Is gender identity learned or genetic?

Question

In other words, do you think people who are gay / lesbian were born that way or do you think it is a learned behavior?

Nature versus nurture.

Follow up question coming up after this...

Answer 1

I have two siblings ,one is a gay male and the other a lesbian.We were raised in a very conservative and religious Jewish family.I would have to say they didn't "choose'" the way they are,rather their genetic makeup determined their sexuality.

Answer 2

I thought that "gender identity" referred to transexualism, not to homosexuality.

If your question had clearly been addressed to whether or not homosexuality is learned and is chosen or is genetic and we were born that way, then I would say the latter. Nature.

"You're a sad and pathetic man. You're a homosexual and you don't want to be, but there is nothing you can do to change it. Not all your prayers to your God; not all the analysis you can buy in all the years you've got left to live. You may very well one day be able to know a heterosexual life. If you want it desperately enough. If you pursue it with the fervor with which you annihilate. But you'll always be homosexual as well. Always, Michael. Always. Until the day you die."

Answer 3

It's biological definitely, because animals in the wild have been observed (for DECADES) having homosexual behaviors. It's not just a human thing.

Genetic, as in a mutation or gene expression? That remains to be seen.

Regardless, people are what they are and must be accepted.

Answer 4

Who cares. Why is it people can't accept the fact that there will always be gays and lesbians in this world and move on.

Answer 5

In June 2014 President Obama issued an Executive Order which protects people in the LGBT arena which includes transexuals, transvestites (crossdressers) and a whole range of gender identity and orientation issues. That means your rights END where their nose begins and it clearly states for all to see -- as the Department of Justice agreed with them in December 2014 and began to PROSECUTE businesses who discriminate against LGBT and gender identity people that --

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LGBT PEOPLE IS NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE FOR ANY REASON !!!

get it now ? It has nothing to do with a 4,000 year old series of letters in some goofy bible or your stupid Republican views on "liberty" where you espouse liberty for yourself, but everyone else can go **** themselves...that is WRONG.

Grow up, be an adult for a change -- GET A GRIP !!! No one else here agrees with YOUR one sided argument nor YOUR view that it's caused by environment...

Gender identity and orientation are defined long before birth in a person's DNA as the cells divide long before they divide the very first time -- it's predecided by God at conception. One CANNOT change their orientation or LGBT status from then on although some may suppress it in order to not be seen as being gay or transexual or as a crossdresser. Some might even seek out help, but as Mark D says above it isn't up to YOU to decide either way. Medically speaking it's NONE OF YOUR ******* BUSINESS !!! as Jon Oliver once said about transgender people on YouTube -- go watch it, you might learn something....

And to deny -- as REPUBLICANS in both state legislatures and in Congress OFTEN do -- is corrWRONG !!!

How would you like if your kid were gay or transgendered or was a crossdresser. Would you appreciate someone predeciding what you could wear, who you can marry or what bathroom you can choose to go to ? How twisted is REPUBLICAN psychology that they actually seek out and oppress those innocent people by some sordid religious or political belief ?

Even Ted Cruz's children -- both boys -- disagree with HIS stance on LGBT rights to marry one another because they love each other. Ted Cruz (a Republican) wants to repeal the law at the Constitutional level in order to prohibity LGBT people from marrying each other because HE doesn't like it...

How would it make YOU feel if you were gay, lesbian, bisexual or a transexual through no fault of your own -- to be told who you could marry ??? You'd feel like ****...

Basically, REPUBLICANS and the like need to come to terms with the FACT that people are themselves at birth. They don't need you to tell them who to date, where to go to the bathroom and who you can marry as adults...and we as crossdressers certainly don't need him deciding for us as adults what we choose to wear everyday...

The world is changing...change with it or your kids will be left behind...

Answer 6

learned. it was constructed by bourgeoisie in order to produce more and more. girl wears pink, boy wears blue and girl plays baby toys, boy plays gun , or technical toys.

but, I have no idea gay and lesbian. I think, they have some mental disorder

Answer 7

Every trait that a person has is a combination of both heredity and environment. When you imply that all environmental factors are "learned behavior" you are slanting this issue.

Answer 8

Since homosexual behavior has been observed in the wild I will go with genetic.

Answer 9

Either way, it is something that you have to accept - the rights of folks to pursue their own identities and happiness. Therefore, keep your "follow-up Q" to yourself.

Answer 10

Nature, just like other deformities.