The "Gay" Gene.

Gay people often say that they were born this way because it is something in them that they feel is so beyond their control that it has to be "innate", or genetic. Is this a theory you subscribe to, a "gay gene" that is as much a part of their heredity as the gene that determines eye color, or are we born clean slates when it comes to sexuality and somewhere down the road it gets "quality" in nurture?

I pretty much believe that gay people were born that way. I don't believe there's anything in life that "makes" a person gay or not, we either are or we're not. I don't believe that each person is born a clean slate - then that would mean that something along the way "formed" us or "shaped" us into being gay or straight. One thing is for sure: homosexuality is not a choice. Nobody in our prejudiced society would subject themselves to that kind of discrimation by choice.

Eh, I don't really buy a gay "gene." I think there could be some genetics involved, but I wouldn't rule out nurture either. Nature vs. Nurture is still a widely debated topic of all behaviors and I don't think human sexuality is somehow excluded.

JB wrote:Gay people often say that they were born this way because it is something in them that they feel is so beyond their control that it has to be "innate", or genetic. Is this a theory you subscribe to, a "gay gene" that is as much a part of their heredity as the gene that determines eye color, or are we born clean slates when it comes to sexuality and somewhere down the road it gets "quality" in nurture?

No gene responsible for sexuality has ever been discovered. The idea of a gay gene is purely speculatory and absent of any scientific basis beyond wishful thinking at the moment. I don't necessarily believe in a "gay gene" however I think the fact that people focus so much on this possibility takes attention away from the fact that people can be born gay through other means. There are other factors that determine our physical make up and personality type as children beyond simple genes.

Brain development in the womb is affected by hormones produced by the mother during pregnancy. These hormones can influence the development of the brain in the unborn child. Pregenant women who are subjected to higher levels of stress throughout their pregnancy have been shown to produce more of a particular hormone that is thought to result in a much higher chance of affecting the unborn child's brain. Studies have been conducted which have shown that such women were more likely to produce children that would later identify as homosexual than heterosexual. Additional studies have shown that the typical male brain differs in structural development slightly from the typical female brain. However, the brain of homosexual males more closely resembles the female brain than the male brain. Although this doesn't PROVE that sexuality is the result of physical differences in the brain, it does highly suggest there is a corralation between brain development in the womb and sexuality.

Another compelling reason to suspect that sexuality might be biological is the fact that homosexuality and bisexuality both exist in the animal kingdom as well. Anyone who's ever watched their male dog or cat mount another male may have dismissed it as simply an act of domination. However, the same could be said of human males in prison who engage in homosexual conduct. Maybe they are really gay, maybe not! But a number of different species of birds (including monogamous birds) have been observed bonding only with members of the same sex. Almost exactly 10% of male sheep will only mount another ram and completely ignore the females. Chimpanzees and gorillas exhibit homosexuality in many cases and dolphins are well known to engage is sex with just about anybody! It certainly seems that the more intellegent a species is, the more likely there will be a significant "gay" minority among them.

Ultimately, I think the argument over whether or not there is a gay gene is pointless because advocates tend to put all their hopes and dreams into this argument hoping it will "prove" that they are born gay, while skeptics tend to view the lack of evidence of such a gene as proof that being gay is somehow a "choice". Whether there is a gay gene or not doesn't change the fact that sexuality is not a choice. People can not choose their sexuality anymore than they can choose their favorite flaver of ice cream. You can choose you actions, but not your preference. You like what you like and chances are nothing short of a traumatic experience is going to change that because sexuality is ingrained into our psyche. A truly heterosexual man is not going to suddenly decide one day to fuck a dude! Such a thought would never enter his mind because if it did, that by definition would make him gay (or bisexual). Many gay people do experiment with the opposite sex, but usually its only an attempt to 'make themselves straight' or conform to societal expectations.

The idea that someone would CHOOSE to live a life where they are often discriminated against, called abnormal, looked at with disdain, told that what they do is disgusting, and that they are sinners who are going to hell is laughable. Being gay is not exactly something the average gay person wants to be. No teenager says "I want to be gay when I grown up"! It just doesn't happen. That is something that people have to reconcile as the mature. Many gay people have tried 'not to be gay' at some point in their lifetime only to realize that it was futile and just going against their onw nature. These Christian "degayification" programs that parents send their kids to don't work. All they do is torture and torment someone into repressing who they are in an attempt to conform to society. Some gay men have even become evangelical Christian ministers who speak out against homosexuality or Catholic priests who try to live in celebacy thinking that it won't make them gay anymore. These people invariably fail because they are trying to stop nature. The fact is, if you are gay, you will always be gay.

No, that's bollocks. I think being gay is a chemical or hormonal imbalance. Whatever causes someone to be sexually attracted to the opposite sex causes a gay person to be sexually attracted to the same sex. What I don't like is people actually like homosexuality is new. This shit has being going down since the beginning of time.

captainbryce wrote:No gene responsible for sexuality has ever been discovered. The idea of a gay gene is purely speculatory and absent of any scientific basis beyond wishful thinking at the moment...

I agree with all the sound arguments presented in that post.

But, you shouldn't confuse some with the facts.

I don't know. If there's a gene that determines left and right handedness, then I guess there's one that determines sexual orientation too. For intents and purposes they are similar in that it's a COGNITIVE leaning, rather than a physical trait.