Homosexuality

[Headless Rat]

I don't know if this is an entirely ignorant question or not but I'll ask it anyway as I'm curious. Is someone who is gay actually born that way, or, to an extent, is it a lifestyle choice?It would be interesting to hear from people who are gay....

[crete]

im not gay but is totally genetic not a choice

[Ethel]

Do you choose who you find attractive?

I'm sure it is instinct with you. As it is with everybody.

And homosexuals STILL do not have an easy life in the main,so I can't imagine many opting to be that way.

As young adults, many are 'confused', but that is just hormones.

On the whole I would say people are born with their sexuality.

[Pippa68]

Gay people are born gay just as I was born straight :o)

[andy-hughes]

the perceived wisdon - including that from gay people themselves - is that sexuality is an inborn trait. Only attention-seeking insecure people would pretend to be gay when they are not - genuinely homosexual people accept their sexuality along with their gender, height, hair colour, and everything else we arrive with, and don't make an issue of that, or anything else.

[Headless Rat]

yea, but i wonder if some people are more predisposed to it than others? It's really fascinating though, don't you think? Everyone says that people still don't have an easy time "coming out" or even when they ARE out but yet they still go through the hardship instead of putting up with it (im not saying they SHOULD by any means put up with it).
But, isn't it interesting the number of peole that are gay thesedays ...I wonder if there was always as many just that society frowned on it so much OR are more people just choosing to be different and perhaps seek attention?I'm not being offensive here by the way. Just find it interesting

[fee-is-me]

I believe we are all born a certain 'way', whatever that 'way' may be.

[tictactoe]

Let's hope that you receive some answers from them then HR...

Born to it, as crete says - genetics...

[Lore]

I think the main focus is, at what point do we make the decision to accept how we feel inside?
A lot of people are brought up with the idea that being gay isn't considered 'normal' so the individual has to come to terms with who they are.

It's about time we learned to accept each other for who we are, not who we pretend to be for the sake of fitting into society.

Sexual preference isn't a choice, it's something we're born with, as is the colour of our skin.

[jno]

I'm not sure this has been proved for certain either way yet, though 'genetic' seems the most popular explanation. Lots of material here if you want to go that deep:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality#Nat ure_versus_nurture

You can of course choose your activity, regardless of sexual orientation. Some people are worried about finding that gayness is genetic, as that would suggest that, some day, they'll find a 'gay gene' and future parents will arrange not to have children bearing it.

[Eric Git]

It's all down to genetics, there is a gay gene, the human geno was mapped a while ago, just not all theresutls are out yet. I know as my husband had to write a paper on it for one of his degrees. It turns out it's all to do with the mother and twins.

[tictactoe]

woohoo tictac is back !!


(*sorry - n00dles slips back outa sight, or should that be site?*)

[crete]

italics are very difficult to read

[tictactoe]

Could you explain that about, mother and twins please Eric?

[Eric Git]

Sorry , the gene comes from the mother's side, and is stronger if she has twins in her family (like her parents/grandparents or if she is a twin). I'm not sure how the twins influence the gene, but they do, sorry but I don't have Rob's stuff with me or I'd give you the ref, anyway you get it from your mother.

[kick3m0n]

I remember one of my friends coming out to us as a gay female. A pal asked "When did you know you were gay?" to which she replied "when did you know you were straight?" which kind of sums it up really. I think it's odd that some perceive gay people as making a "choice" about their sexuality, yet for heterosexuals they apparently make no choice, but just are. All of my gay friends say the same, they always knew they preferred their own sex to the opposite sex, it just took some of them varying lengths of time to accept it and be open about it, for various reasons.

[tictactoe]

So is poor spelling, but hey, I don't complain !!

[Octavius]

Perhaps we are all born gay, and some people chose to go heterosexual. I don't think it is a lifestyle 'choice'.

[map71070]

I find it incredibly hard to believe that there are still those who think that gay people suddenly get up one day and decide to be that way. It's totally genetic. I know some supposedly "straight " men who left their wives/girlfriends to be with another man and they both admitted eventually that at last it felt "right" and that they could see now that they were living a lie. I'm sure there are people who will now tell me that they were completely straight and then decided they wanted to be with the same sex so maybe I'm wrong and you can "become" gay?

[tictactoe]

AS my brother once said "I'm glad there are queers (we had not been robbed in those days of the beautiful word "gay") as it leaves more girls for us normal guys!!"