Could it be that homosexuality is an illness?

Question

We treat people with hormone deficiency all the time, why does it seem far fetched that effeminate males are in need of testosterone or manly women in need of estrogen. This of course are for the ones who act either effeminate from an early age or manly.

Maybe society is forcing them into homosexuality by telling them you are effeminate or manly therefore you need to be with your own sex. Should we not try to treat it as hormone deficiency? I could be right.

I AM AWARE THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SINFUL CHOICE, HOWEVER I HAVE SEEN EFFEMINATE MALES AT VERY YOUNG AGES AND MANLY FEMALE AT YOUNG AGES AND I THINK THAT A HORMONE DEFICIENCY COULD BE THE PROBLEM.

DOCTORS GIVE MEN WHO WANT TO BE WOMEN ESTROGEN, AND WOMEN WANTING TO BE MEN TESTOSTERONE. WHY COULD IT NOT ALSO BE THAT THEY NEED THESE WHILE THEY WERE YOUNGER TO REMOVE THAT GENDER CONFUSION.

Answer 1

I don't believe that it is an illness or (at least in most cases) a choice. I think it is just who they were born to be, the same as being left handed, or tall or musically inclined and any other trait we arrive here with. I think the real illness that needs to be addressed are people who have a need to want everyone to fit into their perception of what is right or wrong.

Dorie*
I would like to read about your theory on why nature is creating homosexuals. You sound very interesting.

Answer 2

If it is, it is an illness of humans as s group, like homicide. There are few things that humans do that aren't related to some other trait or disease resistance genetically. Perhaps the more obvious homosexuality is in a species, the more overpopulated it is. Homosexuality may be a self-destruct fuse that is supposed to blow (no pun intended) before a species collapses completely. Should we put a lot of time, money, and research into eliminating ADD? Probably a dumb idea. People with ADD come up with ideas that 'normal' people can't because of an eclectic list of connections in their brains. Homosexuality is a trait of humans overall, just more predominant in some than others. Just because we don't know why, doesn't mean we should continue to condemn it. I personally think there is a lot of hype manifested around it, and some strange behavior associated with the relationship between HS's and society, but not nearly as strange or ridiculous as the rituals and beliefs of religions. Should we treat the Pope with fashion counseling? Put Buddha on a diet?

Answer 3

Not sure that it fits in a certain class of illness, as currently defined by the AMA (American Medical Association). I do think further research needs to be done. It is definately something that makes up the mind and/or body.

Could be hormone definecy or maybe an overdose of estrogen. I heard on NPR news last week a study in Canada concluded it has something to do with the hormones (estrogen) males are subjected to in utero. But, no conclusive - more research needs to be done. But, there are other risk factors like how many older brothers you have, etc. Not sure I buy that theory but was glad a study was being done.

I also think it could be a DNA type trait. But, one would assume the trait would die out according to the theory of evolution. We know it has been around since before Christ. Wonder how long it would take for the trait to totally disappear...

Good quesiton though. I definately think they don't choose it and would love for something to back that up!

Answer 4

They ran pet scans on people and found that manly women and effeminate men seem to have the same brain structure. I can't find the article, so I'm probably only near the mark, but I was pretty astonished. I'm certain that it's available at webMD.
The point is that the article had nothing to do with society or what we wanted people to do or think. Just reports on what the actual readings from the actual tests were.
If people have a certain brain pattern, then isn't that designed by God? If they are not harmful to themselves or others then why do we alter that design?

Answer 5

I saw a PBS documentary that said they have discovered a differences in something in the brain. The brain of a gay guy is much more similar to a woman's than a straight guy. Sorry, I don't remember the details, just remember them saying that they could tell sexual orientation (or close) by looking at a certain part of the brain.

I have known people who are gay/lesbian and it is not exactly a choice for the vast majority. Why would anyone CHOOSE to be so discrimated against and hated by so much of society? It is something beyond their control. Yes, they can choose to abstain or lie about their feelings, but when it comes down to it, they have a certain orientation.

P.S. Jesus is NOT a myth. It has been proven by writings other than the Bible that He existed. The debate is was he a religious prophet or the son of God? The fact that some people choose to twist the religion to fit their own ideas does not make Jesus a myth. "Let him that is without sin cast the first stone...."

Answer 6

no, research has been done and so far there is no evidence of illness. Nor is it a choice. I have heard a lot of homosexuals deny that possibility and I believe them.

Homosexuality, it is being proven, is also among animals. So do they make a conscious choice?

I have my own theory on why nature is creating homosexuals, but I am sure no one really will want to read it.

The only thing to remember is that we must keep the concept of human dignity alive and functioning in our society. Homosexuals and heterosexuals asexuals are all human beings deserving of human rights. therefore, the question should be more along the lines of how we can protect everyone's rights. you have the right to have an aversion to homosexuality, but once you express it, you are infringing on other people/s rights,

So, how can we create a live-and -let-live scenario preserving human dignity and basic rights?

Answer 7

Or it could be like alcoholism, where there's a brain anomaly or a chemical thing, but doesn't this kind of reasoning just another way to say that homosexuals are sick? Sick, sick people. I'm not sure I'm buying the whole illness deal.

Society is over medicated to begin with. Most people I know are on some kind of anti-depressant, and the minute a kid gets out of line, everyone wants Ritalin right away. I don't think we need to medicate homosexuality.

Answer 8

Homosexuality clearly is a 'condition' however the time to 'fix' it is long past. After the ovum is fertilized during the second and third weeks of pregnancy if the zygote is to become a male the mother's brain produces testosterone that develops the testes in the embryo, from there on the testes on the embryo produce the testosterone that turns the female embryo (we all start as females) into a male. If the mother produces too much testosterone during this time (second and third weeks of pregnancy) and the embryo is to be a female the developing brain develops resembling that of a male, with the male connections and responses even though the embryo/fetus/baby is really a female. This 'male like' construction of the brain in effect has a "man trapped inside a woman's body" hence the homosexuality of lesbians. For gays the exact opposite scenario is true, the mother fails to produce testosterone when it is needed for the development of the male brain, and although the body ends up developing into that of a male, the brain is that of a female producing a male that is attracted to other males, since it has the brain we all start with, that of a female.

In this edition of New Scientist there is a good article that explains how lesbians and gays react (or fail to react) to certain chemicals that points in the direction of what I've just said.

Elí


Clue to sexual attraction found in lesbian brain

* 22:00 08 May 2006

Lesbian and heterosexual women respond differently to specific human odours, a brain-scanning study has found. The homosexual women showed similar brain activity to heterosexual men when they inhaled certain chemicals, which may be pheromones, the researchers say.

"But our study can't answer questions of cause and effect," cautions lead researcher Ivanka Savic at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. "We can't say whether the differences are because of pre-existing differences in their brains, or if past sexual experiences have conditioned their brains to respond differently."

Savic and her colleagues asked 12 lesbian women and 12 heterosexual women to breathe concentrated samples of two steroids: EST, which is derived from oestrogen and found in the urine of pregnant women; and AND, which is derived from progesterone and found in men's armpit sweat.

Positron emission tomography (PET) scans revealed which regions of the women's brains responded to each chemical. When the heterosexual women smelled AND their brains showed activity in the anterior hypothalamus, a region of the brain thought to process sexual cues. But EST only produced activity in the olfactory region of their brains, the area that processes smells.

The lesbians, however, only showed activity in the olfactory region whichever odour they smelled.
Sexual preference

The researchers conclude that these "pheromone-like stimuli" produce different responses in the anterior hypothalamus of women of different sexual orientations, and that their research supports the idea that the anterior hypothalamus plays a role in sexual preference.


You can read the rest on
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9125-clue-to-sexual-attraction-found-in-lesbian-brain.html

Answer 9

You are absolutely right an Illness and CONFUSION and God is not the author of confusion. God created male and female. Blame it on the parents for not correcting the child, or teaching the child from the time it was born. Listen

PROVERBS 23:12-14
12) Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the word of knowledge.
13) Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
14) Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

What's the rod: The rod is the Word backed up by another rod that is used for the backside when they seem to not want to understand.

PROVERBS 22:6
6) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

So if you or society is teaching these children that homosexuality is ok. Then you are brainwashing them into believing that they were born that way. Which is a lie. I pray for you Amen

Answer 10

OK, imagine this.... You have a glandular problem and you need to take pills to cure this but yet you refuse to do so, would you like for someone to (in some ways) force you to take them? Wouldn't the cure be your choose? Isn't the homosexuals allowed to chose whether or not they want to cure their difference? I agree with most people who say that there is something weird about homosexuals but I'm not going to let the government use my money to fix what doesn't want to be fixed. If they're gay let them be. I agree that society takes a roll in the way kids are raised but isn't it the parents discretion to orient their children into a heterosexual way then when the child is old enough then he/she would chose whether or not the ways the parents taught them. Right? Damn!!! I answer a question with a bunch of questions. I suck... Right? LOL!!!!1