Repressed Heterosexuality

This dynamic had never occurred to me (from comments to this GayPatriot post):

By “power of her presence” you mean, I think, her sexual attractiveness. I think that the gay community forces gays to suppress their latent heterosexual urges as much as the straight community suppresses gay urges. We make fun of “gun nuts” or athletes slapping each other or “bromance” or whatever as clearly repressed gayness. When there are a bunch of shaved-head muscle guys shouting epithets at a Pride parade, we assume they are working out their internalized homophobia.

So why can’t gays have internalized heterophobia? Sarah Palin brings out feelings that gays have been told they are not supposed to have. They are not supposed to get a tingly feeling in their leg in the presence of a powerful, attractive woman. So they respond in the way straights respond to Adam Lambert–they accuse her of shrieking, of lack of substance, etc.

Homosexuality is not a complete absence of feelings for the opposite sex. But many gays try to force that myth on themselves to maintain a group identity. I’ve always had some level of attraction to women. I remember those happy days around 8 years old obsessed with Sandy Duncan and Shirley Jones. And I was madly infatuated with my 7th grade English teacher. I feel some of those same things for Sarah Palin. Though my feelings for Todd are a whole lot more tingly.