A Republican candidate for Congress offered up his analysis of human sexuality and gender on Tuesday, in a group interview with South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel editorial board, alongside two other Republicans running to represent House District 20 in Broward County.

“You never see a giraffe, a male giraffe, that mate(s) with a giraffe,” Rod Joseph said. “Myself right now saying, ‘I am a giraffe,’ that doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Everyone is “born straight,” he offered.

The unusual assertion was made in answer to a question about U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) declaration at the beginning of Pride Month, “Homosexuality has no place in America.”

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[–] 182 points 4 months ago (12 children)

“You never see a giraffe, a male giraffe, that mate(s) with a giraffe,” Rod Joseph said.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals

Giraffes

Further information: Giraffe § Necking

Male giraffes have been observed to engage in remarkably high frequencies of homosexual behavior. After aggressive "necking", it is common for two male giraffes to caress and court each other, leading up to mounting and climax. Such interactions between males have been found to be more frequent than heterosexual coupling.[95]

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  • [–] 51 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    I would imagine most giraffes, male or otherwise, mate with giraffes.

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  • [–] 24 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here as to meaning, as the second part of his statement is even more incoherent if not, given context. I'm assuming that he just misspoke.

    “Myself right now saying, ‘I am a giraffe,’ that doesn’t mean it’s true.”

    I don't see as how his giraffe-ness would have much bearing on homosexuality, otherwise.

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  • [–] 82 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Giraffes are famous for engaging in extensive same-sex behavior. Studies have documented that up to 94% of observed mating-like activity happens between males, often involving intense caressing, "necking" (rubbing necks), and mounting

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  • [–] 81 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Well, yes, I personally have never seen a male giraffe mate with another male giraffe. I've never seen a male and a female giraffe mate, either. In fact I've never seen a giraffe in the wild at all.

    So I'm gonna take this one step further and say giraffes don't exist in the wild. Every giraffe that exists lives in zoos because that's the only place I, personally, have ever seen them. Any evidence to the contrary is fake news.

    Am I Republicaning correctly?

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  • [–] 18 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Close. You have to make a bold claim that combines those 2 unrelated topics. Something like....."The fact that I have only seen gay giraffes exist while in captivity proves that being gay is unnatural. I'm 100% positive every giraffe outside of Zoos are banging the Lord's way."

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  • [–] 18 points 4 months ago*

    I have never personally witnessed two Floridians having sex. Therefore we can conclude that Floridians don't procreate and thus Florida can only sustain its population by illegally importing hordes of immigrants. The American federal government should arrest the entire Floridian government to put an end to this.

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  • [–] 56 points 4 months ago
    [–] 40 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    Meanwhile, Grindr profile views and hookups peak every time there's a Republican held convention.

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  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    It’s only gay if the balls touch your chin.

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  • [–] 39 points 4 months ago (11 children)

    I wish I knew how to get people to care about things that actually matter even 10% as much as they care about things that will never, ever affect their lives in any material way... and are also NONE OF THEIR GODDAMNED FUCKING BUSINESS.

    Why do you care if someone likes dick?

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  • [–] 30 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    Because he likes dick, I guarantee it.

    "You aren't born liking dick. You choose to like dick, just like I'm choosing not to like dick. I don't like dick, I don't like dick, I don't like dick, I don't, I don't, I don't"

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    “You aren’t born liking dick. You choose to like dick, just like I’m choosing not to like dick. I don’t like dick, I don’t like dick, I don’t like dick, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t”

    He says to himself while gargling balls in a public restroom.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    I wish I knew how to get people to care

    So much of the anti-LGBTQ hysteria comes from people who are in immediate proximity to friends and loved ones coming out of the closet. And while the natural response to this occurrence is to show love and support, we have a deluge of misinformation that's designed to poison people into believing the most insane bullshit.

    Which is to say, people do care. But they tend to get their heads scrambled with reactionary media. And the end result is that, after hearing for decades "if you're gay then you've become the victims of sexual assault and you're going to do drugs and you'll get horrible diseases that will kill you", they respond with abject horror at the slightest hint of queerness. Same if you see a sibling or a child or (god fucking forbid) a parent or spouse show signs of it.

    The end result of this firehose of induced anxiety, combined with the economic pressures of poverty and the social pressures of fascist religious institutions, is incoherent panic.

    Why do you care if someone likes dick?

    Because then they'll make you like dick and liking dick will kill you and damn your soul in a lake of fire for eternity.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (4 children)

    I'm guessing religion.

    Leviticus 18:22:

    Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.

    Leviticus 20:13:

    If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

    Jude 1:7

    In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

    Referencing:

    Genesis 19

    Genesis 19:5–8

    Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.  They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

    Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him  and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.  Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

    And:

    Genesis 19:12–13

    The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

    And:

    Genesis 19:24–25:

    Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.  Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.

    Romans 1:26–28

    Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

    Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

    1 Corinthians 6:9–10

    Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    I’m guessing religion.

    Religion is the excuse, not the cause. There's a fair number of religious institutions which are queer friendly or at least queer-indifferent. You gravitate towards the religious group that echoes your own biases. Those biases aren't imbued by some supernatural force. They're the result of material incentives and social divides that demagogues exploit when they fashion a religious doctrine.

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  • [–] 29 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    “You cannot be born gay. That’s impossible biologically,” he added, stating his sureness that sexuality is a preference, not a biological orientation.

    In my limited experience, I have read plenty of anecdotes where someone has this point of view, only to later realise that they’re bisexual.

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  • It's just like those homophobes that talk about how hard it is not to be gay. "Something something constant temptation to have sex with men" and all that. I can say with absolute certainty that I've never experienced that temptation. I think you might just be attracted to men my guy.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Even if it were true that people aren't queer by birth, that should make no difference to their rights.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    My very fundamentalist first boss and I agreed strongly on this, although with opposite conclusions.

    My feeling was whatever one or more consenting adults want to do in private is fine.

    His feeling was if God tells you not to do something that you shouldn't do it, even if you really want to, even if you were born wanting to.

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  • [–] 28 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    Aren't giraffes known for being the most gay out of almost all animal species? Or am I thinking of another animal?

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  • [–] 24 points 4 months ago

    I mean, this is so on the nose, it has to be on purpose.

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  • [–] 22 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Sir, how many giraffes did you survey to come to this conclusion?

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  • [–] 19 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I love how all these conservatives have medical degrees and specialties. I had no idea that we had so many doctors in the US. Where is our free healthcare if we have such a surplus of 'expert' medical professionals???

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  • [–] 11 points 4 months ago

    Quite a lot of them are chiropractors, osteopaths and other para-medical "degree" holders. Not to mention the ones who have real medical degrees, but are certified by dodgy boards that they set up themselves, like Rand Paul.

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  • [–] 38 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    BREAKING: U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) caught in public restroom having sex with another man

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  • [–] 18 points 4 months ago

    Plenty of queer animals throughout the animal Kingdom.

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  • [–] 18 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    How much animal porn is this guy watching that he thinks he's an expert on animal mating habits?

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  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago

    Republicans will claim that giraffes aren't gay and then shoot them anyway.

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago

    Shouldn't there be some law or something to remove people in office who blatantly lie like this? Surely someone with this kind of attitude could not uphold democracy. They are a threat to national security.

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  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    That dude definitely wants to fuck a giraffe.

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago

    Tell that to Proximo, dude.

    Those giraffes you sold him, they won't mate. They just walk around, eating, and not mating. You sold him... queer giraffes. He wants his money back.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    South Florida

    Yeah.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    In other news, unicorns are straight

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Bet that dude jumps when someone else's Grindr notification goes off out in public.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Of course this is in my backyard. God i hate this ass backwards state. I cant wait to escape Floriduh but the system just keeps keeping me down.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    The white sand beaches are pretty nice, IMHO.

    https://www.visitflorida.com/travel-ideas/articles/florida-white-orange-dark-sand-beaches/

    Much of the sand on Florida beaches is made up of quartz crystals, produced by the weathering of continental land masses like the Appalachian mountains. The quartz is washed down America's great rivers into the Atlantic and the Gulf where it's carried onto the beaches by water currents and waves.

    1000009402

    If you wind up leaving, enjoy its strengths now.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    The nature here is the only reason i didn't leave years ago. The beaches are great, the everglades are amazing. Hell, i even really enjoy our scrub forests. Id miss it for sure but its getting bad here.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I wish I could just start a country and allow politicians to rule it but whenever one of them says anything about sexuality or immigrants it's just straight to the guillotine.

    Well maybe we can just start doing that regardless of whether or not we start a new country first.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    land of the free... you are free to think and be exactly as those morons want you to think and be

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    I was going to say, who knew giraffe scientists were this far into mapping the human genome, but then I read he was a Republican, so it’s obviously some tall tale

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago
    [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    If our giraffes don’t mate, how do they be like they do when they are?

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    I mean I would argue that you cannot born gay but you can born to be gay.

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