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

Contents:

• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?
• 10 SIGNS YOU ARE GAY
• WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT BEG GAY?: PERSPECTIV OM YOUTH
• IS ALLAN OM 'BARBIE' GAY? 5 REASONS TO THK HE MIGHT BE
• FIRST-PERSON: 10 REASONS TO OPPOSE ‘GAY MARRIAGE’
• THE TOP 10 ARGUMENTS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE: ALL RECEIVE FAILG GRAS!
• 10 REASONS TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• WHY ARE THERE GAY MEN?
• 10 COUNTRI THAT COMPLETELY HATE GAY PEOPLE
• WHY I'M NOT PROUD OF BEG GAY
• HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
• TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE
• 10 REASONS GAY MARRIAGE IS INEVABLE
• 5 REASONS IT’S GOOD TO BE GAY AND SGLE
• WHY I DO NOT CELEBRATE GAY PRI
• 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

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

I’ve been rearchg peace for for ne years as part of my documentary film A Chance for Peace, and one of the ma lsons I’ve learned is that we n’t know somethg whout first knowg s I’m here to put fear asi for a mute and majorly strs an epimic of love among gay men — bee, although “love” and “gay” may be an unpopular pairg at prent, ’s a msage worth spreadg.

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”.

WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?

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.

Here, we will take a look at ten of the mont arguments lnched agast homosexualy and ced to oppose gay rights legislatn: (1) Marriage should be between a man and a woman, bee has always been this way; (2) Homosexualy is a choice; (3) The Bible nmns homosexualy; (4) Homosexualy is unnatural; (5) Homosexuals do not procreate; (6) All men n marry women, and all women n marry men, therefore there is no equaly; (7) If we legalize gay marriage, what's next? This was one of the few studi found to prent riliency strategi veloped by gay/bisexual adolcents to bat negative social and cultural ntug rearch is need on the velopmental challeng faced by LGB adolcents, pecially those who are also members of other opprsed groups such as youth of lor, a parallel le of scientific quiry is also need to explore the strengths and rilienci monstrated by LGB youth.

Such limatns do not allow for a more nuanced unrstandg of the current lived experienc of LGB youth’s inty exploratn procs, as has been seen more recent qualative studi of sexual orientatn inty (Ja, Harper, Fernanz, & the ATN, 2009)The purpose of the current study is to provi sights to the posive nceptualizatns that gay/bisexual male adolcents posss regardg their sexual orientatn inty utilizg qualative phenomenologil and nstctivist ameworks. Although we did quire about the full range of perceptns and experienc related to sexual orientatn inty the larger study om which the data were extracted, we chose to foc solely on the posive aspects of posssg a gay/bisexual sexual orientatn inty for the current vtigatn given the lack of empiril data foced specifilly on riliency-related factors among gay/bisexual male adolcents.

10 SIGNS YOU ARE GAY

Sce prr rearch also has monstrated that sexual orientatn inty velopment for female adolcents and adults is different than that of male adolcents and adults (Diamond, 2005; Diamond & Sav-Williams, 2000; Schneir, 2001), we also foc this vtigatn exclively on gay/bisexual male adolcents.

In orr to take part the study, participants met the followg eligibily creria: 1) be blogilly male; 2) be between the ag of 14 and 22; 3) self-intify as Ain Amerin, Hispanic/Lato, or Whe non-Hispanic/European Amerin; 4) self-intify as gay, bisexual, or qutng; 5) have no knowledge of beg HIV posive; 6) live the Chigo or Miami metropolan area; and 7) read and unrstand English.

The youth reprented the qualative subsample of adolcents who participated a larger mixed-methods rearch study foced on multiple inty velopment and sexual risk/protectn among gay/bisexual male adolcents, which was nducted wh the Adolcent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventns. Um, 's, 's very easy to, to, when you do fd somebody that is, that is very siar to yourself, 's very easy to fd a nnectn wh them bee they've endured a lot of the same hardships that you have and, and you, and 's easy to talk, I feel like 's very easy to talk to somebody else who is gay, bee they've experienced a lot of the same thgs that I have g and velopg their inty.

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT BEG GAY?: PERSPECTIV OM YOUTH

(Kev, 21 year old, Multiracial bisexual male)Gay/bisexual youth who reported the rejectn of stereotyp as another form of riliency strsed the importance of velopg a posive sense of self that is not rtricted by societal msag regardg what gay/bisexual men “should” do, thk, and feel. Exampl of such munal efforts may clu the anizatn of polil ralli and public foms or participatn tnal enavors to discs issu primarily affectg LGBT discsg their sexual inti, many participants scribed exampl of societal margalizatn and discrimatn of gay/bisexual people that is nsistent wh prev rearch (c.

Addnally, unlike past rearch, fdgs monstrated participants’ emphasis on actively ristg discrimatn, which uld serve as another potential pg strategy or source of om this study n be ed to shed light on broar issu of social and cultural ponents of gay/bisexual male adolcents’ sense of self and self-acceptance, which may fluence healthy adolcent velopment.

The study’s fdgs offer a clearer unrstandg of how societal msag play a role gay/bisexual male youths’ self perceptns and offer sight to ways to improve the healthy functng of gay/bisexual youth by challengg negative societal fdgs may also offer rmatn for the velopment of mental and physil health promotn programs that emphasize the posive aspects of gay/bisexual sexual orientatn inty, and the role that self acceptance n play promotg healthy thoughts and behavrs.

IS ALLAN OM 'BARBIE' GAY? 5 REASONS TO THK HE MIGHT BE

One example of such a program is the Mpowerment Project, which is a wily ed sexual health promotn terventn that clus a foc on enhancg gay/bisexual young men’s acceptance of their sexual orientatn utilizg muny mobilizatn and peer-based strategi orr to addrs unique munal needs and empower s members (Kegel, Hays, & Coat, 1996; Kegel, Hays, Pollack, Coat, 1999) orr for programs to be succsful, dividuals workg wh gay/bisexual dividuals mt be sensive to issu unique to LGB youth populatns.

By unrstandg the varied msag that gay/bisexual male adolcents receive about their sexual orientatn and how they tegrate this rmatn to their self perceptn, dividuals workg wh gay/bisexual male youth will be better prepared for helpg them to velop a healthy sense of self. Furthermore, social service and health re provirs should be aware of muny nnectns that support healthy inty velopment orr to assist adolcents makg cril social support rmatn prented this study advanc our unrstandg of factors that fluence the self-perceptns of sexual orientatn inty among gay/bisexual youth.

FIRST-PERSON: 10 REASONS TO OPPOSE ‘GAY MARRIAGE’

In addn, this sample was rtricted to male youth; therefore, the life experienc of lbian and bisexual young women were not summary, the current data suggt that spe experienc of LGB-related opprsn and margalizatn, gay/bisexual male youth are able to synthize their experienc orr to nstct a more posive sexual orientatn inty. The data speak to the need to enurage and promote more rearch that explor the liv of gay/bisexual youth utilizg a strengths-based wellns mol orr to provi a more prehensive view of gay/bisexual youth’s velopment (Marszalek & Cashwell, 1999; Rof, 2005). While ntued rearch on the challeng that gay/bisexual youth face is still need orr to rm future terventns and public policy, the studi should be ut not to view gay/bisexual youth through a fic-foced lens which prents gay/bisexual youth as ferr to heterosexual youth.

Instead, rearchers should strive to ntextualize the life experienc and physil/mental health out of gay/bisexual youth by explorg the potentially negative fluence of progrsg through cril velopmental phas while livg heterosexist and opprsive environments. In addn, studi foced on negative physil and mental health out should strive not only to explore risk factors for such out, but also exame riliency-based factors which may offer sights to how some gay/bisexual youth are able to thrive the face of qualative and quantative rearch foced on the velopment of a posive sexual orientatn inty among gay/bisexual youth is need.

THE TOP 10 ARGUMENTS AGAST GAY MARRIAGE: ALL RECEIVE FAILG GRAS!

1:31), and ntug through the last book, God’s plan for marriage is abundantly fact that Scripture pots to marriage as the unn of hband and wife as a picture of Christ’s unn wh His church (Ephians 5:22-33) monstrat the cril nature of the “gay marriage” bate. " Homosexualy is a s that you need to purge om your system, and the only way to do is to follow their three-parts-a-day the app is only downloadable om Google Play (iTun and the 69, 822+ people who petned them don't believe nversn therapy for some reason), there is an abridged versn available on the mistry’s webse. On July 25, 2014 Miami-Da County Circu Court Judge Sarah Zabel led Florida’s gay marriage ban unnstutnal and stated that the ban “serv only to hurt, to discrimate, to prive same-sex upl and their fai of equal digny, to label and treat them as send-class cizens, and to em them unworthy of participatn one of the fundamental stutns of our society.

The Amerin Psychologil Associatn, Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, and others nclud that legal gay marriage giv upl “accs to the social support that already facilat and strengthens heterosexual marriag, wh all of the psychologil and physil health benefs associated wh that support.

2016 printial ndidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fra stated that civil unns are aquate as an equivalent to marriage: “Benefs are beg btowed to gay upl [ civil unns]… I believe we need to rpect those who believe that the word marriage has a spirual foundatn… Why n’t we rpect and tolerate that while at the same time sayg ernment nnot btow benefs unequally.

10 REASONS TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE

Court papers filed July 2014 by attorneys fendg Arizona’s gay marriage ban stated that “the State regulat marriage for the primary purpose of channelg potentially procreative sexual relatnships to endurg unns for the sake of jog children to both their mother and their father… Same-sex upl n never provi a child wh both her blogil mother and her blogil father. Lee Badgett, PhD, Director of the Center for Public Policy and Admistratn at the Universy of Massachetts at Amherst, stated that for many gay activists “marriage means adoptg heterosexual forms of fay and givg up distctively gay fay forms and perhaps even gay and lbian culture. Queer activist Anrs Zanichkowsky stated June 2013 that the then mpaign for gay marriage “tentnally and malicly eras and exclus so many queer people and cultur, particularly trans and genr non-nformg people, poor queer people, and queer people non-tradnal fai… marriage thks non-married people are viant and not tly servg of civil rights.

Matt Barber, Associate Dean for Onle Programs at Liberty Universy School of Law, stated, “Every dividual engaged the homosexual liftyle, who has adopted a homosexual inty, they know, tuively, that what they’re dog is immoral, unnatural, and self-stctive, yet they thirst for that affirmatn. A 2003 set of guil signed by Pope John Pl II stated: “There are absolutely no grounds for nsirg homosexual unns to be any way siar or even remotely analogo to God’s plan for marriage and fay… Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go agast the natural moral law.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

Lol NewsMIAMI – The diplomatic ti between the Uned Stat and Jamai uld soon be jeopardy.There are reports that Jamai is refg to accred the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat.“Our culture is not really acceptg of ,” said Renae Stevens, who was visg the Jamain nsulate Miami Wednday.Attorney Wayne Goldg is an advisor to Jamai’s ernment.“The whole ia of legislatn to legalize same-sex marriag, I thk they still have a long way to go,” he said. The rults show strong support for the "balancg selectn hypothis, " which is fast beg the accepted theory of the geic basis of male theory holds that the same geic factors that duce gayns mal also promote fecundy (high reproductive succs) those mal' female maternal relativ. Through this tra-off, the maternal relativ' "gay man gen, " though they aren't exprsed as such, tend to get passed to future generatns spe of their tenncy to make their male herors no one knows which gen, exactly, the might be, at least one of them appears to be loted on the X chromosome, acrdg to geic molg by Camper Ciani and his lleagu.

The androphilic pattern that we found is about femal who crease their reproductive value to attract the bt mal, " Camper Ciani told Life's Ltle out, the moms and nts of gay men have an advantage over the moms and nts of straight men for several reasons: They are more fertile, displayg fewer gynelogil disorrs or plitns durg pregnancy; they are more extroverted, as well as funnier, happier and more relaxed; and they have fewer fay problems and social anxieti. I’m spired to engage this lguistic activy bee the annual "Pri Week" for gays and lbians is soon at hand, and I’m particularly terted knowg what is, exactly, that I’m supposed to be proud the followg two OED fns, for example, pri is portrayed as beg herently antisocial, a very, very bad thg: pri n. It’s not terribly surprisg, this light, that dividuals who are more prone to exhibg hubristic pri tend also to be more disagreeable, nrotic, narcissistic, are ls nscient and have a history of poor relatnships and mental health when to the exprsn "gay pri, " hubristic pri don’t seem to be implied.

Eher we elect to see ourselv as beg "born this way" and not of our own makg, which would lim our sense of pri to the hubristic subtype ("I’m better than you bee I’m gay"), or we mt subm to the tellectually impaired among and ntend that we’ve chosen this “liftyle” for some mendable reason. I n almost get on board wh this variatn of the term when ’s applied to "gay pri"—I know my gay history, Pri Week’s nnectns to the Stonewall Rts of June, 1969, I know my value as a human beg, and I’ve also had a genero slice of antigay bigotry directed at me—right at my forehead, fact.

WHY ARE THERE GAY MEN?

But anythg else, well, there jt simply aren’t any shared psychologil tras that brg together some trsic the one hand, I unrstand the need for fg supportive allianc wh other gays and lbians, for exertg change through llaborative, anized effort and by sheer strength numbers. Our very need to even have "gay pri, " to celebrate "Pri Week" through ma street paras ftooned wh drag queens, leather daddi, and dyk on bik, is such a pathetic reflectn of what we thk we should and shouldn’t be proud of as human begs that I’m aaid I jt n’t mter up the requise "gay pri" to feel this, I’ll be on the sil watchg the floats and all the pretty boys go by, marvelg and salivatg at the lurid excs that vigorate the very same stereotyp that we spend the rt of the year fightg agast.

The term “homosexualy, ” while sometim nsired anachronistic the current era, is the most applible and easily translatable term to e when askg this qutn across societi and languag and has been ed other cross-natnal studi, cludg the World Valu Survey. And Poland, supporters of the erng PiS (Law and Jtice), which has explicly targeted gay rights as anathema to tradnal Polish valu, are 23 percentage pots ls likely to say that homosexualy should be accepted by society than those who do not support the erng party. Now, we’ve only got about thirty years of studi to go on, so may yet turn out that when we reach the fortieth year, gay people turn to monsters and eat their children—but so far seems that gay parents are jt as pable of beg equally great or equally terrible moms and dads as the rt of .

A I unrstand their all, no matter how Christian I claim to be, if I tell a gay uple I do not believe they are tly married God’s sight, that feels like hatred to I tell a woman who intifi as a man that I still believe she is a woman, that feels like hatred to their perspective, I n unrstand how unchristian my posn seems, how bigoted, how biased, how all, they would be quick to pot out, there are gay parents who are more voted to their kids than some straight are transgenr men and women who are kd, gentle, rg are people all across the LGBT spectm who help the poor, who re for the opprsed, who love the lovels, who are outstandg boss or employe or iends or shouldn’t all of celebrate gay (or, LGBT) pri? The list was limed to towns wh at least 1, 700 hoeholds wh a marg of error unr many big ci like San Francis and New York have long been renowned for their thrivg gay culture, they’re jt so big that the number of same-sex upl ma up a smaller percentage of their total populatns.

10 COUNTRI THAT COMPLETELY HATE GAY PEOPLE

While don’t have s own LGBTQ center or annual ftival, the quiet astal town neighbors Rehoboth Beach, DE, which has both—along wh dozens of gay bars and the whole area has bee a top East Coast LGBTQ vatn statn, many folks who want to stay year-round prefer the lmer vibe, natural scenery, and better als hunters n sre this three-bedroom townhome wh a pool and fns center the muny for $394, 900.

The cy also received a perfect, 100-pot sre on the Human Rights Commissn’s Municipal Equaly Inx for five straight progrsive small town has a rich theater and mic muny, an annual pri ft, and LGBTQ+ muny center, and is home to the groundbreakg Ksey Instute for Rearch Sex, Genr, and lookg for a gay-iendly, Midwtern muny n sop up a remoled four-bedroom townhome for jt $117, 000. It turns out Brattleboro, about two hours northwt of Boston, is also a low-key gay mec the heart of ski ultraprogrsive cy is home to an LGBTQ center dited to the ral rints of northern New England, an annual LGBTQ film ftival, and equent men’s gathergs, workshops, and bt part may be the cy’s relatively expensive real tate.

WHY I'M NOT PROUD OF BEG GAY

“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. 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. 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+. 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.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY

TEN REASONS TO SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE

10 REASONS GAY MARRIAGE IS INEVABLE

5 REASONS IT’S GOOD TO BE GAY AND SGLE

WHY I DO NOT CELEBRATE GAY PRI

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