A sad and angering story went viral last week and is still getting press, even if it of the far right crazy type. While the NYT removed homophobia from its style guide, this story is a pure example of real homophobia, and the insane actions that grow from such a fear.

In a nutshell, the guy had a male dog, and he noticed it hunching another male dog. He took the dog over to the local rescue league and asked them to take the dog because he refused to raise and care for a gay dog.

Anyone with half a brain, and any experience with dogs, knows that dogs do this quite naturally, and it has nothing to do with sexual orientation. Rather it has to do with communications and dominance- normal dog behavior, even for the butchest, most masculine and straight canine.

Wasn’t that the most amazingly silly sentence?

Behaviors and our judgement about them- as if some are masculine and some are not; and some are gay or not; is utterly and completely a cultural construct, manufactured to perpetuate the status quo of white European male dominance. Male homo sapiens that is.

This story illustrates real homophobia or fear of homosexuality. This guy didn’t even try to learn about his dog and the dog behavior as he trotted off to the rescue league to get rid of the dog. I suppose you could claim that he is no homo-hater. A hateful person may have ended the Doug’s life directly or abandoned the dog to starve to death. At least he took it to a shelter.

More appalling than this guy’s irrational and ignorant fear however, is the far right spin of the situation.  Bill Donohue asks,  “Why Is There No Mercy For Heterosexual Dogs”?

The place where Elton was dropped, Euthanasia Jackson TN, encourages dog adoption, but it also promotes dog euthanasia. Not, however, in Elton’s case: the shelter has no stomach for putting dogs down on the basis of sexual orientation. It must be said, though, that the shelter is not exactly inclusive in its policies. To wit: Had poor Elton not been identified as a homosexual, his heterosexuality would not have been enough to save his hide.
The moral of the story is: Being gay is not only a bonus for humans these days, it is a definite plus for dogs as well. As for straights, the lonely and the disabled, that’s another story altogether. (emphasis is mine)

This isn’t really so unexpected. The straight homo-haters have been trying to play the victim forever. But what is so amazing is how this douche totally misses the point of about this dog, who once rescued was named “Elton.” The dog’s sexual orientation never had anything to do with anything. The animal shelter was uncomfortable killing the dog, not because the dog was gay, but because the previous owner was a total asshole, and the dog should not be punished  for a person’s idiocy.

As both humorous and bothering this story is, the reality is this same issue harms many people all of the time. People, as well as animals are judged, for stupid reasons, as being gay or lesbian.  A woman is refused a job, because she interviewed in a pants suit and the interviewer assumes she may be gay. A young boy is beaten up at school because other kids think he may be gay.

This story is all about presumptions, attitudes, and stereotypes, and has nothing to do with gays being more privileged than straights, even if that is what the homo-haters like Donohue  want to make it out to be. No one- person or animal deserves to be judged and harmed because of other’s stupidity, ignorance, fears and inadequacies.

PS: is there any part of this story that reminds you of another conservative with a dog story?  I think the douche in that story was maybe a presidential candidate…