Why would people 'choose' to be gay? | Science | The Guardian

Contents:

• BEG GAY NOT A CHOICE: SCIENCE CONTRADICTS BEN CARSON
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• IS BEG 'GAY' A CHOICE? SCIENCE SAYS Y (BUT NOT THE WAY YOU'RE THKG)
• WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?
• DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?

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? 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. 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.

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+.

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

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. 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. 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.

Dpe the persistence of stereotyp that portray lbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several s of rearch and clil experience have led all mastream medil and mental health anizatns this untry to nclu that the orientatns reprent normal forms of human experience. Helpful rpons of a therapist treatg an dividual who is troubled about her or his same sex attractns clu helpg that person actively pe wh social prejudic agast homosexualy, succsfully rolve issu associated wh and rultg om ternal nflicts, and actively lead a happy and satisfyg life. The phrase “g out” is ed to refer to several aspects of lbian, gay, and bisexual persons’ experienc: self-awarens of same-sex attractns; the tellg of one or a few people about the attractns; wispread disclosure of same-sex attractns; and intifitn wh the lbian, gay, and bisexual muny.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

Th, is not surprisg that lbians and gay men who feel they mt nceal their sexual orientatn report more equent mental health ncerns than do lbians and gay men who are more open; they may even have more physil health problems.

Lbian, gay, and bisexual youth who do well spe strs—like all adolcents who do well spe strs—tend to be those who are socially petent, who have good problem-solvg skills, who have a sense of tonomy and purpose, and who look forward to the future.

IS BEG 'GAY' A CHOICE? SCIENCE SAYS Y (BUT NOT THE WAY YOU'RE THKG)

If they are a heterosexual relatnship, their experienc may be que siar to those of people who intify as heterosexual unls they choose to e out as bisexual; that se, they will likely face some of the same prejudice and discrimatn that lbian and gay dividuals enunter. “As a teenager tryg to unrstand myself and unrstand my sexualy, I looked at the ter for “the gay gene” and obvly me across Xq28, ” said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a study -thor and senr scientist at 23andMe, which he joked once led him to believe he hered his gayns om his mother. “[Our study] unrsr an important role for the environment shapg human sexual behavr and perhaps most importantly there is no sgle gay gene but rather the ntributn of many small geic effects sttered across the genome, ” Neale said.

WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?

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. 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.

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. 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.

”Anyone who would like to read the full report, which is crammed wh fascatg sights, should ntact ASSAf to get hold of a read:SA mp mt be LGBTQI-iendly, says MananaHate crim burn the health of transgenr people SA Discrimatn of black gay men ups anxiety. AbstractThe Amerin Psychiatric Associatn and the Amerin Psychologil Associatn have suggted for many years now that there is signifint empiril evince supportg the claim that homosexualy is a normal variant of human sexual orientatn as opposed to a mental disorr. The accatn of g outdated material and viatg to realms beyond the spe of one's expertise impli two thgs; first, impli that there actually is rmatn that is more up-to-date than what the nun prented on the topic of homosexualy, and sendly impli that there are credible experts who are more qualified to teach or speak on the topic of homosexualy.

DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?

When one brows the Inter, one will see that apparently many of the so-lled experts on mental disorrs claim that there is a signifint amount of scientific evince support of the claim that homosexualy is not a mental disorr. Hence, is necsary to provi a summary and analysis of that purported up-to-date scientific evince which supports the claim that homosexualy is not a mental two groups that are typilly emed thorative and credible experts on mental disorrs the Uned Stat are the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) and the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn; th, I will prent their stanc on homosexualy and then analyze the “scientific evince” that they claim supports their stanc.