"The pyschopath within" and the LGBTQ community

 
Vincent J. Curtis

6 Jan 2014

A letter to my hometown newspaper.

Sirs;

The article “Facing the Psychopath Within”, a story about neuroscientist Dr. James Fallon, was interesting not just for the content of the article, but for the implications of that content.

 

Here we have a clear-cut case of a man, Dr. Fallon, genetically predisposed to engage in a certain kind of behavior, and he has chosen not to engage in it.  He is tormented by all sorts of demons, and his decisions about his behavior have remained under rational control.  Inclined to hurt the people around him, he has not.

 

That such a case exists ought to worry those who ask that the LGBTQ community be accommodated or even pitied.  We are told that those who engage in LGBTQ behaviors do so either as a life-style choice, or are genetically predisposed to engage in such behaviors and cannot help themselves.  The community at large is supposed to make a special effort, engage in a special outreach, to make those who engage in LGBTQ behaviors feel better about themselves.  We have “gay-straight” alliances in schools and gay marriage as results of this special effort.

 

We may now conclude on the basis of the psychopath example, that LGBTQ behaviors are entirely under rational control and need not be engaged in at all.  Except under extraordinary emotional distress, man remains rational in his decisions.

 

The community at large has a right to feel conned.

 

There is no excuse for bullying or for aggressive behavior against people who are not to our tastes.  But LGBTQ behaviors are the results of rational choices under the control of the persons who make them.  These personal choices ought not to disturb the community at large, but they have.

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