Homosexuality...is it a choice, does it matter?

Question

We've all pretty much heard the debate about whether or not homosexuality is a choice or is it genetic. But I noticed no one ever asks "does it matter"? I figure if someone believes you are evil, or "living a life of evil", then they wouldn't care whether you chose that way or it came natural. They're going to want to change you either way, and that is the problem. If it's a choice, then its psychotherapy and prayer that's the "cure". If it's genetic, then it's gene therapy or something like it to fix the "defect". What do you think?

To answer the question, about what this has to do with genealogy. It has nothing to do with it, which is why I placed the question here. If I placed it in religion and spirituality, then I know the answers would have been polarized. If I put it in philosophy or gay and lesbian, then I know the high majority of the answers would be "pro" gay.

I wanted to know what people searching in an unbiased category would think.

What I have learned so far, is that most people have turned this into a debate whether or not being gay is right or wrong.

That wasn't my question. My question is would it even matter if it was a choice or it was genetic. I figure it won't influence people's feelings one way or the other.
It would change the battleground, but not battle. And I wanted to know what objective people would think.

For the few people who actually anwered thank you. And for those who did not, thank you also, because your helping me see that perhaps we can't be objective.

To answer the question, about what this has to do with genealogy. It has nothing to do with it, which is why I placed the question here. If I placed it in religion and spirituality, then I know the answers would have been polarized. If I put it in philosophy or gay and lesbian, then I know the high majority of the answers would be "pro" gay.

I wanted to know what people searching in an unbiased category would think.

What I have learned so far, is that most people have turned this into a debate whether or not being gay is right or wrong.

That wasn't my question. My question is would it even matter if it was a choice or it was genetic. I figure it won't influence people's feelings one way or the other.
It would change the battleground, but not battle. And I wanted to know what objective people would think.

For the few people who actually anwered thank you. And for those who did not, thank you also, because your helping me see that perhaps we can't be objective.

Answer 1

Does it matter? It matters to those who choose to use their belief to judge, ridicule, batter, perpetuate violence against gays and lesbians. I've heard it over and over again.. Why should you have the same rights as the rest of us when you chose to be a lesbian? It is NOT something I chose, it's who I am and who I was born to be. It mattered to my mother, who adopted me as an infant... until she listened to and read books about lesbianism and found out I was BORN a lesbian, she thought she had done something wrong in raising me... once she learned I was born this way she accepted my lifestyle a lot easier...
I was raised by a minister and his wife, in the church.. brought up reading the bible, going to church, etc.
What I did choose was to not live a lie, to be true to myself, to be the best me I can be. I did choose to not live my live single and alone but with a life partner creating a loving home. My daily life is about a lot more than being a lesbian.... and that part of me was born in me... Does it matter to me? Not really. I am who I am. period.

Answer 2

Yes, this is the genealogy category, but this is a very interesting subject. I do see your point as to which category would be the best. Actually, no place would be the best because someone will have a problem with the question no matter where it is.
I am not gay, but my brother is. This is his answer he had told me years ago.
"It is neither a choice nor genetic. It is the way someone feels about the other person."
Being gay can't be fixed because it is not a defect with our genes. This is not a disease that can be cured, it is just the way one person feels about each other.
And thank you for saying that I am an unbiased person, I appreciate that very much.

Answer 3

Nth, you are quite a Question Whiz!

Without reading the other answers, which we've mostly seen elsewhere, I'll just
say that I remember what is
famously called a "Rat Study"

Rats were kept in a large but confined area, and were fed and allowed to mate and reproduce. No natural enemies were in the area with the rats, and the experimenters did nothing to limit the rat population.

Result: As the rats filled the area, even though they were all getting enough food, air and water, they manifested
as follows:

a. Exponentially increasing hostility and violence toward each other;

AND

b. Changes in mating behavior, which included high rates of homosexuality; and violent sexual behavior;
changes in "estrus" among some females, ( they did not go into heat, therefore did not mate).

It thus looked as if some force in the environment, not by either choice or genetics, was acting to "try" to curb the unmanageable population increase in the rats, by increasing their "crime rate"
and changing their sexual behaviors.

If you look at the human species, you just might interpret our warfare, and bizarre sex ( not just homosexual, but fetishistic, masochistic, sadistic, pedophilia, etc.--I have nothing against gay or lesbian people--they are probably just cooperating with Mother Nature--);
our crime rate; and other social and international problems, as a human example of what the Overpopulated
rat population showed.

hmhmhmhmhmhm......

Six billion humans and growing, --the Malthusian Problem in action--on a fixed and limited land and sea area of one planet.

And humans acting more and more like rats, especially in the cities.

1. More babies [and mothers] surviving childbirth;
2. Medical science extending lives longer.
3. People desiring to stop any and all disease everyhere, as if we could all live for hundreds of years and continue to have several children per family;

Not gonna happen. Agent Smith in the Matrix was correct. Humans are spreading like a cancer or other disease, and feeling the effects. Not only in global climate change, but various other areas as well.

Example: People talk about more fuel - efficient cars.But no one puts forth the simple idea of having fewer cars--which means fewer people driving cars.

Do the math. And unless more efforts are made to curb population, like China has been doing, it will NOT matter. The planet can hold only so many people, and their sexual behavior is generally irrelevant at high population levels.

Answer 4

It's not been proven that it's genetic. But it's been proven time after time by testomonies from gay guys and girls that say that they didn't make a choice, they were just like that forever.

There's a difference if you're talking about the 'gay lifestyle' for which participation is a choice. But then even that is a minority within the minority of gay people. I don't live the 'gay life'. I don't shag around and go out clubbing. I also don't get the need for the Gay Pride marches.

In response to one of the above answers:

You have your own version of the Gay Pride thing, it's called football.

Answer 5

Why the words, "defect" and "cure?" I am not sure what you are asking. I am gay, proud of it, have an extremely busy and successful life, wouldn't be different if I could be. Have lived on both sides of the fence, this is the side I prefer..comes naturally to me. And of course it is NOT a choice. That is the real nut here...Choice??? Those who say it is a choice...when did they make the decision??? I would just love to know when these idiots decided they were going to be straight. I can only assume that these "straights' considered both sides, could go either way !! and made the decision. That is the only conclusion I can draw about those who insist being Gay is a choice. They decided, so assume everyone else did to! Did they make an informed choice? Did they experiment with being Gay and being straight? IF I were going to make a 'Choice,' I would want to make sure I were making the right one, wouldn't you?

Answer 6

apparently it mattered to the person who coined the phrase 'gay lifestyle'. The day the majority of the gay community embraced that term they said it mattered, not a little, but as the major defining characteristic of same sex relationship. Gays haven't recovered the fact that 'it doesn't matter' since.

My lifestyle (I am a married professional living rurally in my owner built house in a blended family) has little to do with my sexuality. My gay cousin who is a professional director of technology for a major school system and lives with his partner in an urban area also has a lifestyle which is little defined by his sexuality.

When the term 'gay lifesyle' is thrown on the altar of liberal paternalism and and set afire never to return to the lexicon again, gay will have a chance of mattering just about as much as what shampoo you choose to use.

Answer 7

I'm a gay woman - 30ish years old. I'm so tired of hearing about people wanting to "cure" the "defect"! I didn't choose to be this way. This is me! This is who I am. Punish me for the way I live - go ahead. I'm not a big bible person, but isn't there something about "he who is without sin cast the first stone"? Why in the world would someone purposely "choose" a life that was filled with ridicule, judgment, and pain. I've watched people beated, stabbed, shot at because they appear gay. I've lost jobs because of peoples perception of me. That's all it is - perception. Well, I'm about at my last strand of nerves on this subject. I perceive hypocrites and gay bashers at sad, ignorant, homophobic and lost people. I"m getting on my soap box - I'll stop.

Answer 8

I think that even if it is a choice and it's not genetic, that there doesn't need to be any psychotherapy treatments and/or prayer as a cure because there isn't anything wrong with them that needs fixing! Just because people don't like it doesn't mean that it needs to be fixed or that it's wrong. Homosexuality has been around just as long as heterosexuality has been, people just like to sweep that under the rug and try to conveniently forget that and try to persuade everyone to follow a certain "norm". It's like saying that whites, blacks and Asians should mix races and that if we do we need to go to therapy for it.

Answer 9

It's unnatural. Tab A goes into Slot B, not Tab A into Tab A or Slot B into Slot B. It goes against nature and procreation through natural, normal means is not possible through homosexual relations.
However, to each his/her own. If that's how you want to live, by choice or by birth, so be it. But I don't want to hear about it. Would gays find heterosexual pride parades appropriate? Would gays be offended if straight people yelled out "I'm straight and proud"? I would think they would look at straight people the same way straight people look at gays when they do it. They would be annoyed and offended and would think it was innapropriate.
"What I do in my house, you might not do in your house. So what I do in my house, is my business." A wonderful quote from Banned in the USA by 2 Live Crew. Remember that song? Point is, keep it in your house. Keep it in the closet. We really don't care if you are gay or straight. Just don't let us know.
No, I'm not a gay hater. I just think that the issue of homosexuality shouldn't be an issue, but that doesn't mean we (straight people) can't express our opinion.

Answer 10

If being gay is a choice then being straight is a choice...I didn't make a choice to be straight, I remember being attracted to girls as a young boy...recently they have found brain differences and significance when the mother has had more than one boy prior...they think that it may have something to do with the mothers body reacting to the male child...it is conceivable that a different hormonal / chemical environment could lead to brain differences that are manifested in homosexual behavior...but the main point is people all deserve respect regardless of their sexual orientation...

Answer 11

What really matters within this category of Yahoo Answers is Genealogy. Genealogy is the study of family history. It is not genetics. Your question should be in either the science or social science category.

Bill... who has family members who are gay/lesbian and loves them for who they are not what they are.