Young Writers Society

Ok. I am bisexual. I always considered myself gay at first. The first relationship I ever had was with a boy, and I only stopped because it wasn't going anywhere. If it wasn't for me being in a relationship with a girlfriend, I would happily date a man again. I really don't think that homosexuality is a mental disorder because it is the person's option. If they are more attracted to the opposite sex, fair enough. More attracted to the same sex, fair enough too. If you are like me, and attracted to either sex, I think fair enough. I chose to by bisexual, but I never chose to be a homosexual. Very strange I know, but I wasn't born homosexual. I just felt more comfortable with boys than girls. My girlfriend is also bisexual, and we actually met because we were both gay and rejected for who we were. The amount of crap we took from both straights/gays was worth it in the end. So as for answering the question, I don't have an answer. However, I thought I may put a perspective onto it.

If you wish to counter the critics of homosexuality, then you should proceed to do so by presenting a logical argument. If there is a fallacy in the argument, then your argument is not sound and will not convince.

I love how you completely ignore my argument before that statement and presuppose that I have in fact no argument. But to be fair to you my argument was more philosophical and not logical. Do those intertwine? Not sure. But that is my true opinion. How many Conservative "Family Value" Republicans have been exposed as closet gays? Yeah a whole f***ing lot. But once again that goes back to why should we care? We shouldn't. People should be themselves and no one should try to deny them that right or condemn them for doing so. And yes people who hold "God hates fags" are stupid. At the very least their opinion on the issue of homosexuality is stupid. Extremely stupid.

But to be fair to you my argument was more philosophical and not logical. Do those intertwine? Not sure.

Philosophy is based on logic. If a philosophical argument contradicts itself or otherwise fails to make logical sense, the argument is philosophically flawed.

As for the nature vs nurture issue, I believe it's a bit of both. There obviously isn't a specific gene that makes you gay, but I think that homosexuality is something innate, it's just your environment that kind of 'activates' it. I have a huge family and there is no one in there that's gay/bi. Considering statistics, I highly doubt that none of them are gay or bi, I just think that because they all grew up in an environment in India where no one really pays attention to those issues, they just never considered it and assumed they were straight along with everyone else. On the other hand, my parents moved to Canada, so I grew up in an environment where I know gay/bi people, so I acknowledged its possibility and realised that I am, indeed, bisexual.

This is actually true in several different ways! Gene expression can be affected by environmental changes, actually, and it's very plausible that, were homosexuality affected by genes, then it would probably depend on the environment as well.

Also... um... because I realize I haven't stated this before, male homosexuality has been shown to have genetic connections. They are researching female homosexuality, but I don't think they found a genetic connection between sexual preference and code yet. Nor did they one for bisexuals. This doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, it just means that they haven't found it yet.

Can there be an "other" or a "both" choice on the poll? I do believe homosexuality can be psychological. Studies have shown that some boys who are molested or sexually abused by another man when they are younger grow up to be gay. (I think it can be the same with girls and women, too). However, I don't think this is every single case at all. I do believe it can be genetic, too.

However, I think that that just because someone is born a specific way, it doesn't mean they have to be limited by their biology (Of course this is specific to sexuality, illnesses, defects... you can't try to change yourself so you can breathe under water lol) I think that people have the power and the choice to change themselves if they want to. That's just an opinion of mine and it's probably a conversation for another time.

HaydenSmith wrote:Can there be an "other" or a "both" choice on the poll? I do believe homosexuality can be psychological. Studies have shown that some boys who are molested or sexually abused by another man when they are younger grow up to be gay. (I think it can be the same with girls and women, too). However, I don't think this is every single case at all. I do believe it can be genetic, too.

I think these options are a bit extremist too, but I'd be interested to see these studies. Citations?

Aet: I did say that I think this is only in some cases. I don’t think this scenario applies to a majority of homosexual people.

But there were studies cited here (these are magazines, journals, and books. You might be able to find online texts, too):

The Archives of Sexual Behavior
Journal of Sex Research
The Irish Times
The Kinsey Data
United States Department of Health and Human Services
Gender and Society
Leaping Lesbian
Behavior Today
Behavior Research and Therapy
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

There were more, but I don’t exactly remember them. Sorry. I’ll try to find them if you would like them. Just ask.

Honestly, I feel that this shouldn't even be a debate. To me it's very black and white.

When people ask gays when they chose to be gay, I ask them when they chose to be straight. When they ask how long they've been gay, I ask them how long they've been straight.

Asking people when they chose to be gay, even thinking that it can be a choice, is like saying heterosexual people choose to be straight. That women choose to be women, men choose to be men, blacks choose to be black, asians choose to be asian, whites choose to be white, the list is endless

Compare it to peoples' personalities - people can't choose their personality. You're born with it. You're born who you are, the way you are. They can fake it, but it will never be who you truly are.

I'm not sure if this makes sense to anyone else, but it does in my head.

The personality can actually be debated with nature versus nurture... but thats hardly relevant...

I believe "choosing" to be attracted to the same sex is liek saying that you've chosen to be attracted to blonde people or people with hazel eyes... cuz you don't. You just figure out one day that you like them.

One of my best friends is bisexual. There is a guy from our school that frequently yells slang words at him that I don't feel are apprpriat to repeat here but you know what I mean. And he's told him countless times that he'll burn in hell for his sexuality and that God hates him.
My friend shows no reaction or acknowledgement to this jerk, but there have been times when he's started crying either alone or just with me. Calling somebody those names for being gay, lesbian, or bi is just as horrible as calling a black person the N word, and people need to understand that.

HaydenSmith wrote:Aet: I did say that I think this is only in some cases. I don’t think this scenario applies to a majority of homosexual people.

But there were studies cited here (these are magazines, journals, and books. You might be able to find online texts, too):

The Archives of Sexual Behavior
Journal of Sex Research
The Irish Times
The Kinsey Data
United States Department of Health and Human Services
Gender and Society
Leaping Lesbian
Behavior Today
Behavior Research and Therapy
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology

There were more, but I don’t exactly remember them. Sorry. I’ll try to find them if you would like them. Just ask.

I tried a few basic keywords but couldn't find anything. Can you provide URLs directly to the specific articles you're talking about?

Aet: I found this, but it's really old, and I think most of us would be shocked to see that word nowadays: http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/212/7/1199.short

A bit more recently: Sexually Antagonistic Selection in Human Male Homosexuality

Basically, there may exist a genetic link between female fertility and male homosexuality, with a pair of genes that boosts female fertility negatively impacting male fertility.

Aet, the sources I read were not online. Uhh... do you have a Library near by? Sorry...

If I can add my own two cents... It can be psychological, but I do not think that someone can be made heterosexual via treatment. Homosexuality (for most) is a preferance. Saying that therapy will cure it and make you straight is saying like if you go to a shrink, they can "cure" you of liking Hershey's chocolate or the color black...

Human sexuality is a complex thing and when people choose to decide another path... Well, who are we to judge them?

I'm a proud lesbian, who has been in heterosexual relationships and is currently dating a beautiful artist. I made my choice, and you can't make me change it!

I think that if you're gay, you're just born that way. In most cases, the man or women feels as though they should be the opposite gender. It probably can be fixed with therapy, but for most people it's who they are, and they feel it's normal.