On Stereotyping, Wallowing, and Thinking--and Playing the Anti-Gay Card

I find Brett Joyce's attempt to keep robust (and exceptionally ugly) stereotypes of his gay brothers and sisters alive in this Commonweal thread astonishing.  I've noted previously Brett's unfortunate need to paint lurid pictures of his gay brothers and sisters that reduce us to whats rather than deal with us as whos.

Brett wants to argue that we're all--those of us who are gay--synonymous with the most outré representation he can find of "the gay community" in magazines or online.  As if, as a group of human beings and part of the human community, we have no complexity, no diversity or difference, no varying stripes and flavors.

We're all hyper-sexualized.  We're all promiscuous.  We're all out to get the Catholic church.

And, therefore, Cardinal George is perfectly right to try to keep a group of those hypersexualized, promiscuous, anti-Catholic others from parading in front of a Catholic church.

So is the heterosexual community synonymous with Newt Gingrich, I wonder?  Is being straight all about sleeping around and cheating on a spouse to whom you're lawfully married?  And then ditching him or her for a better model when he/she is lying in a sickbed?  And repeating this behavior each time the old model begins to lose its warranty?

Is being straight all about the hypersexualized and promiscuous behavior of the serial monogamists who appear to be richly represented all through "the" heterosexual community, with no help from the gays at all?

And so should Cardinal George be outraged when a group of "them"--of those sexy, promiscuous, unfaithful heterosexuals--want to flaunt their heterosexuality and march their sassy selves in front of one of his churches?

Why do the folks wallowing in these unintelligent stereotypes which are so easily exploded keep loving to wallow around in them, I wonder?  When they are so easily refuted?

And why do they want to claim religious sanction for what's so obviously immoral and destructive to human community?  How about thinking a bit, Bretts of the world?  You might well find it doesn't hurt, but feels right good, to use your brain just a tad bit every day.