It is worth remembering that “purity” is a proxy for “sameness.” Whether we are talking about sexual purity, gender purity, racial purity, ethnic purity, or religious purity, we use the term purity to refer to “keeping out” or even “cleansing” humanity of diversity. To be “pure” in someone else’s eyes is to be like them—absent of the elements that make you difficult for them to understand or accept.
