“Being homosexual is just having the preference to be with the same sex but to be gay is to be involved in it politically, which most people don’t want to do. [… Some people] don’t consider themselves gay, but will have relations with the same sex one night and go back and have relations with someone of the opposite sex the next night. Many times, these individuals are not being safe, and they aid in the spread (of) HIV and AIDS.” —Manuel Herrera, a GLBT activist with Amnesty International, on the state of being gay in Mexico City, where a community flourishes in the Zona Rosa (“pink zone”) [KCS]
mexico
‘Being homosexual is just having the preference to be with the same sex but to be gay is to be involved in it politically’
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osocubano
And then there are guys like the Marine who told me: “I’m not gay, I just like a dick up my ass every once in a while”…
pilgrim
With this thinking, gay means you like the Tony Awards?
Zach
Hmmm. Anyone else seem to remember a large social movement for equality that reached a conclusion that went something like . . . “the personal is political”?
Alec
That’s why HIV prevention groups use MSMs (men who have sex with men) as the demographic category, or at least one of the reasons. MSM embraces people who identify as gay (apart, I suppose, from the celibate ones), but also includes people who don’t socially identify as gay.
I attribute most of this to repression.
adolf
wouldnt some one who has same sex sex, then goes to opposite sex sex, be BI?
and once you come out, i’d say your involved in it politically.
douglasgibsonjr
Homosexuality is not a preference.
John Smith
Must all gays conform to the same politics? To use an analogy with the black community, Clarence Thomas has been told that he doesn’t fit because of his politics, so is he not “black.” Or Barack Obama, when he lost an election in Chicago against an incumbent black congressman, was told he was not “black” enough.
galefan2004
Lord knows, I have some warped views on politics and human rights which basically boil down to whatever goes on in my back yard involves me; however, I think if you stand up for equal rights for all (in this case gays/lesbians) then your politics are close enough to the rest of us when it comes to human rights issues.
hephaestion
What an idiotic quote. Gay = Homosexual, period.
Synnerman
The only “preference” involved in being gay is chosing to be happy or miserable.
I HATE the term “sexual preference.”
jason
Geez, I wish some gay activists would stop using AIDS to play the pity card for our community. The simple fact is that AIDS is NOT a condition of gay or bisexual men. No disease or medical condition has the ability to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or sexual feelings.
As for the word “preference”, it is frequently mis-used by some gay activists. These activists need to be reminded that sexual preference refers to whether you like men with hairy chests, bald heads etc. A heterosexual man might have a preference for blondes with big boobs.
jmundstuk
From Angels in America: Roy Cohen says, I’m not a homosexual. Homosexuals have no clout. I’m a heterosexual who fools around with guys. (Not direct quote).
I have some sympathy for this quote ’cause it concerns Mexico where conditions are stark. But for me, gay/homosexual and all of the other terms are beside the point. Homosexual is descriptive of sexual orientation. That’s good enough for me.