Shame on Joel Osteen
Wow… Joel Osteen is dumber than I thought. 
Apparently realizing this answer could be interpreted as a defense of a main LGBT argument — that people do not choose their sexual orientation — Osteen backtracked, saying he preferred to stick to “the issues I understand,” the Advocate reports.
hmph… Okay, so Joel Osteen pretty much admits that in the year 2012 he is just too lazy to spend a couple hours reading online, or actually meeting with LGBT to learn that it is not a choice. He said he has no choice to be straight, but doesn’t understand that LGBT do not have a choice. And when cornered he chickens out and says, “I prefer to stick to the topics I understand. Sweetheart, it is 2012 — take a day off and find some understanding. The information is so readily available, the only people who don’t understand are those who choose to remain unaware and unformed. Yes, little Joel, sexual orientation is not a choice, but ignorance is.
It has been over 40 years (June 1969) since the Stonewall riots and the beginning of the gay civil rights movement.
For at least the last two decades there has been increasing visibility of LGBT people, with a whole lot of legal battles for equality and an end to discrimination. We have become known EVERYwhere in this country: books have been written, sermons preached, articles published, movies made (and even TV series) featuring us as more than a joke, and legislation pushed through congress at both the state and federal levels.
How can the senior pastor at the largest church in the nation CHOOSE to remain ignorant of a topic that actually does touch the lives of virtually every person attending his church? Everybody in his church who is not LGBT either knows, works with, lives near or next to, or is likely even related to a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person.
For Osteen to consider sexual orientation (other than 100% hetero) to be a sin and a choice that can be given up like smoking or drinking is just incredibly stupid. Especially when he admits he himself did not choose to be straight, how the fuck can he assume someone else would choose to be gay? He’s clearly an idiot of the first degree.
A hundred years ago, such lack of awareness might have been understood, but in 2012 there is NO EXCUSE to be so uninformed. Shame on Joel Osteen.
Mr. Whiting-
I recently stumbled onto your website and read your comments on Joel Olsteen’s interview where he said that he didn’t “choose” to be straight. You wondered how he could be so ignorant as to not see how this same situation could also apply to the LGBT community as well.
I personally have wondered why the LGBT community dismisses the possibility that some gays DO choose their lifestyle. In my 57 years on this earth, I have known numerous male gays who were naturally effeminate in their speech and actions from a young age and I have no doubt that they didn’t “choose” to be that way. It was obvious to me that they were born with these feminine traits. However, I also believe that many people DO choose to indulge in these lifestyles for various reasons such as curiosity, sexual pleasure, or an attraction to what is viewed as a forbidden perversion. I don’t mean to offend you but I have to ask about YOUR initial foray into the gay lifestyle. Your previous posts mention your sons, which seems to indicate a significant relationship or possible marriage to a female so I have to wonder how you can view your present lifestyle as anything other than a “choice”. Was there an “awakening” or “blossoming” that caused you to come to the realization of your “true” sexuality? Do you think you would have come to this realization if our present societal mores were less tolerant of alternative lifestyles than they are now? (I realize the LGBT crowd doesn’t like the term “alternative lifestyle” applied to them because it DOES imply choice). Again, I don’t mean to offend you, but I did have these questions after reading your posts and I don’t pretend to know anything about your present or past circumstances which may have affected who you are or the choices you may or may not have made.
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to write.
Mark N.
We’re born at pt.A
We die at pt.B
Go smoothly betwixt.
Hi Mark:
I have been gay (same-sex attracted) all my life, although I didn’t learn the words for it until elementary school, and before puberty I learned that what those words meant also meant that it was not socially acceptable. By the time puberty hit I learned that those words applied to me. When I became a Christian at 15 it was clear (at that time) that the church thought it was wrong. So I continued to hide it, I got married because it was expected of me, and I tried to do the “right” thing, according to the church. Regardless what I was doing on the outside, going through the motions, I was still gay, still attracted to men not to women.
After I was divorced, I decided that hiding who I am was morally wrong, and I chose to come out and be myself. There were several costs involved and it took a toll, which aren’t worth recounting here as it was nearly 30 years ago, but the long term result was that it was better to be out than to be closeted.
The only choice in the matter is choosing to hide or to live your authentic life.
There really is no such thing as a “gay lifestyle” — you are either true to yourself or not — and those who use the word are simply ignorant of what it means to be gay or lesbian or bi or trans or whatever. People who are gay are found in virtually EVERY lifestyle.
It also has nothing to do with sexual activity. Straight guys can choose to have sex with other men (in prison, at war, etc.), but that doesn’t make them gay; it just means they’re having sex with other guys. Sexual orientation is about who you are attracted to, not always about who you are currently having sex with.