Buck "Toxic" Talk Puts Gay Teens At Risk
Senatorial candidate Ken Buck says being gay is a choice rather than a condition acquired a birth. “Toxic talk" similar to Buck’s led to the suicide of a gay teen, Zach Harrington, in Norman, Oklahoma in Early October. Zach was the 6th teen to take his own life during the past two months. 
Michael Bennett and Ken Buck on Meet the Press
"I think that birth has an influence over it, (homosexuality) like alcoholism and some other things” Buck said during a debate with Michael Bennett on Meet the Press. Buck and Bennett are in a horse race for the U.S. Senate in Colorado.
“But I think that basically you have a choice," Buck continued.
Alcoholics lead a tough life and often harm others. For those who don’t get help, the end comes in an insane asylum, a prison or the morgue. No one wants to be an alcoholic.
Tying homosexuality to drunk drivers, or to something society detests, is to suggest both are bad people. This is the kind of subtle hate-speak and "toxic talk" which led to the suicide of Zach Harrington and some of the other 6 dead teens.
Alcoholism is considered a disease by the international organization Alcoholics Anonymous. It is acquired at birth or shortly thereafter, their literature says.
Homosexuality was considered a disease under decades old psychiatric theory. However, in 1973, it was dropped as a mental disturbance in the DSM II, just as leeching blood was dropped as a useless cure in medicine long before. Buck’s remarks tying sick alcoholics with “sick” homosexuals is a slur to gay people.
That is where the “choice” part comes in. If Buck is right and being gay is a choice, then those who consider it an immoral choice claim the high ground. Decades of studies show the part of choice in sexual orientation is whether to practice a particular orientation as a lifestyle or not. The feeling behind the attraction remains forever no matter whether a person chooses a same sex or opposite sex partner.
Forcing gay men into straight relationships spells disaster. The wife never feels truly loved. The man may cheat with another man. The children are raised by a father who is never able to be himself and a mother who feels she deserved better.
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