homosexuals

[MissRonni]

at least you agree that homosexuality is a choice, because some people tend to think that people are BORN homosexuals... NO, people BECOME homosexuals, and for different reasons... one of the reasons could be sexual abuse sometime in their life (or bad experience) ... it has to be treated as an emotional disorder (like Anorexia for example)... about those "human rights organizations", i sometimes i think that America has TOO much freedom...

Are you serious? Not everything that deviates from your strict views is brought on by abuse. There are quite a lot of homosexuals out there who were never abused in any way, but in fact grew up with loving parents and families. Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of people who were horrendously abused and grew into normal funtioning adults, or even slipped to the other extreme and became avidly homophobic. Homosexuality is not a disease. I think that it is (like most emotional and preferential traits) a combination of genetic and environmental factors. You can breed for complacency and intelligence in any animal, meaning they are born with a specific outlook and emotional disposition, why couldn't you be born homosexual? To say nothing of the fact that the attraction we feel to other human beings isn't exactly how we percieve it. Beyond the "Whoa they're good looking" there is a whole level of pheremones going on, and don't you think homosexuals would be hormonally repulsed if it was unnatural?

[Wojahoitz]

Saying that homosexuality is caused by abuse is like saying opposable thumbs evolved because the ape's parents beat them too much.... on their hands..... by stretching their thumbs.


Wojahoitz

[Vada]

And it's highly influenced by society and friends and family.
Hormonal things also play a big role in this disorder. I wonder how homosexuals can be 'normal' again. They do need support, but is it enough?

[MrMistery]

I am a member of an academic debate club and we had this motion some time ago. After countless searching on the internet and the public libraries, i have come to the conclusion that people do not really know what causes some of us to be homosexual. Some say it is genetic and others that it is strictly determined by environment. Some say it is a combination between the two. At the moment, we are not more sure that gay parents will raise gay children than we are that straight parents will only raise straight children

[Dr.Stein]

And it's highly influenced by society and friends and family.
Hormonal things also play a big role in this disorder. I wonder how homosexuals can be 'normal' again. They do need support, but is it enough?

Yes, 'education', support from family and environtment, and, the most important, a self-willing to change...

[ushishir]

A useful model of human homosexuality is gay sheep:

"We studied a unique group of rams that would not mate with estrous ewes during
extensive testing for sexual behavior. The same rams courted males in preference
to females in 30-min sexual preference tests and were classified as
male-oriented (n = 6)."

Biol Reprod 1996 Jul;55(1):120-6. Endocrine correlates of partner preference behavior in rams. Resko JA, Perkins A, Roselli CE, Fitzgerald JA, Choate JV, Stormshak F.

and

Review: brain aromatization and other factors affecting
male reproductive behavior with emphasis on the sexual
orientation of rams.
K.L. Pinckarda, J. Stellflugb, J.A. Reskoc, C.E. Rosellic, F. Stormshaka,
Domestic Animal Endocrinology 18 (2000) 83–96

Reserarch indicates that homosexuality in sheep at least is fairly common - the numbers are stable at about 10% and is caused by differences in the brains and so cannot be changed.

Of course just as interesting as what makes people gay is what makes people straight - how is it that most of us are attracted to the opposite sex?

Some recent support for the theory that homosexual 'genes' can be beneficial comes from this research:

"Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring
male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity

Andrea Camperio-Ciani, Francesca Corna and Claudio Capiluppi
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (2004) 271, 2217–2221

The Darwinian paradox of male homosexuality in humans is examined, i.e. if male homosexuality has a genetic
component and homosexuals reproduce less than heterosexuals, then why is this trait maintained in the
population? In a sample of 98 homosexual and 100 heterosexual men and their relatives (a total of over 4600
individuals), we found that female maternal relatives of homosexuals have higher fecundity than female
maternal relatives of heterosexuals and that this difference is not found in female paternal relatives. The
study confirms previous reports, in particular that homosexuals have more maternal than paternal male
homosexual relatives, that homosexual males are more often later-born than first-born and that they have
more older brothers than older sisters. We discuss the findings and their implications for current research on
male homosexuality."

[abicuss181]

I think that homosexuality is a socially deviant behavior similar to crime. . There will always be a small population of people who for there own reasons will commit crime. Some become petty criminals and are typically good law abiding people but may be known to bend the law sometimes, others do it for the rush. Some are career criminals. We all know crime is wrong and most of us are against it but there’s always a small population that will commit it. This is a socially destructive behavior that can be paralleled to homosexually. People know that a straight relationship is normal but there will always be a small population of social misfits that I think must exist in order to bring balance and keep us questioning and reinforcing the importance of a straight relationship. Once one is created its counter part must exist in opposition only then can a balance be reached. It could be multiple factors that swayed their choice but being gay is a choice. Babies are born blank they only know what they are taught and choose what they will apply to there own life following a script or and anti-script as soon as the choice is made the brain will make its connections to enforce there perception they choose to believe. Thus making there feelings and actions as normal as your fight or flight response. The fact that some say that they were born gay only helps them to come to term with the religious complications they struggle with in society. Thus saying gay people have every right to live how they want its there freedom but it only becomes an issue when it encroaches on religious bonding rights that don’t condone there actions or there acquisition of children to raise. Once they choose to be gay they have made the choice to not have kids or have a marrige in a traditional religious manner.

[ushishir]

The fact that some say that they were born gay only helps them to come to term with the religious complications they struggle with in society.

The hypothesis that people are born gay is also consistant with the biology of sexual orientation. You have failed to produce any evidence in favour of your hypothesis.

The assertion by (some) religious people that homosexuality is a choice is merely a way that people can justify their dislike of homosexuals.

[February Beetle]

About Homosexuality:
I think if we ask if homosexuality is nature/nurture does everyone feel that it is caused by the same thing that causes us to be attracted to certain kinds of people? Or even what kind of movies or books we prefer?

About Disorders in Monkeys and Apes :
My zoology class visit a women who rescues abandoned, unwanted and mistreated pet monkeys. She has about 5 snow macaques. There is one that has a plastic hoop she wears for a necklace and won't take it off. There is one that was very mistreated as a baby and they didn't hold him or anything so he is basically rejected by his society (messed up pretty bad) he is much smaller than other Macaques his same age and when he had visitors like us he would bit his leg and attack his arm, he never really hurt himself-blood or anything and the women got him to stop.

Also, in a zoo I visited I talked to a chimpanzee volunteer. She said all the chimps came from labs and the labs won't tell you what experiments or anything that were done to them but the chimps have a hard time acting in a society and they "make noises no chimp should make". They would keep them in the dark all weekend alone in small cages to 'save energy'

[123Herpatology]

What's confusing, is how do you detirmine homosexuality? If the definition of a homosexual is merely a gender sexually preffering the same sex, then isn't that more of a personal preference? This type of research that you're posts suggest, if applied to the same animal/human, could change in a few months. If a male individual was tested over their sexual preference and the results were that he was gay, this could just as easily change and the next year he prefered females. And although it is very apparant that most people consider themselves straight or on the other hand consider themselves positively homosexual, it has been proven through not only teens but middle aged through senior adults, that at one point in time they had questioned their sexuality. I'm not saying that all people think they're gay or lesbian, but there are misgivings in mental integrity sometimes. By no means is this a conclusion to such a monumental debate, but i think it's an angle to consider.

[chicoguardian]

is interesting to think about this subject, some species can be homosexuals by themselves without having to mate with another one of their species, like inch worms

[February Beetle]

is interesting to think about this subject, some species can be homosexuals by themselves without having to mate with another one of their species, like inch worms

Are you talking about reproducing asexually? I think homosexual and heterosexual only describe sexual reproductive individual, but I am not positively sure.