Learning that gays are icky

Is the ick factor learned? One of the big things that gets in the way of approval of gay marriage (besides religion) is the ick factor. Anna Quindlen of Newsweek wrote an article about how most of the country, with Congress as a big exception, has seen through the fallacy of abstinence only sex education. In it she comments that abstinence is stressed through the "eww factor with photographs of lesions" the kinds of things one gets through STDs that one wouldn't get if virginity is maintained until marriage. Is this where the ick factor associated with gays comes from? A good bet it does.

Quindlen includes this gem (emphasis added):

Because we hear so often that there are two sides to an issue, we've become accustomed to thinking there are two equal sides to most of them, especially the ones on which people scream the loudest. You can see this reflected in coverage of demonstrations, in which tens of thousands can march against the war, or for gay rights, and a chunk of the story will be taken up by quotes from 11 people with American flags or verses from Leviticus on their signs.