Open Letter To Christians

[Redbeard The Pink]

You're totally right. The amount of time some Christians spend demonising homosexuals is entirely disproportionate to what their book says. As I explained, the story of Sodom isn't about homosexuality, so that leaves one puny reference in the middle of the OT (which we don't follow now, remember?). It's mentioned about the same number of times as eating shellfish and wearing clothing weaved from two fabrics.

And even then, this verse can be reasonably interpreted to mean sodomy, but not homosexuality. The Christians involved either can't or won't understand the difference.

Perhaps the reason Christians spend a disproportionate amount of time addressing homosexuality is because the media (movies and television especially) spends a disproportionate amount of time promoting homosexuality.

Considering the fact that less than 5% of the population is actually gay, the percentage of gay characters appearing in television shows and movies is often far more than the 5% number would suggest for realism.

You realize that just in America, the population is currently somewhere around 318.9 million people, right? That means that 5% of the population is still approximately 15.945 MILLION gay people. Furthermore, one study found that the average American knows about 600 people. Even if it's less than that by a few hundred, that still means that EVERY average American knows at least a few gay people personally. Also, because of the way they're ostracized by various cultures and interest groups (to put it nicely), gay people tend to gravitate toward areas where there is a high level of acceptance for homosexuality, meaning that gay people are likely to be more concentrated in some populations and geographic areas than in others. They're also more likely to choose friend groupings that involve other gay people and people who don't mind being around gay people.

Now let's reflect on how Hollywood portrays gay people. In general, you either have media where almost nobody is gay and the few gay characters are on the fringe of the story and humor, and then you have media where several or even most of the characters are gay. What about either of those situations is not realistic?

You also have to account for the fact that Hollywood and its media are full of actors and theater people, and actors and theater people tend to have more open homosexuals amongst their ranks than other areas of the population. This issue is near and dear to the hearts of many theater and film workers, and it's a hot-button issue in our culture right now. As we all know, media is generally a reflection of the culture that makes it, so it stands to reason that gay characters and issues are showing up in a lot of the media we produce and consume.