This is part of the reason I think you're racist. It seems extremely easy for you to apply aberrant behavior to a large group as if this person speaks for everyone.
Out curiosity I looked into the Desmond story because obviously right wingers know about it more than Democrats. What I find is a very difficult story that I know something about. First and foremost, I don't agree with his parents. I think whatever you let your child watch you're basically normalizing. Once its normalized in that child's brain you can't then expect them to put the genie back in the bottle and think that this black man can dress up however he wants, but they can't. In fact, you (mom), are watching and enjoying this man in drag. So does the child's mind subconsciously believe the mother will like him more... or pay more attention if the child emulates the thing he sees his mother liking? I don't think that's impossible.
I don't think we as a society understand how intelligence develops. Basically, the mind doesn't necessarily know its male or female. The mind programs itself. You can only output based on what's input. It's all about how you socialize children but the fact that these "other behavior patterns" are now "options" out there in the wild (and let's not act like Republicans don't have gay kids) its now part of their environment. You can try to shelter them but they're probably going to see it online anyway. I know a young child who was and is still in the same boat. And I believe the psychologist Desmond's parents eventually talked to was correct. If you focus on it you'll likely make it worse. Parents today have to deal with gender issues that parents 20-40 years ago didn't really have. Even though homosexuality was out there it wasn't accepted, homosexuals were in the closet. And so children mostly thought it was girls and guys in prison. And so little boys weren't trying to experiment because they had no input that said it was okay or cool to do so. Now there is because people who are gay don't want to feel bad about it which causes an over reaction to the opposite extreme. The over reaction is a result of heterosexual fear-based propaganda against them. The truth is that the more openly anti-gay you are the more it empowers them because they will react to that by standing up for themselves and being proud of who they are. So we (and I'll include my younger self) are the ones who created that. Not them.
We still want to blame them and wish they would go away but it is our fault that it's now normalized because we stigmatized it. We made it taboo and created demand for it. And then we said those who did it were bad and that gave them a reason to come out and say they weren't. We've treated them like the US has treated black people and as a result they're achieving success where they can just like black people did. Black people took over sports to a certain degree. So why wouldn't homosexuals take over cosmetology and fashion? I liked Project Runway but I was secure in my masculinity at that point. And could appreciate the WORK and the ART that different people were able to do, regardless of their race, gender, or sexuality.
When it doesn't matter anymore you can appreciate it. But when you force it to matter (like with racism) well now you create pride in that oppressed group. White people have a hard time understanding how black pride isn't "reverse racism" but its the fact it was created as a reaction to how we were treated. So now, after treating LGBTQ badly do you still wonder why they now have "gay pride" parades? Black people don't even have parades to celebrate being black. That's like literally celebrating that you like to have sex with people of your same gender. It shouldn't be a thing at all. But the opposition MAKES IT a thing.
If something is hot, something else must be cold. Once heterosexual created the label and stuck it to gay people, they started to define themselves as such and reprogrammed their brains based on that thinking. I think back in Rome, a whole lot of Europeans were bisexual to the point where they just didn't care. Nobody was like... Republican! Democrat! Again... once it was out there people just gravitated to whatever they wanted at the time.
So this kid I know likes girly things. He's also been watching Drag Race and other shows like that. He's more into fashion and cosmetics than his sisters, a couple of whom are more masculine but everyone accepts that when girls are "tom boys" its perfectly fine and okay. There is no male equivalent and so when a male is like that everyone assumes he's gay, he gets labeled and teased, and then parents have to decide how to deal with it. Because honestly, I don't know what the kid is. And so, if I'm being honest, I don't know how to treat him. I'd rather him act like a boy but that's my own bias. At the end of the day I have to accept him for who he is just like I accept once of my cousins who is gay. We probably all have a gay relative at this point, whether in or out of the closet.
The problem is that Conservatives (people who tend to be on the right) are the most venomously opposed to the existence of homosexuality because they believe God hates it because that's what it says in the bible. And so they hate it too, on God's behalf, and don't realize that, in their hatred, they become the bigger monster. I want you to really think about that. Don't, in your hatred, become the bigger monster. That 11 year old kid may be confused about what he is because his parents were over zealous in supporting the possibility that he could be gay. They exposed him to gay things, perhaps maybe even trying to gross him out or just seeing how he would respond so that THEY could be sure. They shouldn't have done that. They should have let him develop naturally and if he liked girly stuff just tell him boys are allowed to like girly stuff just like a lot of fashion designers are men, chefs, etc. Paul Mitchell... not gay. I'm pretty sure. But they didn't want their child to "be something" and not feel like he had loving parents that accepted him. Because that's a far greater crime.
I'd rather have a gay kid than to have a gay kid who hates themselves because they think I hate them; or forms negative opinions about men or society because of how they're treated. There's no male equivalent of tom boy so you know how that kid's going to be treated as a parent. And maybe you think you know what you would do and say in their situation but I promise you, unless you've been in that situation, you don't. You can't tell a kid to be straight and they're just going to be straight because you said so. It may even have the opposite effect because they would take it as rejection and it would create distance that might push them even more in that direction.
The idea that conservatives don't hate these problems is ridiculous. Dick Cheny's daughter Mary was an advocate for same-sex marriage and convinced her father to approve of it. She's been married since 92. The difference is that Republicans are more likely to either stay in the closet or keep their relationships out of the public domain because their conservative friends and business opportunities are less likely to be as friendly towards them. Left wing news outlets have at least 3 major gay hosts. I would definitely say they're more inclusive. But that's the thing. Now that it exists to the degree that it does... and we (Again, including my younger self) basically created a new race called LGBTQ now, they need representation and if you oppress them, not only is it wrong, but its also strengthening their movement for that very acceptance. And that movement will have exactly the same or greater effect... no I'm sure it will be greater... than simply accepting it. And just like how there are plenty of whites who act black there are and will be plenty of heterosexual children who will "act gay".
But if you're trying to use Desmond's parents oddly allowing him to dress up and perform in public... I hope you're not trying to insinuate that this is pedophilia. Homosexuality is a "deviant" behavior as it literally is a deviation from natural male-to-female sexual bonds. However... one sort of deviant behavior does not make that person open to all deviant behaviors. Some people like feet. Some people like furry animals. Some people dress up like babies. Some people like getting spanked. There is a whole range of sexual behaviors that are acceptable as long as it is male-to-female. Pedophilia has nothing to do with political party. It likely has more to do with power and domination and secrecy. Adults can abuse children and often get away with it because the child is scared of the adult. And far more often this is male-to-young female. And there is a double standard because if you hear on the news that a male teacher has sex with a female student that is often seen as much worse than a female teacher sleeping with a young male student. Even my own bias is like "lucky kid" in the case of the male student. Most of us probably had at least one teacher we fantasized about. The age difference in these fantasies wasn't a big deal. Society only cares about whether you're legal, not what the age gap is. Donald Trump is 24 years older than Melania. But because he met her at 28 and he was 52, no one could call that pedophilia even though when he was old enough to drink she likely wasn't even born yet. I doubt this is a problem for you. Maybe in the back of your mind you're thinking "good for him!" But again, when he was 21 how old was she? How old was she?
In the case of Roy Moore, he tried to skate by with the same "ok its okay because she was legal" argument. However, there is indications that he was attracted to younger girls before his wife and that she was young and illegal when he first saw her. That means he was a pedophile and that whatever relationship they had he simply waited for her to hit legal age in order to legally marry her. Now if you're okay with that then cool, conversation over. If you're not okay with that then you should address it, rather than trying to find someone on the left to complain about. Because if you're only willing to point to someone on the other side it just makes you look like a hypocrite.
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