Of course this is a completely invalid analogy
By I’m still not sure why, exactly, but I’ve been assured repeatedly that it just is.
The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals [obesity researchers] should not tell gay [fat] clients they can become straight [thin] through therapy [dieting] or other treatments [“lifestyle changes”].
In a resolution adopted by the association’s governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of so-called reparative therapy [telling people to eat less and exercise more], a concept espoused by a small [gigantic] but [and] persistent group of therapists [weight loss “experts,” your mother, your best friend, and the stranger in the grocery aisle], often allied with religious conservatives [almost everyone else in the culture], who maintain that gay men and lesbians [heavier than average people] can change [become thin].
No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the resolution, adopted by a 125-to-4 vote. The association said some [a great deal of] research suggested that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.
The failure rate for “reparative therapy” isn’t any worse than the failure rate for attempts to produce significant long-term reductions in body mass in larger than average persons. (Or average or smaller than average persons for that matter). But somehow, while trying to turn a gay person into a straight person is now considered an irrational and destructive thing by all enlightened opinion, trying to make people thinner is considered a good thing, because they could be a lot thinner if they really wanted to be. They just could. Really. Because this guy over here lost 75 pounds and kept it off. But that’s not at all like that one guy who used to have sex with men but now doesn’t. Not at all. It’s totally different.