3 ms·

The question of weather or not one is born gay has not yet been completely resolved. There is not a 100% concordance rate between identical twins, indicating th

The question of weather or not one is born gay has not yet been completely resolved. There is not a 100% concordance rate between identical twins, indicating that it is not completely genetic; however, the concordance rate is greater than between non-identical twins. What probably happens is that, like almost all animal (including human) behaviors, there is genetic components, but environmental factors play a huge part. The question of weather or not being gay is a choice is a significantly different question, as we do not choice are upbringing. If I recall research I did about a year ago, starting at about 7 (again, I am going off of memory, but I am pretty confident the age is far prebusenent), researchers have found significant corralations between behavior and the eventual sexual orientation of the child. The other problem with using the 'not a choice' argument is that it (ought to be) completely irrelevant. People can argue that sociopaths, pedophiles, ETC are not a choice. This does not mean we allow their actions, because we still believe they are harmful. The reason that homosexuality stopped being considered a disease was that there was no correlation found between homosexuality and negative symptoms. Irrespective of if one made a choice, was born gay, or became gay through some other mechanism is irrelevent, because being gay is not a problem.

300bps 13y ago
>The question of weather or not one is born gay has not yet been completely resolved. There is not a 100% concordance rate between identical twins, indicating that it is not completely genetic Being born gay doesn't necessarily mean it's genetic. As I stated in another comment, there are species that determine sex by the temperature experienced during embryonic development. If a pre-birth factor like temperature can control the sex of a lizard then it stands to reason that other pre-birth environmental factors could cause someone to be gay or straight in humans. Or it could be genes... as you said, nobody knows. But I am convinced that almost all (if not all) gay people are just gay; they don't choose to be gay at some point in their life. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_determination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_deter... As for it "ought to be irrelevant" - of course it should be irrelevant. But it's not. Turing was sterilized for participating in deviant sexual intercourse which strongly implies the society of the day accused of him of choosing to be the way he was.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  But I am convinced that almost all (if not all) gay people are just gay; they don't choose to be gay at some point in their life. The one gay person whose story I know well enough to retell probably started adolescent life as straight-leaning bi, but due to horribly misguided religious environmental pressures became gay. So, no, he didn't choose to be gay, but he could have gone in a different direction in a different environment.
- mikevm 13y ago
  Since we all start out as "females" in the womb, I guess it's possible that some environmental factors can obstruct whatever process is supposed to go on for for a full "conversion" of female -> male. That way you could get an individual that is homosexual, bisexual, hermaphrodite, etc...
  - SimHacker 13y ago
    What does it mean for a hermaphrodite to be gay? Only attracted to other hermaphrodites? But can they be attracted to either men or women or both, and still be "straight" because those people have a different sex? Or are they gay no matter who they're attracted to? Just asking! ;)

300bps 13y ago

>The question of weather or not one is born gay has not yet been completely resolved. There is not a 100% concordance rate between identical twins, indicating that it is not completely genetic Being born gay doesn't necessarily mean it's genetic. As I stated in another comment, there are species that determine sex by the temperature experienced during embryonic development. If a pre-birth factor like temperature can control the sex of a lizard then it stands to reason that other pre-birth environmental factors could cause someone to be gay or straight in humans. Or it could be genes... as you said, nobody knows. But I am convinced that almost all (if not all) gay people are just gay; they don't choose to be gay at some point in their life. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_determination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_deter... As for it "ought to be irrelevant" - of course it should be irrelevant. But it's not. Turing was sterilized for participating in deviant sexual intercourse which strongly implies the society of the day accused of him of choosing to be the way he was.

nitrogen 13y ago
But I am convinced that almost all (if not all) gay people are just gay; they don't choose to be gay at some point in their life. The one gay person whose story I know well enough to retell probably started adolescent life as straight-leaning bi, but due to horribly misguided religious environmental pressures became gay. So, no, he didn't choose to be gay, but he could have gone in a different direction in a different environment.
mikevm 13y ago
Since we all start out as "females" in the womb, I guess it's possible that some environmental factors can obstruct whatever process is supposed to go on for for a full "conversion" of female -> male. That way you could get an individual that is homosexual, bisexual, hermaphrodite, etc...
- SimHacker 13y ago
  What does it mean for a hermaphrodite to be gay? Only attracted to other hermaphrodites? But can they be attracted to either men or women or both, and still be "straight" because those people have a different sex? Or are they gay no matter who they're attracted to? Just asking! ;)