Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Volokh's latest controversy:

I don't think Eugene Volokh is an anti-gay bigot.

From almost everything I've read from him on this issue, he strikes me as the very opposite. A series of recent posts of his on gays, conversion to homosexuality, and risks of gay sex has ruffled more than a few feathers. You can check out the list here:

Those Who Sincerely Wonder Whether My Posts Are Motivated By Anti-Gay Animus
Sssh! We're Not Supposed To Be Talking About
Dangerousness of Male Homosexual Activity:
One More Final Post on Sexual Conversion:
Gays and Lesbians and Golf:
One Last Thought on Conversion and Sexual Orientation:
Why Wouldn't Gays and Lesbians Want the Bisexually Oriented to Experiment with Homosexual Behavior?
Response to Eugene's Post on Gay "Conversion":
Gays and Lesbians Trying to Convert Others to Homosexual Behavior:


If Volokh is guilty of anything, it's exercising a very poor choice of words. What Volokh describes as "conversion" to homosexuality has an entirely different meaning than the sense in which the bigots use that term. Julian Sanchez has one of the most sensible posts on the matter.

Eugene points out that if someone has a pre-existing same-sex attraction, gay friends or acquaintances may try to get them to act on those impulses if they haven't before. OK, obviously that happens. Except Eugene unhelpfully refers to this as "conversion to homosexual behavior" and considers it a counterexample to the idea that "homosexual conversion" is a myth. Well, first, the problem...is that that's not the myth. The relevant "myth" people are talking about is the idea that gays are going to try to mysteriously implant homosexual impulses in your dear sweet 12-year-old. And that's a sufficiently pernicious myth that Eugene's way of talking is signally unhelpful, insofar as anyone might read it as giving credence to that notion.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoy Mr. Volokh's commentary on most matters, but when he writes about gay issues, I get the feeling is just out of his league.

Unknown said...

He banned me from posting. He's obviously a wimp if he can't defend himself.

Unknown said...

Jon,

Do you think the post below on Volokh's blog is anti-gay?
Why can't we call him on this?

http://volokh.com/2003_03_16_volokh_archive.html#200030290

Jonathan Rowe said...

NO!

You don't know the whole story. He asked Clayton Cramer to be a guest blogger, or maybe even part of the Conspiracy, because he admired Cramer's work on gun rights and Cramer's role in debunking a prominent antigun scholar.

Volokh apparently was unaware of Cramer's antigay past. When the shit hit the fan Volokh BANNED Cramer from the site.

Volokh even had Cramer permalinked for some time after that. But eventually removed Cramer's permalink as well.

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