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theater bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us.
More recently, in 2011, queer activist Daniel Villarreal , writing in the gay advocacy website , also admitted to recruitment:
They accuse us of exploiting children and in response we say, 'NOOO! We're not gonna make kids learn about homosexuality, we swear! It's not like we're trying to recruit your children or anything.' But let's face it-that's a lie. We want educators to teach future generations of children to accept queer sexuality. In fact, our very future depends on it. [...] Recruiting children? You bet we are.
And now we have media personality Sally Kohn openly stating that "I'm gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too."
