Do Gays Have a Choice? - Scientific Amerin

Contents:

• BEG GAY NOT A CHOICE: SCIENCE CONTRADICTS BEN CARSON
• MACKLEMORE IS RIGHT. BEG GAY ISN'T A CHOICE, IT'S A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE.
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?
• BEG GAY: A LIFE STYLE CHOICE?
• AMERINS ARE STILL DIVID ON WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

BEG GAY NOT A CHOICE: SCIENCE CONTRADICTS BEN CARSON

Ben Carson, a retired nrosurgeon and printial hopeful, recently apologized for a statement which he said beg gay is "absolutely" a an terview on CNN, the potential 2016 Republin printial ndidate mented that "a lot of people who go to prison, go to prison straight, and when they e out they're gay, so did somethg happen while they were there?

MACKLEMORE IS RIGHT. BEG GAY ISN'T A CHOICE, IT'S A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE.

And nearly 130 bird speci have been observed engagg sexual activi wh same-sex the evolutnary purpose of this behavr is not clear, the fact that animals routely exhib same-sex behavr beli the notn that gay sex is a morn human studi have found specific "gay gen" that reliably make someone gay.

For stance, a 2014 study the journal Psychologil Medice showed that a gene on the X chromosome (one of the sex chromosom) lled Xq28 and a gene on chromosome 8 seem to be found higher prevalence men who are gay. It's also more likely for two intil tws, who share all of their gen, to both be gay than is for two aternal tws, who share jt half of their gen, to both be homosexual. But this so-lled epigenome n also be passed on om generatn to generatn, which would expla why beg gay seems to n fai, even when a sgle gene n't be such gay gen get passed down om generatn to generatn has puzzled scientists, given that gay upl nnot reproduce.

"K therefore pass on more of the gen which they would share wh their homosexual relativ, " said evolutnary psychologist Pl Vasey of the Universy of Lethbridge Canada, a past Live Science article.

WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?

Gay nversn therapy is effective, several studi have found, and the Amerin Psychologil Associatn now says such treatment is harmful and n worsen feelgs of men, studi suggt that orientatn is fixed by the time the dividual reach puberty. However, even women who swch om gay to straight liftyl don't stop beg attracted to women, acrdg to a 2012 study the journal Archiv of Sexual rults suggt that while people n change their behavr, they aren't really changg their basic sexual Tia Ghose on Twter and Google+. The APA has clared LBG as not a mental illns or disorr wh no intifiable dissiar psychopathology, as both heterosexual and homosexual behavrs are normal aspects of human sexualy.

New Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) rearch regardg LGB and mental health suggts gays have a higher rate of some mental disorrs pared to their heterosexual (straight) unterparts. Today, the prospect of therapy to ‘overe homosexualy’ is nsired antiquated, effective and harmful as such attempts are not succsful and serve to rerce damnatn of LGB, particularly if therapy is attempted by non-mental health profsnals but those wh relig fervor.

DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?

However, blogists have documented homosexual behavr more than 450 speci, argug that same-sex behavr is not an unnatural choice, and may fact play a val role wh populatns. So-lled genome-wi associatn studi intified a gene lled SLITRK6, which is active a bra regn lled the diencephalon that differs size between people who are homosexual or heterosexual. While there is no sgle “gay gene, ” there is overwhelmg evince of a blogil basis for sexual orientatn that is programmed to the bra before birth based on a mix of geics and prenatal ndns, none of which the fet choos.

In 1993, a study published the journal Science showed that fai wh two homosexual brothers were very likely to have certa geic markers on a regn of the X chromosome known as Xq28. In 1991, a study published the journal Science seemed to show that the hypothalam, which ntrols the release of sex hormon om the puary gland, gay men differs om the hypothalam straight men. PET and MRI studi performed 2008 have shown that the two halv of the bra are more symmetril homosexual men and heterosexual women than heterosexual men and homosexual women.

Today, however, we know much more about the bra than we did when homosexualy was nsired a disease that required treatment, and the amount of knowledge that we have about the bra is creasg. If we fe beg gay as engagg homosexual behavr (the ncept of “gay” as an inty is a Wtern cultural ncept – people who have sex wh both men and women may ll themselv gay, straight or bisexual, pendg on the l of their culture or subculture), then people stop beg gay as soon as they stop engagg this behavr. I believe that people have the right to engage any behavr that they choose, as long as their actns do not harm others, and I believe that gay sex and gay relatnships do not e harm to anyone.

BEG GAY: A LIFE STYLE CHOICE?

(Of urse, there are abive and unhealthy gay relatnships that should not be tolerated, jt as there are unhealthy heterosexual relatnships that should not be tolerated. If sexual preference n be altered, then people who support gay rights n’t rely on the argument that gay people should be protected om discrimatn bee gay people have no choice but to be gay – an argument that seems like an apology for homosexualy, as if homosexualy is a disease for which there is no cure.

Jt as gay people who are happy as they are should not be forced to change their sexual orientatn, gay people who want to be straight should have the right to change if they n – and the rrect word is “change” – not “cure”. Photo creds: Vanuver Gay Pri Para 2008 by edallaluna on Wikimedia Commons; DNA by ynse on Wikimedia Commons; Bra fMRI by views exprsed are those of the thor(s) and are not necsarily those of Scientific Amerin. While South Ai’s nstutn protects the rights of homosexuals, and while same-sex marriage is legal here, remas a bone of ntentn, wh anti-gay prejudice nstantly surfacg, often very nasty ways such as ‘rrective rape’, for one.

Homosexualy is crimalised 38 out of the 54 natns on the Ain ntent – fact, not one sgle Ain untry has followed South Ai this rpect, although 14 other untri, while homosexualy is not protected, is at least not illegal. The panel clud one member om UNAS, and UNAS endorsed the rults, a report lled Diversy Human Sexualy which was prented on 6 Augt 2015 at a dialogue held Sandton, Teen pated red for beg gay The panel looked at rearch done this field over the last century, reviewg more than 500 studi and papers. It nfirmed earlier rearch ditg, as panel member Profsor Michael Pepper said, that there is a strong associatn between a certa regn of the X chromosome and male homosexualy.

AMERINS ARE STILL DIVID ON WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

And across all societi, the percentage of people who are gay remas about the same, at between 5-8% (although there is a difference between the cince for men and women) people argue that this is unter-tuive terms of evolutn: homosexual people are not likely to reproduce. But havg this variatn the gene pool may have some evolutnary e, as Pepper illtrated when he poted to a strange ltle fact: the mothers and nts of gay men tend to produce more children!

Changg mdsPanel member Profsor Harry Dugmore, director of the Disvery Centre for Health Journalism, poted out that even though many societi are still discrimatory legally or socially, change public opn across the world has fact e remarkably swiftly: 15 years ago, no untri allowed gay marriage, now 19 do (the neteenth beg Catholic Ireland, which racked up a vote of 62% favour recently). Dugmore addrsed the qutn of whether is possible to ‘acquire’ homosexualy – and said the panel’s trawl through all available science had led to a roundg ‘No’ answer: “The ia that sexual orientatn n be acquired bee of greater ntact wh LGBTI [lbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and tersex] people or that societi that are tolerant ‘promote’ an ‘uptake’ of non-normative sexuali has no basis science, ” he Bullyg begs early for gay children As for any evince that attempts through ‘therapy’ to ‘nvert’ someone om homosexualy to ‘normal’ heterosexualy worked, there was absolutely none, he said.

)Abe is ‘normal’There is also no evince that LGBTI people e any more or ls harm than others, he said, addrsg the misplaced notn that gay men are out to are paedophil. Not only are they more at risk of the mental health problems that track discrimatn, isolatn, bullyg and worse (gay adolcents the Stat, for example, are nearly six tim more likely to suffer om prsn and 8.