Being Gay: Choice or Genetics?

Question

There was a recent question about being gay wasn't a choice, but it was just how that person was born. In one of the answers, someone else said that it has been scientifically proven that being gay is not a choice...I have never heard this before and of course the person left no source. I have two questions.

1) Where has it been scientifically proven that being gay is not a choice?


2) If being gay is genetically programmed then:
a) How does one explain identical twins(genetic duplicates) where one is gay and one is straight?

b) If it is genetics, wouldn't it be necessary for one of the parents to also carry the "gay gene"...thus making them "gay"? (and sure, it could be a recessive gene...but without finding the gene no one will ever know).

Delta Z: Why would a psychologists have any say on if it is genetics or not. I wasn't aware psychologists were experts in gene theory.

levis_88: If twins are one female and one male, then they are not identical twins. That is not the case I am talking about.

Delta Z: If you are just going to rant because you don't want to answer the question...that is fine with me. I don't really mind.

Answer 1

Good question. You're going to get bad answers from both sides, unfortunately.

It's neither choice nor genetics. It's the result of a combination of genetics and societal conditioning. (At least, that's the way it works based on my understanding.)

1) Give me a minute to find the evidence... i know it's out there.
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;113/6/1827.pdf
http://www.apa.org/topics/orientation.html#whatcauses
http://geneticsandsociety.org/article.php?id=178

2) a) Conditioning. The twins likely have different experiences with different meanings to each of them. This may result in different sexual preferences.

b) Again, there is no gay gene. There are certain sections of the genetic code that are more prevalent in homosexuals, suggesting that certain genes increase the probability of homosexuality, but do not determine it completely.

EDIT: Links added to question (1). The first one has the best information.

EDIT 2: Psychologists aren't experts in genetics. However, they are experts on choice and people's motivations for making certain choices. They have ruled out the possibility of choice. All that's left are environmental factors and genetics.

Answer 2

As far as my limited knowledge goes, i thought scientists were finding that homosexuality is not genetic, but a result of hormones in the mother's womb affecting a child's neurochemical development.

Again though, this isn't the debate. People always assume that proving homosexuality is natural will force religious people to give in and accept it, but it won't. At the end of the day, a person can choose who to sleep with, or not to sleep with anyone at all. I think Jesus taught that celibacy was the ideal.

The debate that needs to be fought is whether homosexuality is a bad thing or not such a big deal. Let religious nutjobs try to "prove" how bad being gay is. Then young and reasonable and freedom-loving people will see what morons they are.

Answer 3

Yes, I asked that question that gay wasn't a choice and YES IT IS NOT A CHOICE!!

1) Where has it been scientifically proven that being gay is not a choice?
- It has been proven by yourself, can you choose to be gay?

2) If being gay is genetically programmed then:
a) How does one explain identical twins(genetic duplicates) where one is gay and one is straight?
- this is a scientific question that in time will be proven, it's like although its an "identical" twin but sometimes twins are born one as female and one as male. In this case it's not impossible for a twin to be one gay one straight

b) If it is genetics, wouldn't it be necessary for one of the parents to also carry the "gay gene"...thus making them "gay"? (and sure, it could be a recessive gene...but without finding the gene no one will ever know).
-This one needs some knowledge of biology and I'm not exactly a master. So I won't answer it, but my best guess is yes there is such thing as a gay gene. And you CAN'T CHOOSE to be gay, even if you want to

Answer 4

I don't think homosexuality is determined by genetics or by choices. It's a mental condition. I doubt a "gay gene" exists; rather, I believe it is determined by psychological factors. Some people do simply develop homosexual tendencies as they grow up. It's just like some people are quiet and withdrawn while others are loud and obnoxious. There doesn't need to be a gene that determines things like that. It isn't a choice, and there's no physical or chemical reason why they should be that way; they just are.

In the end though, it's not your sexual orientation that matters, but what you do with it. Humans are meant for heterosexual romantic relationships. There are two proper uses for one's sexuality: one is in marriage, and one is living a chaste single or religious life. If a man is attracted to a woman, he shouldn't act on it until he marries her, and if he can't/doesn't marry her, he shouldn't act on it at all. If a man is attracted to another man, he shouldn't act on it at all, because he can't marry him. It's not like there's a double standard for gay vs. straight people. Yes, being homosexual makes life hard, but so does being born without a limb, or being born with Down's syndrome, or other things that make people "different." They aren't any less human than the rest of us; they just have to face unique challenges. It isn't fair, but that's life.

Answer 5

Okay, see, I believe homosexuality goes deeper than that. IMHO, I believe that we have had many lives, some as men, some as women. I believe our true sexual gender (so to speak) is established and stays the same on the Other Side. So let's say you are actually of a female persuasion on the Other Side, then to come into life as a male presents a challenge, and some just don't fall into the role as easily as others do. I believe whichever sexual gender is most comfortable to you, that is your 'true' gender. And I also believe that in some instances, you may have come out of your last life as the opposite sex you are now, and maybe you died quickly and didn't acclimate yourself before coming into another life as a different sex than you just left. So in that respect you would still have other-gender mannersims and attributes. I hope this makes sense. (Also not trying to make anyone believe the way I do. Just my $0.02.)

Answer 6

I'm not gay but all my gay friends say they've been gay all their lives. So that would be genetic. BUT I have a cute lesbian friend who F's my brains out after a couple of drinks. She swears up and down she is totally lesbo, has a girlfriend, all that. I think her lesbianism is a result of conditioning. Once the alcohol strips her inhibitions away she becomes the raging hetro she naturally is.

So I think both conditions, genetic and conditioned, exist.

Answer 7

I have heard a theory, I'm not sure quite where it was years back, that gay people developed the brain of the opposite sex. This was used to explain why some animals exhibite gay behaviors. It has not been proven and probably won't be but it does make it an interesting proposition.

Answer 8

There are opinions that we are all sexual beings and how rigid our orientation is is still debatable.

Whether or not are orientation is choice or predisposed in not debated. If it was choice then you could not explain that homosexuality occurs throughout all mammalia with the roughly the same frequency that it occurs in humans.

People that say that our sexuality is a matter of choice are coming from a place of either bigotry and/or ignorance.

Answer 9

One of the things a "Searcher" would know about genetics is that the issue is not whether you have a gene or not. It's if you have a gene AND it's turned "on." (In which case there will be a strong tendency to have certain traits associated with that gene.)

"Searching" some more might reveal that whole bunches of genes are affected by many environmental factors.

Lastly, even a cursory "search" would have found that indeed, 52% of identical (monozygotic) twins of homosexual men were themselves homosexual. (In women it's about 48%.)When you consider the general ocurrance of homosexuality in human population, this is a rather strong correlation.

Answer 10

I'm not sure you're on the right lines here. I think what is meant by 'not a choice' is that a man doesn't decide one day to be gay, he fancies other men whether he likes it or not. I know gay men who fought the feelings for years because they thought it was wrong, but had to give in in the end. If you don't like cabbage, you can force yourself to eat it and pretend to others that you like it, but you never will like it really. And if you love chocolate you can avoid it and say you hate it, but you will still crave it in your heart. It's a rather more important version of the same thing.