Billboards

Generic man/woman, vaguely gay looking, and a caption at the top saying "I Questioned Homosexuality". And then another caption at the bottom saying something like "Change Is Possible". I'm not kidding. Here's a a press release about it.

Now, for the record, I really don't give a crap about homosexuality. I'm of the libertarian mindset: if I don't have to look at it and it's not costing me any money, go crazy, folks.

Is homosexuality genetic? Is it learned behavior? Can that behavior be changed? Don't care, don't care, and don't care.

On the one hand, some people do care. I think the fact that they're putting up a billboard is a good thing. Doing so would probably be illegal in Canada. It's still a free country, and when someone displays something wildly controversial on an interstate highway, that tells me free expression is still alive here. For now.

And as for their message, well, let's toss out a hypothetical: If some scientist invented a "not be gay any more" pill, would any gay people take it? You bet. Being gay definitely has its downside. These people are suggesting they have something. Frankly, I don't see what's wrong with that, and attempting to "cure" people isn't in and of itself a bad thing.

It's probably crap, and I'm sure we'll see a 20/20 exposé on the horrors of the Exodus program (that being who these people are), with mentions of their 2% success rate. But then, Jenny Craig is also crap, and will probably cost you a lot more in money and misery than this program will.

That ought to be the end of it. Some Christian fundamentalists are offering gay people a way to stop being gay. If you aren't gay, they aren't talking to you. If you are gay, you can just say "no". But that won't be the end of it. As I write this, I'm sure angry letters are flying around demanding that something be done to remove the hate from our highways.

And St. Louis will be painted as a seething bed of intolerance. And I'll be asked to think more about homosexuality than I'd rather, which is hardly ever at all. Just writing this, I've thought more than I'd rather.

How 'bout that Battlestar Galactica this weekend? Was that explosive or what?