Are We Born Gay? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?
• ARE WE BORN GAY?
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• ARE YOU BORN GAY OR IS A CHOICE? SCIENTISTS MIGHT HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER
• DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?
• IS ANYONE BORN GAY?

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

Government should protect gay people om discrimatn bee homosexualy is an unalterable aspect of their inty.

IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?

Perhaps sexual preference n be changed – and people have the right to engage gay sex and have homosexual relatnships if they choose to do so. (The fourth optn, that gay people have no choice but to be gay, but should be punished for anyway, is morally unthkable. A gay man is more likely than a straight man to have a (blogil) gay brother; lbians are more likely than straight women to have gay sisters.

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. This led to media headl about the possibily of the existence of a “gay gene” and discsns about the ethics of abortg a “gay” fet.

ARE WE BORN GAY?

In some societi, homosexualy is accepted, others, is owned upon but tolerated, yet others, is a ser crimal offense, possibly punishable by ath. What you have learned about homosexualy as you were growg up will affect whether you nsir engagg homosexual acts to be sirable or disgtg. Some people might argue that if you are “geilly gay” but the thought of homosexualy nseat you, then you jt haven’t accepted the fact that you really are gay.

That argument is based on the assumptn that sexual preference is purely blogil; therefore, has no place a discsn about the possible of homosexualy. 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. The third terstial nucls of the anterr hypothalam (INAH3) was found to be more than twice as large heterosexual men as homosexual men.

This study was cricized bee ed bra tissue obtaed at topsi, and all of the homosexual subjects the study were believed to have died of AIDS. This study, which also ed bra tissue om topsi, did not reveal any signifint difference between the size of the INAH3 gay men and straight men.

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

It did, however, show that gay men, nrons the INAH3 are packed more closely together than 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. The studi have also revealed that nnectns the amygdalas of gay men remble those of straight women; gay women, nnectns the amygdala remble those of straight men.

Some studi have shown that the rp llosum – the ma nnectn between the two halv of the bra- has a different stcture gay men than straight men. Gay women and gay men are more likely to be left-hand or ambixtro than straight women and straight men, acrdg to a number of different studi. A 1992 study showed that the anterr missure, a smaller nnectn between the bra’s two hemispher, is larger homosexual men than straight men.

So far, attempts to “cure” homosexualy by operatg on the bra – homosexuals were once given lobotomi - have never worked. Gay men and straight men have the same levels of sex hormon; sex hormone levels are the same gay women and straight 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.

ARE YOU BORN GAY OR IS A CHOICE? SCIENTISTS MIGHT HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER

Even if gay people n never stop beg attracted to members of the same sex, they n learn not to act on their sir.

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.

(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.

DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?

There is an element of homophobia that argument– the implitn that gay people would bee straight, if only they uld. The “gays n’t help beg that way” approach is remiscent of the old view of homosexualy as a psychiatric illns. 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. ” Many people, cludg sex rearchers and scientists, believe that sexual orientatn is like a sle wh entirely gay on one end and entirely straight on the other.

Sexual inty is how you label yourself (for example, g labels such as queer, gay, lbian, straight, or bisexual). In other words, 5-10% of people experience same-sex sexual attractn or behavr; of urse, this don't speak to what mak people gay.

IS ANYONE BORN GAY?

Morn science is workg to show that geics is one of the of beg gay, although some science nflicts this area. Study of fay history reveals that homosexual men have more homosexuals their fay tree than do heterosexuals.

While psychologil factors may crease the likelihood that someone is gay, no sgle factor is known to e homosexualy. It very much appears that same-sex sexual attractn is not a choice but actg on is; so if you fe gay as the mere prence of same-sex attractn, then om everythg we unrstand, beg gay is not a choice. If, on the other hand, you nsir someone to be gay only if they act on their same-sex attractn then beg gay n be nsired a choice pendg on an dividual's behavr.