Are Gay people gay from birth?

Question

Do you think people are born gay or conditioned to be gay?

Answer 1

Almost certainly gays are born gay.

There are three studies that I know of.

1. Left handedness: a genetic trait that is at about 10% in the general population, but is slightly higher in gays.

2. Blink Reflex: a reflex than can be determined in people as young as infants, and tends to be slightly different in gays (response rate difference).

3. Older Brothers: People who have biological older brothers have a higher tendency to be gay than does the general population. The more brothers, the higher the tendency. This is also not a social thing, because having step-brothers does not cause the same result, but having an older brother that you've never even seen does cause the result.


The evidence is anecdotal now, and they don't understand the mechanisms that cause this, but they don't even understand the mechanisms that cause heterosexuality either. However, given the number of purely genetic traits that connect to this, it's quite clear that it's genetics at work.

Answer 2

Its a possibility they are born that way, I guess, but I would assume it is probably a mutation/illness or something along those lines. I have to wonder though, while we now have the technology for those who choose to to use sperm donors and surrogate carriers to have children they cannot yet with their partners, how in other cases and before this technology did supposed homosexual genetics get passed down if they can't have children with a homosexual partner? Wouldn't the gene(s) responsible have "died" out long ago before the technology came into play? Some I'd imagine are "conditioned" to be gay by varying circumstances in life. In the end, I think alot of people wouldn't mind the whole deal as much if homosexuals in general didn't seem to be throwing it in everyone's face and drawing attention to it with parades, demands for school lessons on homosexuals, and the fact that they think people prejudice against them, blah blah blah, and just draw so much negative attention to themselves with the overall attitude. So you're gay, cool, now let's move on. We'd have far more of a chance to see how wonderful a family and parents you are, how intelligent and successful you are, how normal you are if you would drop it, shut up, get on with your damn lives instead of acting like everything revolves around being gay! (Sorry, not directed at you personally but the type hypothetically). Not saying you can't have pride in it, or have to hide it, but in the same essence that heterosexuals have a family life, career, go out on dates/socialize and the fact they are heterosexual in life is obvious, but its not something mentioned much. "Hey I'm heterosexual and this my husband/wife So-and-So." T-shirts with slogans like,"I'm heterosexual, what's your problem?" "People think I'm less of a parent because I'm a straight mom that doesn't always dress feminine." "People think I'm stupid just because I'm a straight male and can dress well." How often do comments like these get said where heterosexuals highlight and draw attention to that status? Anywho, I am rambling now.

Answer 3

I believe that it is due to choice and environment. I don't believe that you are born with it, it is genetic. The gay people I have known became gay in their elementary school or middle school years mostly due to the fact that they were picked on in school or at home. I feel that it is a conditioned response.

Answer 4

Human sexuality is extremely complex. It is a combination of the psychological, physiological and biological. Different people will develope their sexuality for many reasons. However, it has been shown that the portion of the brain which governs many aspects of sexuality is structurally different in men and women. This is something set from birth, not developed through life. Many homosexuals have been studied and found to actually have the "brain" of the opposite sex. In this case, there is no choice. They are biologically hardwired to have the sexuality of the opposite gender, and thereby be attracted to the same sex.

Answer 5

Brain studies have confirmed that the structure of a homosexual's brain is fundamentally different from a straight person's in the same area where emotions and sexual arousal are located. This is pretty strong evidence that it's a genetic trait. But no one has so far come out and said for certain that this is, in fact, the case.

Answer 6

Most medical research over the past two decades indicates that homosexual tendencies are genetic.

And there is no statistical or case research to show that growing up in a heterosexual household will stop someone from exhibiting homosexual tendencies, nor that growing up around gays will cause someone to develop homosexual tendencies.

Whether someone acts on those tendencies, and who they choose to get into relationships with, is a matter of culture and free will. But their psycho-physiological orientiation -- gay, straight, bi -- is something they are born with.

Answer 7

I believe that they're born that way.
Who would ever want to be hated, spit on, beaten up, have your life threatened, sometimes killed, ostracized by friends and family, looked down upon by by strangers, by choice?
That makes no sense whats-so-ever!

Unless your a member of a cult, you CANNOT condition someone to choose that life style. That's ridiculous to think it's a "choice" and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot!

Answer 8

I think it's a choice they made in life. No one is born gay. I don't mean to make anyone mad but gay or homosexual is to be dealt with God and not by me. I don't hate them nor do I in any way wish to try and act as though they are right in their choice. They are not!

Answer 9

Certainly not!

Many surveyed and counseled gays reported being sexually abused, subjected to or victims made to witness unusual sexual behavior as a child. Lots of evidence exists to support this.

The scientist who supposedly proven that people can be born gay is gay himself. The majority of the scientific community both straight and gay have disproven his finding. NO ONE has any real proof of such a thing.

Answer 10

i am close with two homosexuals, and they both have a different response. one says he was born gay. he other says he learned to be gay after his heart was broken by a woman....go figure :-/

but i have no idea. most of them say that they were born that way.