Are people born gay/lesbian or is it a learned behavior?

Answer 1

I answered this somewhere else, but here it is again, my stance on things:

I actually don't believe that we are born with a predetermined sexual orientation. There are too many people who find their sexual preferences changing over time for this to be true, in my opinion.

I do believe, however, that you don't per se CHOOSE/LEARN to be gay. You don't wake up one day and say "Geez, I think I'll eschew women and go for men instead." But just because you didn't choose it doesn't mean it's biologically a part of you, you know? It's not something you can change, I feel. Take this example, for instance- you are a cat lover. You just love your pet kitties. Never been a dog person, thanks. You just know for sure that you wouldn't ever want to own a dog. So, someone says- you choose to love cats. Well, no, you reply, not really. I mean, I just like cats. I've always been that way. Does that mean, then, that there is a cat-loving gene in your body? Of course not. It means that this is a preference in your mind, one that you cannot consciously change, but is not innate, either.

I think that human sexuality is immensely more complex than the labels we have today like gay and straight. I also believe that love is gender blind and a straight man can find himself falling in love with another man, still completely attracted to women and utterly not attracted to men, but emotionally and sexually satisfied with that one man he loves. Our sexual desires come from our personalities, our past experiences, our childhoods, socialization, and more. It's a heady, deliciously messy mix of everything, and it gives us all that's wonderful about our sexuality today, so diverse.

That's my stance on things. I know that a lot of gay/bisexual people claim they are born that way, and I understand why they feel that way. For them, the claim feels true. In my opinion, a lot of straight people call it a choice so they don't have to ask hard questions about God (creating that which He supposedly hates?) and their source of intolerance (how can you hate something that someone never chose to be, like skin color, or, in this case, sexual orientation?). Like I said, I think it's neither, but I don't mind people claiming they were born gay. Just as long as they don't say that all gay people were born gay, or all straight people were born straight, etc., etc.- until they have scientific proof to back that up.

By the way- I'm tacking this on to my copy 'n' pasted answer- if gay/lesbian behavior is learned, it has to be learned from somewhere. So where'd the first one get it from?

Answer 2

This is a good question because from 15 until I got married at 21 I was with alot of men, trying to find the right one, I was always shy and intimidated by men for some reason. I had a couple crush's on girls in high school (nothing ever happened) but I thought that was normal. I got married at 21 and was married for 17 years. I met my soul mate (a woman) who moved next door to me and I left my marriage within 3 months, I have never felt what I felt until I met her, it was as if we'd been together forever in past lifes, we've been together 14 years. Well I thought am I bi? How could I be bi if sexually men don't do anything for me (I never experienced an orgasm with a man, it didn't seem right) yet if I was gay why wasn't I ever with a woman? So for me to say I was born gay,bi or straight was confusing. A man answered a question of mine this morning and this is what he said:

I think the default is bisexual and some just are more homosexual than others.

And this made sense to me....we are all born bisexual...yet some are just more homosexual than others..

I also like halo2xbox...answer because I love sylvia brown and that makes sense to me also...

Answer 3

Are people born Straight or is it a learned behavior?

No one knows for sure. I think most people are born Bi-sexual but their behavior, how they deal with their sexuality, is another question.

Answer 4

It is a learned behavior.
Environment makes one a gay/lesbian.

Answer 5

when i was young i knew a boy who was around 6 or 7, and we KNEW he was going to grow up to be gay. his parents did not raise him in a way that would promote him, his dad was a "mans man" and actually seemed to scorn gay behavior. he moved to a small town where being gay was definitly NOT the norm. and yet he turned out to be gay, just as we said when he was young. that boy convinced me that people are born gay

Answer 6

It is pretty natural I would say!!! Scientists had proven that some of the animals are bisexual too! ( Of course, some people became gays or lesbians through learned behaviours )
( so we shouldn't let them down right? )

Answer 7

When sperm is more than eggs, a guy is born..when its vice-versa, a girl is born and when its in equal proportion, thats when a gay is born...so its natural..

Answer 8

What difference? What's all the hooplah? They like each other, they love each other, why should anyone else give a damn?

Mrs. Boredom should learn English grammar with all her spare time. Borned?

Answer 9

Born that way.

Answer 10

Let me tell you what Sylvia Brown says. She says its from reincarnation. If you were a male in your last life and come back as a female you will be a lesbain. I liseed to that on one of her shows I don't know if it is still on the website but try the link I posted.