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

Contents:

• WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?
• ‘I AM GAY – BUT I WASN’T BORN THIS WAY’
• IF BEG GAY WERE ACTUALLY A CHOICE, THIS IS WHAT SOME STRAIGHT GUYS WOULD CHOOSE
• THE POWER 'CHOOSG TO BE GAY'
• CAN SOMEONE BE HOMOSEXUAL AND NOT GAY?
• OPN I’M GAY. AND I WANT MY KID TO BE GAY, TOO.
• HOMOSEXUALY & CHOICE: ARE GAY PEOPLE 'BORN THIS WAY?'
• BEG GAY NOT A CHOICE: SCIENCE CONTRADICTS BEN CARSON

WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?

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.

Homosexual members of society n unfortunately expect to regularly be challenged, sctised and nmned by belligerent type who are seemgly nvced that homosexualy is a “liftyle choice” issue has e up aga (for what is possibly the 12, 456, 987, 332nd time) for several reasons. Normally heterosexual characters sudnly displayg homosexual leangs when a boost viewg figur are need is a mon trope the days, so you n sort of see how this might make some people thk ’s a “choice”, if they lack more realistic sayg that sexualy is set stone om birth is also not que right, the ma emphasis of those g the choice argument is that homosexuals have weighed up their optns and nscly cid “I am gog to be gay om now on”. Comedian Todd Glass mak a brilliant pot his book (which is great, I got for Christmas), which is that if you genuely believe sexualy is a choice, then you’re not actually straight, you jt haven’t met anyone persuasive enough those who argue that homosexualy is a choice variably assert that is a wrong choice.

In the 1968 edn of the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM)—the dispensable diagnostic tool ed by therapists—homosexualy appeared the sectn on sexual viatns as an stance of an aberratn which sexual terts are "directed primarily toward objects other than people of the oppose sex. Whereas is te that some homosexuals had poor relatnships wh their fathers when they were growg up, is impossible to say whether those fathers produced homosexual tennci their sons by rejectg them or, stead, whether some fathers simply tend to shun boys who are effemate at the outset. Although no one study is entirely nclive, studi of tws raised together, tws raised apart and fay tre suggt—at least for mal—that the more gen one shar wh a homosexual relative, the more likely is that one will be homosexual—the hallmark of a geic characteristic.

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

It is unreasonable to say that he has been returned to a "natural" state, however; wh strong social support, he has simply chosen a new path for himself—one that his gen ma possible but that is almost certaly not possible for every gay person. Bee of the enormo prsur phg all of toward the straight end of the Sexual Orientatn Contuum om the time we are very young, is reasonable to assume that most of the people who currently live as homosexuals were probably close to the gay end of the ntuum to beg wh; other words, they probably have strong geic tennci toward homosexualy.

DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?

You so obvly nnot be gay, was her implitn, bee this is good was 2006, a full five years before Lady Gaga would set the Born This Way argument atop s unassailable cultural perch, but even then the popular unrstandg of orientatn was that was somethg you were born wh, somethg you uldn’t change. But what feels most accurate to say is that I’m gay – but I wasn’t born this people may fd their sir changg directn - and n't jt be explaed as experimentatn (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)In 1977, jt over 10% of Amerins thought gayns was somethg you were born wh, acrdg to Gallup. Throughout the same perd, the number of Amerins who believe homosexualy is “due to someone’s upbrgg/environment” fell om jt unr 60% to ias reached cril mass pop culture, first wh Lady Gaga’s 2011 Born This Way and one year later wh Macklemore’s Same Love, the chos of which has a gay person sgg “I n’t change even if I tried, even if I wanted to.

”People who challenge the Born This Way narrative are often st as homophobic, and their thkg is nsired backwardAs Jane Ward not Not Gay: Sex Between Straight Whe Men, what’s tertg about many of the claims is how transparent their speakers are wh their polil motivatns. In fact, the homophobic and non-homophobic rponnts he studied shared siar levels of belief a Born This Way Samantha Allen not at The Daily Beast, the growg public support for gays and lbians has grown out of proportn wh the rise the number of people who believe homosexualy is fixed at birth; would be unlikely that this small change opn uld expla the spike support for gay marriage, for stance.

“It don’t seem to matter as much whether or not people believe that gay people are born that way as do that they simply know someone who is currently gay, ” Allen spe of the studi, those who ph agast Born This Way narrativ have been heavily cricised by gay activists.

‘I AM GAY – BUT I WASN’T BORN THIS WAY’

The efforts are potentially harmful, acrdg to the APA, “bee they prent the view that the sexual orientatn of lbian, gay and bisexual youth is a mental illns of disorr, and they often ame the abily to change one’s sexual orientatn as a personal and moral failure. The APA, for example, while notg that most people experience ltle to no choice over their orientatns, says this of homosexualy’s origs:“Although much rearch has examed the possible geic, hormonal, velopmental, social and cultural fluenc on sexual orientatn, no fdgs have emerged that perm scientists to nclu that sexual orientatn is termed by any particular factor or factors.

IF BEG GAY WERE ACTUALLY A CHOICE, THIS IS WHAT SOME STRAIGHT GUYS WOULD CHOOSE

”Siarly, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn wr a 2013 statement that while the of heterosexualy and homosexualy are currently unknown, they are likely “multifactorial cludg blogil and behavral roots which may vary between different dividuals and may even vary over time. ” Acrdg to LeVay’s rearch, a specific part of the bra, the third terstial nucls of the anterr hypothalam (INAH-3), is smaller homosexual men than is heterosexual as they might, scientists have stggled to inty any particular gen that nsistently predict the directns of our love and sire (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)Read moreYou n spot the problem wh this study a e away: were the gay bras LeVay studied born that way, or did they bee that way? Bis the dividual criqu leveled agast each new study announcg some gay gene disvery, there are major methodologil cricisms to make about the entire enterprise general, as Grzanka pots out: “If we look at the raveno pursu, particularly among Amerin scientists, to fd a gay gene, what we see is that the ncln has already been arrived at.

”Gay or not, our sir are oriented and re-oriented throughout our liv (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)In fact, the straight-intified men Ward studied for her book sometim found themselv suatns that sparked the sire for homosexual sex: aterni, ployments, public rtrooms, etc. I’m claimg that at some pot durg llege, my sexual and romantic sir beme reoriented toward menThkg back to my llege romanc wh women and men, I n beg to unrstand how my own experienc might have helped me to ‘cultivate’ my sire for homosexualy.

“Limg our unrstandg of any plex human experience is always gog to be worse than allowg to be plited, ” he gay rights activists pared sexualy to relign - a ccial part of our life that we should be ee to practise however we like (Cred: Ignac Lehamann)So what are we to do wh the Born This Way rhetoric?

THE POWER 'CHOOSG TO BE GAY'

Part of the explanatn is geic, but bee most intil tws of gay people are straight, heredy don’t expla “why” qutn is important bee “there is a strong rrelatn between beliefs about the origs of sexual orientatn and tolerance of non-heterosexualy, ” acrdg to the report thors, who are om seven universi spanng the globe. But gaps will rema, such as why some firstborn sons are gay, why some intil tws of gay sons are straight, and why women are gay, to name jt a review-paper thors do le out one explanatn for homosexualy, however: That tolerance for gay people enurag more people to bee gay.

“Homosexual orientatn do not crease equency wh social tolerance, although s exprsn ( behavr and open intifitn) may do so, ” they reasong—that a tolerant society somehow enurag homosexualy to flourish—has been ed to support anti-gay legislatn Uganda, Rsia, and elsewhere.

But addn, gay and lbian teens often al wh an extra layer of strs — like whether they have to hi who they are, whether they will be harassed about beg gay, or whether they will face stereotyp or judgments if they are hont about who they are.

CAN SOMEONE BE HOMOSEXUAL AND NOT GAY?

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.

OPN I’M GAY. AND I WANT MY KID TO BE GAY, TOO.

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. 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.

It is a big leap om thkg that homosexualy is a ep part of one's sense of self to assertg that particular sexual formatns and sir are blogilly Aguilar/RtersIn polics, the notn of beg gay by one's own voln is like Volmort—dangero even to be uttered. It is a big leap om thkg that homosexualy is a ep part of one's sense of self to assertg that particular sexual formatns and sir are blogilly of do not thk of our sexual sir or inti as ak to that almost nsumerist notn of choice—a liberate and straightforward act, like choosg to eat lobster or buy a pair of Nik.

" Gay evabily is posed as the narrative of our liv; one do not "bee" gay but eher reprs or accepts what is always already laypeople and scientists fervently believe that "scientific rearch n help dispel some of the myths about homosexualy that the past have cloud the image of lbians and gay men, " th perhaps openg the door to more "tolerant" attus. This gets to the heart of a real problem: In searchg for a blogil basis for homosexualy, most scientists nnot help but re-scribe the most nstraed fns of sexual inty, fns that have been vigoroly challenged by theorists and historians for theorists have long disputed the easy assumptns that lk behavrs wh inti. The assumptn of "gay" as a tegory clearly leated and easily knowable is challenged theoretilly, historilly, and many Lat and Central Amerin ntexts, for example, more emphasis is placed on an dividual's relatnship to particular sexual acts than to some totalizg inty, so who perat and who gets perated may— some ntexts—be more termative of inty than "sodomy" many South Asian cultur, such as Thailand, sexual inti are formed much more around specific kds of genr portment, which do not translate easily to the simple moniker "gay.

HOMOSEXUALY & CHOICE: ARE GAY PEOPLE 'BORN THIS WAY?'

Native Amerin ncepts of "two-spir" or "berdache" don't f easily wh the normative ncept of homosexualy as a unique mory inty eher, as dit an unrstandg of genr inty at odds wh the mastream Amerin mol of mappg genr onto sexed when this nuanced and plited historil and cross-cultural work nonts the recent obssn wh immutabily and blogil origs, we have a ser set of problems, if not real ntradictns. One is no longer someone who lik a ltle this or a ltle that, but one is a gay person, part of a class or even speci of scientists have "rolved" this very ser fnal problem wh a batn of subjects' self-reportg, clared homosexual experienc, and measured physlogil reactn to visual stimuli. A woman who f herself as exclively heterosexual might get turned on by a geo gay man (or woman), but this says ltle about her own self-intifitn or her own actual sexual behavrs and practic (which, turn, may say ltle about her inty) if one reports that one is gay for a scientific study, but fact has never had same-sex sexual behavr, then how is that measured?

While gay teachers may not "turn" kids gay (jt as my hetero parents failed to turn me hetero), n't we also offer up the possibily that openly gay teachers (or neighbors or mothers or firefighters) may create environments that enurage expansive thkg about sexualy and genr?

Challengg both the fear of homosexualy and the iology of immutabily that attempts to refute that fear pends on a very different set of assumptns: that beg gay is jt fe, thank you very much; that gayns is not a problem to be unrstood, or solved, or even tolerated; and, more to the pot, that there is a posive benef to an expansive and open approach to human sexualy and genr.

BEG GAY NOT A CHOICE: SCIENCE CONTRADICTS BEN CARSON

They may need, om time to time, to seek further therapy, but wh the right therapist, one who has thoroughly unrstood the dangers of such practic of “reparative therapy” which the therapist seeks to change the client’s sexual inty om gay to straight. We’ve bought every picture book featurg gay fai, even the not-very-good on, and we have most of the nontradnal-genr-role books as well — about the prcs who lik to fight dragons and the boy who lik to wear my dghter plays hoe wh her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remd her that they uld be a dad and dad.

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 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” have also been headl about an “alholism gene”, which mak people bee alholics, and a “warrr gene”, which mak people unually n’t ntrol behavr pletely, though.