I have not been able to figure out why Republicans and religious nuts feel threatened by gays.

[LiberalFighter]

I have not felt threatened by gays, lesbians or others in my life. They have not converted me over to be like them. They have not even tried.

I have been threatened more by Republicans and religious nuts to become them than to follow a different sexual lifestyle. So who is more of a danger?

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. Here ...

This research might answer some of your questions.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/102/4/815/

[DCKit]

2. They know the uglier they are in mind and body, the more tempted "Teh Gay" become.

It's a law of nature.

[rhett o rick]

3. It's a control issue. "If you follow me, I will protect you from __________" (fill in a hate group)

[Creideiki]

4. The conservative mind has difficulty feeling empathy for things outside its limited experiences

I'm not being snarky; and I'm not being mean. Studies that show the differences between liberals and conservatives have shown the distinct lack of empathy for anything not in the immediate sphere of existence. It's sort of why Cheney could be for same-sex marriage, but Mitt Romney is wholeheartedly against it.

[Malikshah]

5. Because they are only able to control a small portion of us; so many of us have had to live our

our lives in a way that is not true to ourselves. Many have struggled--and some tragically have succumbed--with the pressure that society has placed on us.

Over the last few generations, though, as the the LGBT community has grown in strength and security (relative to the past, that is), more of us our living our lives more openly...more truthfully.

The thing is--all this societal pressure to conform has shaped who many of us have become as open members of the LGBT community. It has given us perspective; malleability; empathy to some extent.

All of this makes us harder to control, and that scares the shit out of those who have based their lives on conforming to some intangible force. We've broken from that force and for that reason we are the ultimate "other."


OR...

We are--for the most part--wittier, classier, and generally more fabulous than they can ever hope to be.

[anAustralianobserver]

6. My view is that the more unhappy they are with their own marriage

the more they look to scapegoat someone...

Gay people are often more self aware about who they are compatible with and about their sexuality, and feel less obliged to stay in dysfunctional relationships.

In some cases these reactionaries are repressing their own same-sex attraction (primary or incidental), but probably in most cases it is just because they feel resentful and desperate that their own marriage (and family life) is not nourishing them...

They sense especially that many gay people have worked through a difficult adolescent development and have come out the other side with a strong self-awareness and a relatively healthy social life. So they absurdly scapegoat gay people (or gay stereotypes) in an attempt to hide their own embarrassing immaturity and incomplete adolescent developments.

It's especially frightening for them if they were taught that their religious beliefs and identity would lead to a happy marriage, and that gay people's social values are decadent and would lead gay people to be miserable, forsaken by God etc.

[ncteechur]

7. Because their puppetmasters have told them to feel threatened.

Repubs don't think for themselves. You can tell because they never disagree.

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. Nazi's were not really threatened by Jews either

But finding a target population to focus hate on, is a time-proven tool for power and control.

[TrogL]

9. Easy. They feel we're dirty and the dirt will rub off.

It's a purely emotional reaction. There is no "why".

[DrKPhd]

10. Because they are afraid of sex.

And gay people seem to enjoy sex, and more particularly, not a kind of sex that their preacher tells them is okay, so that's the scariest kind of sex. The most terrifying sex.

[ck4829]

11. The only people who try to convert people in this equation are the homophobes

There is no gay version of the Westboro Baptist Church.

There are no gay people protesting churches and Christians with signs telling them to 'go gay or burn for all eternity'

There are no groups with a purpose of turning straight people gay, but there are plenty of groups that do the opposite.

There are plenty of ex-ex-gays, but there are no groups that are actively doing this

There are no gay Paul Cameron's or Family Research Councils

There is no 'pray away the straight'

There is no effort from same-sex parents to take kids out of homes raised by straight parents or prevent them from adopting

I have yet to hear any gay people talking about straights organizing into some secret society with a hidden agenda

I could go on, but I think everyone gets the idea.

[Arkana]

12. Jealousy at the happiness of others mixed with revulsion at anything that doesn't fit

their Mayberry worldview.

In Republican Mayberry, it's 1955 and every family is Ward and June Cleaver.

[mojitojoe]

13. Neither one is comfortable without someone to hate.

[JoePhilly]

14. They have a patholgical need to feel superior to other people.

For most of them, they can't feel good about themselves without looking down on some one else. So they set themselves up as the arbiters of morality.

They get to sit in judgement over you, and feel superior.

[Carla in Sequim]

15. It is called...

HATE.

[MrSlayer]

16. It's simply pandering to the bigot vote.

It's now a fifty-fifty split, just 10 years ago it was like 70-30. They will drop it once it loses more votes than it gains. Real soon.

[StitchesforSnitches]

17. Why you ask?

Because Hate, Lies and Fear is ALL the GOP has run on since 1980, it is all they have and sadly there are enough people who agree with them to keep hate filled pubs in office who in reality are enough of a distraction to allow enough conservatives to to become Dems to water down any meaningful legislation offered by liberals and progressives.

The war is being fought on many fronts and most are not paying attention to the real battle just the skirmishes.

[greymattermom]

18. more that hate

it's a weird obsession with sex and related to the war on women.

[tcaudilllg]

19. Because it's in the bible

Moses (masquerading as a god) condemned gays, and so did Paul. It's a religious question through and through.

Moses condemned homosexuality because it involves the sexual arousal of the anus, which tends to house lots of bacteria. In modern times it's not a big issue, but it was back then. Paul linked Jesus to the Old Testament, according to Catholic tradition, and today that tradition has a life and power of its own.

To wit, orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Catholics are anti-gay. It's the creed of their religion to be so. So much of the nation identifies with the Catholic tradition (around 50%), that it's probably impossible to win marriage equality at the state level.