Is Being Gay a 'Choice'?

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In a few Gay topic threads i have noticed some posters actually think that being homosexual is a 'choice'

That kinda shocked me, especially coming from people with ASD since we all have to suffer from adversities too and didn't choose them. Nether the less people can have their opinions and i think a discussion on this would be great

Do you think being homosexual is a 'choice'

Why or why not?

Lots of things about sexual attraction fall outside the range of choices.

The fact that people even care, though, seems like a manifestation of the idea that some kinds of consensual sexual behavior are right and some are wrong. If anything goes among consenting adults, then the issue of whether they inherently want to or choose to becomes a moot point. Only for people who consider homosexuality wrong does it seem logical that people shouldn't have some gay sex if that what they're in the mood for.

I believe the environment plays a role; however, it seems to me that genes determine one's sexuality.

I'm glad I was "picked" by my genes to desire the Ladies

My answer was no, but I would condition this with the fact that people do choose to act and not act on their sexuality for various reasons. Also there are stereotypes in society depending on where you are at for how gay people behave and act, and even if you are gay and don't act, others who aren't gay and some who aren't may choose to fit the stereotype due to pressure. But as for actual sexuality, it's still no.

I thought being gay was the result of a trisomy in the chromosomes and that closet bi or gay women give birth to boys that grow up to be gay and gay women are fathered by closeted gay or bisexual men but I'm not sure about some may become heteroflexible as a result of same sex abuse during childhood or adolescence. That would be an implication that being gay would be either an extra X chromosome or a gene on an X chromosome. A person is born gay or straight

I think this is always a loaded question when classified as "being" something, like there's no alternative in connection with someone's identity. There's a difference between emotions and physical expression; the first aren't always chosen, while behavior certainly is. People say things like, "Why should I have to restrain what I feel, while others don't?" My answer to that is, "What makes you think they don't fight similar battles?"

I often have emotions on a daily basis, that I know would be terrible for me to act on. There's days when homosexual images flash through my mind, but I discard them because I know that's not the right way to live. There's times when I get so angry I seriously want to kill somebody, but again, I restrain those emotions because I know the result would be horrible. I honestly don't know how to comfort someone struggling with constant sexual attraction to someone of their own gender, because I don't face it every day...but I do know that men and women aren't interchangeable. Even those who allow doctors to reshape their bodies can't escape their own inner knowledge, regarding how they were born and who they're meant to be. As people, we are capable of deceiving ourselves like crazy, but what we choose to believe does not always equal truth.

QFT

I can't choose to be attracted to unattractive women; how would I be able to choose to be attracted to guys?

Attraction is largely rooted in emotion for humans, which is one of many things that separates us from animals. Behavior, however, can be consciously controlled.

It can be by the person, or by the brain. For most gays, by the brain. For some, themselves.

Sexuality is not a choice, it's something you're born with. Some people are born with an attraction to males, others with an attraction to females, and others still are born without any sort of sexual attraction. It's a natural thing, and not just something humans experience.

Introspecting, I certainly didn't choose to be heterosexual. It just happened. So I have no reason to suspect that anybody chooses his sexual orientation.

Supporting this are many, many memoirs by gay adults, describing how they fought their same-sex attraction, denied it, faked heterosexuality, sometimes for decades. They didn't "choose" to be gay, they resisted it as much as possible. You might as well claim that I "chose" to have problems with speech, eye contact, and other issues, when in fact I would have done anything not to have had those problems.

In any case, whether sexuality is genetic, the result of environmental factors, or entirely chosen, adults have the right to engage in any activity they wish that does not impinge on the rights of others.

There is zero genetic evidence for homosexuality being hereditary. Since it serves no beneficial purpose for human biology, those who accept "natural selection" would have to admit such a thing would never survive anyway. Those whole argument of comparing us to animals goes in reverse, instead of admitting the possibility of us being made by a Creator beyond space, time, or materials.

I feel shocked, shocked to learn that someone with such a high regard for science as Moviefan2k4 doesn't know about recent research that strongly suggests the existence of a gene that seems to make women more attractive to men while making men more attracted to other men.

link
link
link with other links to related abstracts

I didn't choose to be Gay or Transgendered. Nobody wakes up and says that they choose to be rejected by their families, their peers and the older generations.

I'm pretty sure homosexuality CAN be a result of genetic factors. Just because a guy is gay doesn't mean he can't impregnate a woman. Before the advent of gay rights, it was pretty common for gay guys to stay in the closet and marry women, and even start families with them. Also, I believe it does have an evolutionary benefit; it helps to curb overpopulation.

Also, if you go by my beliefs, which have been backed by many years of scientific research, human beings are nothing more than highly evolved apes. Say what you will, but this is what I believe. As the Bloodhound Gang once put it, we "ain't nothin' but mammals".

Last edited by mr_bigmouth_502 on 09 Apr 2014, 8:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.