When being gay is convenient

Posted by justinquincy , Aug, 2009 @ 7:35 am

Oh, Barbara. That’s my new favorite line whenever I watch the ladies of The View gab it up over the latest Hot Topics, including one several weeks ago that had Barbara confused over a new phenomenon in America where women are leaving straight relationships to have relationships with other women. Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck was guessing it had to do with the, “emotional” aspect of a relationship that women desire. (As if men apparently don’t have any emotions) And Joy Behar chimed in with her reality check: “They finally discovered themselves”, pointing to the fact that she believed these women were always lesbians and were just now acknowledging it in a more accepting society.

Well, ladies of the The View, you have a new interesting court case to chat about and I really would like to see what you think. Thanks to Gay Jamaica Watch, we’ve learned that a Jamaican woman who was jailed in a British prison for drug use developed what she called “several relationships with females” while in prison and if deported back to Jamaica, she argued, she could not live her life openly as the island is very intolerant of homosexuals. This kind of argument has worked in the past for those seeking asylum for being deported back to Iran where homosexuals are often put to death. But, the defense argued that the women, “wasn’t a lesbian”, and thus the argument held no merit. They claimed she had a history of relationships with males and that it was a male who was with her when she was sent to prison.

Sticky situation eh? But, it’s an age old problem. We desire to protect minorities from discrimination. The problem is that minorities via sexual orientation could potentially lie because there is no defining characteristic like skin color. Thus, it makes priveleges for this group more difficult to put forward. And, it also begs the question much further: does it matter if someone decides to become gay or lesbian as lifestyle choice and does this undermine the case for rights for those who are “born” gay or lesbian?

Photo via [LA Times Blog]