Sexual Orientation is a Choice-Political Feminism

So you wonder why large numbers of LDS people believe that sexual orientation is a choice? Look no further than political feminism and separatist feminism for your answer. Political feminism argued that women should choose lesbianism as a way of combating the patriarchy. Chief among the proponents of separatist feminism was Sonia Johnson, the mormon ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) advocate who later went onto a very colorful life in feminist and lesbian extremes outside the mainstream culture. She was the most famous LDS LGBT person of her time.

This Gun for Hire-Female Bodyguards

One of the true oddities of statements I read online and hear out in the real world is the rather archaic (to my seventies era feminist leaning bent) notion that vocational interests somehow have much to do with one's sexual orientation or gender identification.

It still sticks in my craw.

"We" fought so hard and endured so much to open those doors to women in occupations they hadn't been in before. I'm in my fourth male dominated profession and happily this one has not involved the kind of trail blazing the first three required. No litigation, no consent decrees, no sabotage in the backroom, on the job site, or the boardroom. Nice.

Sorry, but I refuse to buy in that somehow the fact that a guy who likes to sing, make music and not play sports should automatically tip someone off that the guy is gay. Or that women who work closely with other women in a traditionally non-female occupation are automatically thought to be lesbian.

I rather enjoyed discovering that the demand for female bodyguards is increasing world wide and that the field is now dramatically opening up for women to pursue as a career and this post about two in the UK was quite charming and reflective of many challenging jobs women now hold that they couldn't in the past.

The Lesbians Next Door

Some years ago, two women and various children moved in next door to our family, and, after hearing them have a loud and rather "coupled" sounding argument, I concluded they were lesbians. A couple of days later I had a conversation with them and one asked me if I was Mormon. I was surprised but she had seen enough in a short period of time lving next door (family heading off to church, kids to seminary, etc.), where she was certain that we were. She then mentioned that she, too, was LDS. I told her when Church was and invited her to attend. She declined the invitation and indicated that she hadn't been in sometime following an awful divorce and didn't plan on going any time soon.

I remember telling my Bishop about my new neighbors and letting him know that I thought they were lesbians. To which he rather testily told me that I didn't know that, that they could just be sharing expenses. As it turned out, both women became friends and after the LDS sister reactivated and married one of the local single guys from the ward, I finally told her and she laughed and laughed, although she admitted that other people had concluded the same thing. Bishop was right and I was wrong.

As I've thought about this over the years, I've decided that this is a profound case of my laying my own bias, experience and preference issues over a situaiton to come to a conclusion that I really had no facts to support. As a practical matter, nothing was different in terms of our family's dealing with our supposed "part member lesbian couple" next door, but I made some assumptions that I think were more based on my own same sex attraction experiences than on any other credible evidence.

Therefore, I have had to acknowledge over the years that people as unique individuals often do perceive the same things differently. Until recently when I had to confront the issue more directly, I had always thought that most if not all people had some same sex attraction. I suppose this is why I never found my own experience troubling. If everyone really is bisexual, what is the big deal? But, as I am now finding out, the overwhelming majority of people claim not to experience sexuality the way I do.