"It's Disgusting" is a Perfectly Fine Objection to Homosexuality

Bryan Caplan describes opposition to homosexuality as “unreasoning disgust.” But all disgust is “unreasoning.” When you see a cockroach and feel a sense of disgust, that’s an instinctive reaction, not a rational thought.

Homosexuality is disgusting. That’s not an opinion, it’s an objective fact that homosexuality triggers the human disgust reflex, at least for most men. Everyone who has at least a cursory familiarity with history or with their fellow human beings already knows that. You should not need a peer-reviewed paper to tell you that most men find homosexuality disgusting. However, many people insist on being obtuse when it comes to these matters, and there are peer-reviewed papers that you can send them.

In a 2017 paper for the journal Psychology and Sexuality, O’Handley, Blair and Hoskin measured the stress response (as measured by the presence of alpha-amylase in a saliva sample) of 120 men in response to certain images. They found that the men experienced the same stress response to images of two men kissing as to “universally disgusting images” such as maggots. They did not experience a stress response to neutral images such as paperclips.

The same study measured the men’s level of “sexual prejudice.” The “sexual prejudice” test is called the “Modern Homonegativity Scale” which is really just tests whether you agree with left-leaning opinions. It includes questions such as

• “Gay men have become far too confrontational in their demand for equal rights.”

• “Gay men should stop shoving their lifestyle down other people’s throats.”

• “The notion of universities providing degrees in gay and lesbian studies is ridiculous.”

You are asked whether you strongly agree, agree, don’t know, disagree, or strongly disagree with each of those statements. The more you agree with them, the more “sexual prejudice” you have.

The researchers found no relationship between levels of “sexual prejudice” and levels of stress response. When shown images of two men kissing, the stress response of the men with low levels of “sexual prejudice” was about the same as the stress response of the men with high levels of “sexual prejudice” which indicates that liberal men who claim not to find homosexuality disgusting may just be lying.

Public Decency

There are things that are not allowed in public. You are not allowed to go to a fancy restaurant and eat with your hands while making a mess all over the table. You are not allowed to poop in public parks.

The reason these things are not allowed is because other people don’t want to see them. The sight of such things triggers the disgust reaction, so they are not allowed in places where other people might see them.

The Leftist Attitude Towards Homosexuality

People with mainstream left leaning opinions don’t merely claim that you ought to tolerate homosexuals. They make a much stronger claim: they claim that it is morally wrong to feel disgust at homosexuality, and if you feel disgust then you ought to suppress that feeling.

Far from demanding mere outward tolerance, mainstream left leaning people make claims about what you are obligated to do inside your own mind.

Conclusion

The disgust one feels at homosexuality is not merely physical disgust, like the reaction we would have to an open wound or a messy eater. The disgust reaction to homosexuality has a moral aspect as well, similar to the disgust reaction to incest. But even if you don’t accept the validity of moral disgust as an argument against incest or homosexuality, the sense of physical disgust alone is enough to reject much of “gay rights.” You do not generally have a right to act in public in ways that will disgust large numbers of your fellow citizens. You are not allowed to poop in public parks. You are not allowed to eat with your feet at restaurants. By the same token, it would be perfectly reasonable to restrict public displays of homosexuality.

Mainstream left-leaning people generally accept the prohibition on public pooping. They have a different opinion about restrictions on homosexuality because they are logically inconsistent. If mainstream left-leaning people want to claim that one has some special moral obligation to suppress their natural disgust at homosexuality, then they should make an argument for that position.