Heterophobia

Emily Nesbit was a former English teacher in Pennsylvania. She engaged in consensual sex with one of her 18-year-old students. She has been charged with sexual assault under Pennsylvania's Institutional Sexual Assault statue that makes sex with students illegal. Odd thing. She is not being hailed as brave, heroic, or ground-breaking. She is going to jail.

A high school dance teacher in Texas faces second-degree felony charges for her affair with a 17-year-old female student. She is not being celebrated for her sexual choices, but is instead banned from any contact with the witness or any minor under the age of 17, from using or possessing computers or cellphones, or from accessing pornography while she awaits her trial.

After crashing his vehicle one weekend, Tiger Woods' story came out. He has been linked to affairs with at least 9 women including a porn star and a pancake house waitress. Following the admission of extramarital affairs, strangely enough, Woods was dropped from multiple sponsorship relationships with companies, his wife left him, and he was out of the golf game for months. Estimates put his losses in money alone between $5 and $12 billion dollars. Read that again. Losses. He was not, for reasons unknown, rewarded for his sexual choices.

After being selected as the first openly gay NFL player, Michael Sam kissed his boyfriend on camera for the world to see. The NFL is having trouble keeping up with the demand for Michael Sam jerseys. He was congratulated by President Obama. Miami Dolphin player Don Jones tweeted "Horrible" after the viral video kiss and was fined and dropped from participation with the team until he completes "training". The news calls Sam "heroic" and "courageous". (One news outlet said this was the end of the "male-dominated NFL". What???) GLAAD says "This is a game changer."

Now I wonder what the difference is? Why did all these other people (and more besides) get in trouble for acting out on their personal sexual preferences -- we're not talking about rape or anything -- but Sam is hailed as a hero? Why were these others not congratulated as being "game-changers"? What is this ... heterophobia¹? Why does society recognize some sexual desires as wrong but others as good? And when will we realize that there really is right and wrong, moral and immoral, good and bad, and not all relative?
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¹ It's sad that I have to do this, but I will likely need to explain that I am not actually suggesting "heterophobia" (at least, not at this juncture). It is a literary device wherein the reader is supposed to answer logically, "No!" The point is not that there is some "heterophobia" going on (any more than there is actual "homophobia"), but that people are randomly determining moral values without rhyme or reason ... or even consistency. Just so we're all clear.