How come the only people claiming that being gay is a choice are str8 - who can go only by anecdotal evidence?

Answer 1

I'm straight and I think that being gay is NOT a choice. You see so many families that are conservative and are completely against gays - when someone in the family "comes out of the closet" they freak out and disown them. Who would choose to be disowned by their own family? Who would choose to be discriminated against? Who would choose to go through that living hell?

Honestly, unless you're a gay genetic scientist, I don't think anyone has the right to say that being gay is a choice or not.

Answer 2

Because straight people don't have to question themselves in that way. They don't have to endure an entire puberty with stronger developing feelings and question why everyone they know says that being gay is wrong. Fighting off feelings of self hatred because they don't fit into any part of society. They are the norm, most straight people don't ever get faced with these sort of self examinations and decisions, they just 'are'. So why would they not assume that there was some sort of decision or choice? Why would anyone choose to be disowned by their family and cast out onto the streets like a bag of trash I have no clue. Because the amount of gay people that are disowned by their families is staggering, most in their early to mid teens.

Answer 3

Just recently there were 120 international students sitting in my economics class. Before the prof arrived I went up to the podium and asked "by show of hands" who thought that people "chose" their sexual orientation. Not one hand came up. Seriously. I then asked how many people were "straight". Too many hands came up, so I asked how many were gay. Only 4 hands popped up. Let's say another 6 people were gay, but didn't want to reveal that.

If you do the "math" one discovers an enlightening stat. Most educated (well educated) young, straight people do NOT concur with the right-wing, homophobic, Cristian coalition's "position" regarding the "cause" of homosexuality.

Answer 4

I think many are at least to some extent bisexual. They have made a "choice", one that others (gay or straight) may not be able to make.

EDIT: Let me emphasize that I mean that some "STRAIGHT" people have indeed made a "choice" in their behavior. However, orientation is NOT a choice, but is hard-wired. And it is the whole spectrum of orientation itself that allows some individuals to make choices. Those who "choose" to be "straight" in spite of a strong degree of same-sex attraction are often among the most homophobic. I assume some are familiar with the studies showing this.

For example:

http://www.philosophy-religion.org/handouts/homophobia.htm

"Researchers at the University of Georgia conducted an experiment involving 35 homophobic men and 29 nonhomophobic men as measured by the Index of Homophobia scale. All the participants selected for the study described themselves as exclusively heterosexual both in terms of sexual arousal and experience.

Each participant was exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual and lesbian videotapes (but not necessarily in that order). Their degree of sexual arousal was measured by penile plethysmography, which precisely measures and records male tumescence.

Men in both groups were aroused by about the same degree by the video depicting heterosexual sexual behavior and by the video showing two women engaged in sexual behavior. The only significant difference in degree of arousal between the two groups occurred when they viewed the video depicting male homosexual sex: 'The homophobic men showed a significant increase in penile circumference to the male homosexual video, but the control [nonhomophobic] men did not.'

Broken down further, the measurements showed that while 66% of the nonhomophobic group showed no significant tumescence while watching the male homosexual video, only 20% of the homophobic men showed little or no evidence of arousal. Similarly, while 24% of the nonhomophobic men showed definite tumescence while watching the homosexual video, 54% of the homophobic men did. "

I think it's fair to say that many of the homophobic yet sexually aroused "straight" men would say that gay men make a choice.

Answer 5

Because if we've made a "bad" choice then we are responsible for their hatred of us. It takes the responsibility away from them.

Most of them don't seem to consider that we didn't choose to be gay any more than they chose to be straight. I certainly never made any conscious decision regarding my sexuality - it was just always there. Of course, there's always the gay ones who *do* choose to *act* straight and are resentful that we are being true to ourselves whilst they feel forced to live a lie.

Answer 6

Isn't that the same as saying being straight is a choice? I think so. Maybe we're all born gay and others chose to like the opposite sex, although I know that would mean we would all die out fast, lol. But still, trying to make point.

Answer 7

I defnitely don't think that. I didn't chose to be straight, so how could a gay person could chose to be gay? I can't stand when I hear people say things like that.

Answer 8

I hear you. I'm straight, but somehow, I can't remember ever being faced with choosing my sexuality. In other words, I don't think I "chose" to be straight. It just worked out that way. I imagine its the same for gays, yes?

Answer 9

They don't understand how people can be born gay because they were born straight themselves. To make themselves understand, the simply conclude that we choose.

They are so wrong . . .

Answer 10

Because they're complete morons. Simple as that.