Homosexuality

[jake3456]

I believe that homosexuality is caused by a hormone imbalance and cannot be controlled. What do you think?

[Jack]

I believe the jury's still out on whether or not there's a genetic cause, but looking at my self I have to believe that there might be a biological predisposition that later influences can act upon. I don't believe that family or society can cause homosexuality, but it can certainly exert an influence on whether or not a person expresses his/her preference. The same could be said of my left-handedness. Is it genetic (I only have one uncle on my mom's side who was left handed) or is it due to later influences? It certainly was as discouraged when I was in grade school as homosexuality is still in young people. Neither left-handedness or homosexuality were conscious decisions I ever made. I can say I was fairly young when I first realized that I fell into both camps.

[jake3456]

I agree with you that it can be influenced by society and experiences. One of my friends' mother was married to a man for 13 years and divorced him because she was lesbian, and she had known it previously too. So it's kind of the opposite i this case, where she was influenced into "being straight".

[SoccerfreakAB2]

It's definitely involuntary. No kid would go through what the homosexuals go through in my school.

[Osborn F Enready]

I would say from everything I have learned up to now, it is a process that probably takes place in the birth canal, while being delivered, due to hormones produced by the mother during delivery.

I am still very puzzled with the emerging facts, but they are helping to paint a clearer picture of how it seems to be a result of a process at birth.

I would believe, that in the future (for better or worse....) they will know how to prevent or alter the process (using drugs) that creates gays/lesbians. I am sure there will be much argument and debate over the "ethics" involved, but it will never the less be a discussion that takes place, as the science comes out.

So my answer is both really.

I think gay/lesbian inclination is born in, at birth, and out of control of the individual being birthed....however.... I also believe science will be able to alter the "percentage" of gays/lesbians born to parents using drugs, at the choice of the parents.

[Jack]

it is a process that probably takes place in the birth canal, while being delivered

Maybe that explains my left-handedness, as well. It was the appendage I held on with in an effort to delay my arrival in this reality.

[gallo]

I got into a discussion of this topic on a "christian" board. Of course, the prevailing sentiment was that it was a choice by homosexuals to "turn away from god." So I joined in and mentioned that I never made a choice, that I was aware of my sexuality as far back as I can remember. Of course, I took a lot of static and insults from the "christians" for turning away from god, and I was damned to hell frequently by some.

So I asked them a question. Since they insisted that sexuality is a choice, I asked them to tell me about how they had decided not to be gay, since they obviously had those tendencies to have made a choice. It was funny to watch them run in circles while they claimed that they were straight and never made a choice but homosexuals did.

This was especially funny since I am heterosexual - a fact that I never told them.

[jake3456]

I read a story in some newspaper about these Catholic ministers who actually killed their own son. He had been raised a devout Catholic, but then as he got older, he realized he was homosexual. His parents, being Catholic ministers, killed him, saying that the devil had possesed him. They got life sentences.

If you were raised to believe homosexuality was wrong, why would you "turn" homosexual all of a sudden?

gallo, I like your logic of asking them when they ever made the concious descision to be heterosexual.

[Jack]

If you were raised to believe homosexuality was wrong, why would you "turn" homosexual all of a sudden?

Oh, you know kids...anything to piss off their parents.

Seriously, it's like asking a lactose intolerant person, "When you decide to be allergic to milk?"

[Sonart]

.

Quote by: jake I agree with you that it can be influenced by society and experiences. One of my friends' mother was married to a man for 13 years and divorced him because she was lesbian, and she had known it previously too. So it's kind of the opposite i this case, where she was influenced into "being straight".

Far more likely she was influenced into acting straight... by growing up hearing gays and lesbians constantly vilified and castigated. I suspect that after 13 years, the personal cost of leading a false life became more than the cost of conceding she was gay.

Quote by: jake If you were raised to believe homosexuality was wrong, why would you "turn" homosexual all of a sudden?

See my last sentence above. I seriously doubt anyone turns homosexual "all of a sudden". They've probably been agonizing over it for most of their post-puberty life. They simply reach a point where they 'Come Out' all of a sudden.

.

[jake3456]

Quote by: Sonart . Far more likely she was influenced into acting straight... by growing up hearing gays and lesbians constantly vilified and castigated. I suspect that after 13 years, the personal cost of leading a false life became more than the cost of conceding she was gay. See my last sentence above. I seriously doubt anyone turns homosexual "all of a sudden". They've probably been agonizing over it for most of their post-puberty life. They simply reach a point where they 'Come Out' all of a sudden. .

Notice I put the words you replied to in quotations. That implies that it has a different meaning than expected. Just so you don't get the wrong opinion about my opinions.

[jake3456]

Quote by: Isherwood Oh, you know kids...anything to piss off their parents. Seriously, it's like asking a lactose intolerant person, "When you decide to be allergic to milk?"

A very good point.

[Seeker_Of_Sins]

[quote=gallo]I
So I asked them a question. Since they insisted that sexuality is a choice, I asked them to tell me about how they had decided not to be gay, since they obviously had those tendencies to have made a choice. It was funny to watch them run in circles while they claimed that they were straight and never made a choice but homosexuals did.
[quote]

Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, hetrosexuality is instinctive, therefore your question has no answer. Even homosexuals practice hetrosexual acts because all acts of sex are instinctive and created from a desire to procreate. Perhaps the real answer is that sex is instinctive and the need to have sex is hard wired, otherwise why would you go to all the bother? Our need to label things has led to the confusion of sexuality.

I always find it funny that homosexuals say that they may have,(at some time in the past), chosen a hetrosexual lifestyle bought about by a desire to have kids or because of social pressure, real or imagined and yet they get absolutely outraged when you suggest that they choose a homosexual lifestyle. Interesting that they can manage to choose one and yet have no choice over another.

Anyway, getting back to my point, I believe your question has an answer gallo.......the choice to have sex isnt a choice at all, meerly a natural urge that cannot be denied. Doesnt matter what sexual orientation you are, you still have sex.......arse bandit, taco bell, whiney the poo.......matters not, the urge is real and choice doesnt come into it.

[Jack]

I always find it funny that homosexuals say that they may have,(at some time in the past), chosen a hetrosexual lifestyle bought about by a desire to have kids or because of social pressure, real or imagined and yet they get absolutely outraged when you suggest that they choose a homosexual lifestyle. Interesting that they can manage to choose one and yet have no choice over another.

It's because those who ask that question usually mean "choosing to be homosexual", not "choosing the gay lifestyle". It's the old behavior as opposed to orientation problem. Any straight can act like a homosexual, even to the point of performing same-sex acts. Any gay person can behave straight. That says nothing about their orientation. We get incensed at the stupidity of the question when it suggests that orientation is a choice. We have no objection to talking about the behavioral adaptations we've had to make, even those we wanted to make (to have kids for example), in order to get along in society.

[Athena]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready I would say from everything I have learned up to now, it is a process that probably takes place in the birth canal, while being delivered, due to hormones produced by the mother during delivery. I am still very puzzled with the emerging facts, but they are helping to paint a clearer picture of how it seems to be a result of a process at birth. I would believe, that in the future (for better or worse....) they will know how to prevent or alter the process (using drugs) that creates gays/lesbians. I am sure there will be much argument and debate over the "ethics" involved, but it will never the less be a discussion that takes place, as the science comes out. So my answer is both really. I think gay/lesbian inclination is born in, at birth, and out of control of the individual being birthed....however.... I also believe science will be able to alter the "percentage" of gays/lesbians born to parents using drugs, at the choice of the parents.

I saw the report on the study about hormones at birth causing this sexual orientation, and it seems logical to me. But no, Isherwood, I don't think left handedness is hormonal. According to the show, the more boy babies a woman has, the more likely the next will be homosexual. They are guessing the woman's system reacts to the male hormones in such away that her hormones counter the male hormones at a critical moment, and that this reaction is more likely to happen when she has more than one boy. But this would not explain masculine females.

It would take a lot of energy to deliberately act differently from how one's wiring naturally causes a person to act, and homosexuals frequently appear as the opposite sex in many ways, early in life. Thinking of acting like a man all day every day, because I wanted to be as man, is not an attractive idea to me. That would take sooo much energy! On the other hand, I saw a lot of dikes on a California beach, and I don't think these women would ever be feminine.

[Technosoul]

I think that some people have harmones that would cause (for example) a man to think more like a woman then like our normal idea about how men think.

Some direction happens at the comming of age process when people first become interested or knowledgable about sex and different events can shift the direction of what one would prefer.

I some cases it is a matter of choice, because it might be easy to get sex at a gay bar then by dating women, for example, would be a motive for some choices.

So I do not think that one answer covers everyone who gets involved in a same sex relationship

[Technosoul]

What happened was that some angel up in heaven had a computer error. Because of that they sent some souls down to the wrong place, some men souls ended up in women and visa versa. They even sent some souls to the wrong races of people, a soul of a black guy ended up in a white boy and he went around rapping songs. And some souls sent down for the body of a rich guy ended up in the body of a poor guy. That computer misshap caused a lot of confusion for some people and so the angels wanted me to make an aplology, next generation they will try to get it right.

So if you think you ended up in the wrong body, like if you are a woman in a man's body, that is what happened.

Techno's book of facts.

Ha

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: jake3456 I read a story in some newspaper about these Catholic ministers who actually killed their own son. He had been raised a devout Catholic, but then as he got older, he realized he was homosexual. His parents, being Catholic ministers, killed him, saying that the devil had possesed him. They got life sentences.

Catholic priests are celibate and don't marry. They don't have legitimate children that they rear...Where did you get this cockamamie story?

Quote by: Osborn F Enready I would say from everything I have learned up to now, it is a process that probably takes place in the birth canal, while being delivered, due to hormones produced by the mother during delivery. I am still very puzzled with the emerging facts, but they are helping to paint a clearer picture of how it seems to be a result of a process at birth.

What about the twins on last week's 60 Minutes? One gay the other straight...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1385230.shtml

60 Minutes found identical twins Steve and Greg Lofts in New York. They had the same upbringing, have the same DNA — and yet Greg is gay and Steve is straight. When people meet the twins and find out one of them is gay, Greg says people have asked if he's sure, and how it can be. "Everyone is curious about that," he says. There were signs, even when they were little kids. Their mother told Stahl that Steve loved sports and the outdoors while Greg liked helping out in the kitchen. But it wasn't until high school that Steve became convinced Greg was gay. Asked if he said anything to his brother, Steve says, "I did actually. And I think the way I worded it was something like, 'You know, Greg, if you're gay, it's OK with me. And I'll still love you the same.' And he gave a very philosophical answer. He said something like, 'Well, I love the soul of a person and not the physical being.' And in my mind, I was like, 'Yep, he's gay.'"

How does your hormone theory fit with identicals from a single zygote, born at the same time through the same birth canal?

Sexual preference is a goddam mystery. The science ain't there yet...

[Jack]

Where did you get this cockamamie story?

I was thinking the same. Perhaps he means deacons?

[belverron]

Quote by: PatrickHenry What about the twins on last week's 60 Minutes? One gay the other straight...

From what little I know, the hormone theory may still work. Something about different hormone concentrations in different areas of the womb? We are talking about a stage when the twins are separated. Hopefully someone with more knowledge (or more time) will jump on this one.

And I hope that you don't think the one gay twin, one straight twin is a huge revelation only brought to light by last week's 60 Minutes.