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

Contents:

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

BEG GAY NOT A CHOICE: SCIENCE CONTRADICTS BEN CARSON

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. 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.

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.

BEG GAY IS NOT A CHOICE

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.

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. 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.

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

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. 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+.

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

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.

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. The Amerin Medil Associatn is agast therapy that is “based on the assumptn that homosexualy is a mental disorr or that the person should change their ’s important to know that there is nothg wrong wh lovg people of the same genr as you. When Shorter Universy northwt Geia recently rmed s 200 employe that they had to sign a “personal liftyle pledge” requirg them to reject homosexualy or lose their jobs, school admistrators unrsred a staggerg jtice: In 29 U.

One of the ma reasons discrimatn persists is that many people Ameri – whether we speak of Don Dowls, Shorter’s print, or printial hopefuls Herman Ca or Michele Bachmann – advance and rerce the myth that beg gay is a choice.

DO GAYS HAVE A CHOICE?

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.

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 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS

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.

WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE 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. 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. 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.

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

”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. They asked more than 477, 000 participants whether they had ever had sex wh someone of the same sex, and also qutns about sexual fantasi and the gree to which they intified as gay or straight. “A lot of people want to unrstand the blogy of homosexualy, and science has lagged behd that human tert, ” says William Rice, an evolutnary geicist at the Universy of California, Santa Barbara, who also was not volved the work.

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.

Now lled the Stonewall Rts (named after the Stonewall Inn, which was at the center of the melee), they galvanized the morn gay-rights movement Ameri and iated a shift toward greater cultural acceptance of homosexualy.