Gays don't choose to be gay, you can choose to not pick on them.

I wrote this last week for OKC.net, now it's even more timely so I am posting the full unedited version here:

“Hey, I know you” a girl says as I walk to class.

“Oh yeah?” I say startled.

“Yeah, your Brandon Patrick, the face of women’s rights in Oklahoma!” she proclaimed, proudly.

“I’m not sure that’s true, or possible” I retort.

“Yep you are, I saw you speak at the capitol! You are the face of women’s rights!” She insists.

“Oh, I guess so” I say, giving in.

People think things. And sometimes, despite evidence to the contrary, they will still think things. It is insane to insist, or even believe that I, a black male, am the voice of women’s rights. I am a comedian, and my act isn’t even necessarily “pro-woman” all the time. But because I took a gig that a lot of people saw, at least in the minds of those people that’s who I am, a woman’s rights activist.

I’m not smart or anything, but from what I gather people tend to not shake first impressions. So when as a kid, your dad tells you that being gay is a choice, and as far as choices go it is a wrong one. I’m not gay, but friends of mine are, and from what I gather it wasn’t a choice they made one day, it was something they lived with and have had to battle with as they grow up in a society that doesn’t understand or accept them, think X-Men but instead of awesome powers, they are great wing men and can help you match suit separates! 

Lately the GOP has been attacking both women and gays. Gays get it tougher, because NO ONE can debate that being a woman isn’t something you are born with. But it super easy to dismiss gay as an abhorrent lifestyle choice, something that people are doing to attack the sanctity of marriage. It is easy to pick on gays, stereotypically they are effeminate and weak, and they aren’t a majority. 

ALSO GOD HATES THEM, He said it in Leviticus 20:13 "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." So pretty cut and dry, open and shut case right? It’s in the bible and we are a Christian nation (despite that pesky first amendment) but what else does leviticus say? Can we openly hate Mexican’s too?! Nope, but you can commit murder-suicide if the man cheats (20:10), this is compounded if you sleep with your wife and her mom, you are all to be burnt to death (20:14), If you curse God the community gets to stone you to death (24:14-16) and of course if you sleep with a woman on her period, you are to both be cut off from your people, which I think means all humans (20:18). Okay, but aside from that, Christianity is a peaceful religion (IGNORE DEUTERONOMY 17:2-7 AT ALL COSTS)and is inherent in mankind, remember being born and talking about Jesus and shit? Meee too! So why do we persecute homosexuals? Because it’s different. They have sex differently, and may have created AIDS on an airplane! 

We persecute gays because it is easy. The way society is set up is even the lowest most uneducated person wants to look at someone and say “well I know that my shit is messed up, but THESE people are doing something terrible,” now typically we would just lump that on blacks, hispanics, or traditional scapegoat the Jews! But since slavery and subsequent segregation put a black eye on OPEN racial hatred we needed another group to treat sub-humanly and make our lowest common denominator feel good about himself. Enter the gays.

Clearly as a rational person we get that the gays aren’t out to kill marriage, and are just people who want to be treated like people. As rational human beings I think maybe we should stand a little more firmly in support of gays, they are in the corner of the rational person more often than not. Gays are people, we should love people, and focus on important issues, not what happens in someones bedroom behind a closed door.

Let’s just love each other, even if we don’t always understand each other*.

*Except the Kardashian’s seriously, how are they still a thing.