Declan Ganley says homosexuality is a choice
Read more about: Equality, Gay Rights, Lisbon Treaty 
Many thanks to Stretch (he reads Hot Press so we don’t have to!) for pointing us to the recent interview with Declan Ganley, the chairperson of Libertas.
You might have seen Mr. Ganley on the Late Late Show on Friday night last, he has also been in Brussels recently. He’s getting ready for Lisbon the remix or the European Parliament elections which ever comes first.
It seems he shares a lot in common with Sarah Palin regarding issues of choice and homosexuality.
‘There is no harm being done to anybody (with homosexuality) – that’s something you choose to do yourself’
And no doubt some of his best friends are gay and a few of his employees/members (we’re everywhere!). I wonder what they think about their boss’s thoughts on the harm gays are not doing choosing their sexuality! Then again John McCain’s chief of staff is one of those ‘choosers’. It must take a special set of skills to work for campaigns which cast such assertions on one’s life.
(Green Ink – Irish blogging Cartoonist extraordinaire)
A version of this post can also be found on Mamanpoulet.com
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Declan probably likes people who can choose their sexuality. If they can do that then they can probably choose to ignore other moral quandries that may have popped up when working for Declan and his interesting company.
Eh, all sexuality is a choice if you look at it in a sideways kind of way, and God knows, Declan likes to look at things in a sideways kind of way!
While sexuality probably ain’t a choice in a binary sense, all consensual activity clearly is. Choosing to live with a person of whatever sex is a choice.
The ability of some people to take offence is quite amazing. All sexual activities and lifestyles are fundamental choices. Orienation may not be, but that does not mean that activities stemming from that orientation are not either.
Here comes the Libertas bus, to fill the PDs void of obnoxiousness.
There may be more in the interview than that one line, but if the argument is based solely on that one line then it is a pretty weak argument. People choose to do harm, it’s not a requirement of their sexuality orientation. Invert the comment
‘There is no harm being done to anybody (with heterosexuality) – that’s something you choose to do yourself’
Yep, I think we can all see that a person can choose to be a selfish, hurtful individual in their relationships if they’re straight. So why would that not be the case with ‘the gays’? Or is this like Gerry Adams’ line about how republicans couldn’t commit a crime? It would seem to my reading of the line (and that line is all that has been offered for examination) that the point being made is that being gay doesn’t do any harm to anyone, that you have to set out to do harm and that is a matter of choice. What that harm might be you’d have to ask him. Did the interviewer do so? I’d be interested to know.
I wish I had chosen not to read Dan’s comment.
is it a quiet day or something or are folks tired of the banks arguments. Dont like Ganley very much but is he not saying something like “who does it hurt – nobody so lets leave it as a personal issue” or maybe his comment is as labyrinthine as suggested.
I think the mistake here is that its being interpreted in the light of Sarah Palin’s words. Maybe there is an agenda behind his words. Not sure but some of the interpretations seem very laboured (maybe even my own but I think i am just reading it as i see it with no subtext)
Green Ink,
appreciated Libertas support in scuppering Lisbon and hopefully in scuppering Lisbon 2 but I agree that any party that attempts to fill the PD void is inherently obnoxiousness. If his comments are as interpreted by many on the thread then he can indeed run along with his American style neo-conservatism.
Just to clarify the full text of that section of the interview – it’s about as confusing as Dan’s response above! Earlier in the interview, he had stated that he is opposed to abortion, and believes it to be a sin in all cases, including rape.
HotPress: As a Roman Catholic, you would obviously see homosexuality as a sin?
Declan Ganley: I’m a Roman Catholic! Look, people have free will, OK? And I respect that. There are gay people who work with me who are fantastic people but I’m not going to point the finger at anybody and say, ‘You’re doing wrong!’ Let me correct the wrongs and ills in myself before I start saying – holier than thou – ‘You’re doing something wrong!’ There is no harm being done to anybody (with homosexuality) – that’s something you choose to do yourself.
As a follow-up question, he was thrown the following:
HotPress: You could express an opinion if you wanted to….
Declan Ganley: I could if I wanted to! (Laughs)
He then went on to express his opposition to same-sex marriage, but said that he believed there needed to be an ability to protect property rights and inheritance rights, though he doesn’t know the answer to these things….
In that case, it sounds more like Ganley’s line was broadly consistent with the official Catholic church standpoint which is that being gay isn’t a choice but practising as one is. The ‘love the sinner but not the sin’ idea. Which is kind of like saying having red hair isn’t a choice but showing it to everyone by not wearing a hat is. If God is still in the business of creating people who are gay then his representatives on earth need a better line than that.
God shouldn’t come into issues of human sexuality.
And Jer while I was glad to see Lisbon go by the wayside it was plain to me Libertas were using it as a platform to organise as a political party, despite Ganley’s protestations. The benevolent libertarian facade is bullshit.
Poor Mr. Ganley! With every utterance it becomes more and more obvious what happened. I want to know: who did it? Own up, now! Who dropped that poor man out of his pram when he was a baby?
And no doubt some of his best friends are gay and a few of his employees/members (we’re everywhere!).
Oh, you’re such a tease, Missus!
Why should Declan Ganley be condemned for being a catholic ?