system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Back in the day, before gay marriage was even legal, I got in a huge fight with a pastor at a friend’s church about this. He claimed that the higher number of suicides in the gay and lesbian population was proof that being gay is “wrong.” That it’s “an illness that kills.”

I spent days compiling as much evidence as I could about homosexuality existing in other species and the “mortality” rate of those animals. I tried to show him that other species of homosexual animals do not “die from being homosexual.” In fact, the suicide rate of homosexual humans is high as a result of people like him, and the hate and awful treatment that gay humans face, *not* as a result of being gay. He just refused to consider any of it.

The fact that this argument continues to be used *against* LGBTQ+ humans, as tho it’s not hatred that drives them to mental health problems and suicide, just completely blows my mind. How could *anyone* argue it’s a byproduct of homosexuality/being transgender and not a byproduct of inhumane treatment? I just don’t understand.
gpt
Imagine if society ruthlessly bullied people with glasses, or constantly second-guessed them like, "What do you MEAN you need glasses? I can see JUST FINE" while holding bad-faith debates that Optometrists shouldn't be allowed to assess children.

We'd probably be hearing all about "people who wear glasses have worse quality of life" or "people who are allowed to wear glasses try to kill themselves more"

And then we'd constantly see comments in these threads like, "*actually* studies show that wearing glasses is correlated with getting punched, why should we ALLOW people to do that to themselves?"

Or, "People can do what they want, but if you're GOING to wear glasses, you're going to get punched, which is your fault...because you chose to need glasses."