The Gay Gene?

The discussion in the Gay Bishops thread had me wondering about the question of homosexuality. Is it natural or not? Are people born gay or choose to be gay? If homosexuality naturally occurs in nature is it a normal tendency or an abnormal tendency that needs to be cured. While most modern scientists tend to agree that homosexuality is a natural and normal occurrence, there is dispute on the scientific explanation for homosexuality. What do you feel is the cause for homosexuality?

Hormonal Theory: This theory states that exposure to hormones like estrogen and testosterone during prenatal development determines sexuality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_hormones_and_sexual_or ientation

Pathogenic Theory: This theory states that homosexuality is a flaw and disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogenic_theory_of_homosexual ity

Psychological Theory: This states that homosexuality is caused by psychological effects in the persons development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_psychology

Innate Bisexuality: This theory states that all humans are within a spectrum of bisexuality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innate_bisexuality

Biology and sexual orientation: This article summarizes and states the various theories of sexual orientation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation

I also want to add "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not classify homosexuality as a disease, and the American Psychological Association affirms that it is not. These assertions, however, seem to mainly consider the ability of a person to function as a happy, healthy member of society, not any particular theory about the determinants of sexual orientation."

81 words that changed the world - How the American Psychiatric association changed the definition of sexual deviance in 1973 and stated that homosexuality was no longer a disaese or psychological disorder.
http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/07/81_words_tha t_c.html

Originally posted by: return_to_hades

The discussion in the Gay Bishops thread had me wondering about the question of homosexuality. 
Is this the first can of worms you opened so far?  😆

Is it natural or not?
very natural and evolutionary conserved as a rare event

Are people born gay or choose to be gay? I
some are and some choose to be, hence the debate

If homosexuality naturally occurs in nature is it a normal tendency or an abnormal tendency that needs to be cured.
normal tendency and need not be cured

While most modern scientists tend to agree that homosexuality is a natural and normal occurrence, there is dispute on the scientific explanation for homosexuality. What do you feel is the cause for homosexuality?
multiple causative factors including hormonal regulation, regulation of gene expression / silencing, gene variants, environmental factors etc..

Good article in webMD (for laymen) about gay genes :)
http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20050128/is-ther e-gay-gene

Hormonal Theory: This theory states that exposure to hormones like estrogen and testosterone during prenatal development determines sexuality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_hormones_and_sexual_or ientation

more research is essential to support the theory

Pathogenic Theory: This theory states that homosexuality is a flaw and disease http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogenic_theory_of_homosexual ity
baseless 

Psychological Theory: This states that homosexuality is caused by psychological effects in the persons development.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_psychology
again, not to be accepted as the sole contributor, but its involvement cannot be denied and requires further study

Innate Bisexuality: This theory states that all humans are within a spectrum of bisexuality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innate_bisexuality
natural

Biology and sexual orientation: This article summarizes and states the various theories of sexual orientation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation
How the American Psychiatric association changed the definition of sexual deviance in 1973 and stated that homosexuality was no longer a disaese or psychological disorder.
http://www.exgaywatch.com/blog/archives/2005/07/81_words_tha t_c.html
Good!! 

Well in my opinion (IMO) one isn't born gay or straight. At birth we're all probably asexual because children aren't sexual beings. As we grow, our feelings lean more towards one gender (homosexual or heterosexual), both genders (bisexual) everyone regardless of gender or gender identity (pansexual) or remain with no feelings of sexual desire(asexual).

IMO, one's sexuality isn't something one is born with but it's not a choice either. I don't think it's just one thing that contributes to a persons sexual orientation, there are multitudes of contributing factors and it's not just the biological. Studies have yet to prove that sexuality is something one is born with, though they have chucked the idea that it can be a choice. What we're left with is that the majority of the population develop feelings in varying degrees towards both genders while some are right in the middle with equal interest for both genders, thus choice is possible for this part of the population but not for everyone as there are also those who have inclination towards only one gender.

It's a normal part of human development and is completely natural thus no need for a "cure". There, also, doesn't need to be an explanation for being gay as there isn't one for being straight.

They've found some associations however if I am not wrong they haven't able to say , that presence or absence of certain gene is responsible for this .

If we say it is due to overall complex influence of certain factors .Then it is true for several other behavioural problems which are clearly not acceptable and for them we certainly try to find some kind of treatment etc.

Before saying it Normal , we still need to define what actually normal is? 😊

I don't have any problem with them , cause they are most of the time harm less to society in general. However to call them normal is so far beyond my understanding .

Originally posted by: Morning_Dew

They've found some associations however if I am not wrong they haven't able to say , that presence or absence of certain gene is responsible for this . [/quote]
That's only a theory and it's yet to be proven. The basis of this study, also, isn't to define what cause's one to be gay, it's to determine how an individuals sexual orientation comes about (whether they're homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, pansexual or asexual). ~info from wikipedia


I don't quite understand what you're getting at here. Can you please elaborate?


Normal has varying definitions, considering society's norms and natures norms are two different things.
The 2007 Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines normal as:
"1: perpendicular; especially : perpendicular to a tangent at a point of tangency 2 a: according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle b: conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern3: occurring naturally <normal immunity>4 a: of, relating to, or characterized by average intelligence or development b: free from mental disorder : sane"

Homosexual, along with heterosexual tendencies has occurred and continues to occur in most if not all animals including humans. Human homosexuality has been recorded since as far back as we can go and just recently (about 100-200 years ago) it has become taboo or unacceptable according to society.
Given all of that, sexual attraction to those of the same gender seems to be "normal" in nature but abnormal according to society in this time and place.


Looking at the word "normal" in the non-standard/non-traditional sense one needs to ask (given the dictionary's definition):

    What it is that one thinks is wrong with being gay?
    Do/should they, homosexuals, need to be fixed? If so, why?
    What makes them so abnormal that they're not normal?

If there isn't an answer to the above questions (other then nothing or no) then it seems that homosexuality is as normal as heterosexuality.


Edited by *Jane* - 16 years ago

there is nothing like "gay" except in research labs where the scientists are wasting time finding them in mice and weasels...

All people are straight or they are hermaprhodites based on hormones......and all edgy cases lead to the latter

Originally posted by: qwertyesque

there is nothing like "gay" except in research labs where the scientists are wasting time finding them in mice and weasels...

All people are straight or they are hermaprhodites based on hormones......and all edgy cases lead to the latter

Do you mean to say that everyone is straight (in the terms that they're attracted towards only the opposite gender) and that those who are attracted to the same gender have hormonal imbalances, making them part female part male?

That's what I got from this. And if that is so, how are you so sure that it's the "hermaphrodites" (which from your post, I understand, conveys LGBT's) who have the hormonal imbalance and not the straight people? I could very well assert that pansexuality is the "norm" because it allows for attraction to all genders and gender-identities thus making it the more sensible  choice to be considered the "norm".

Also, In Biology and Physiology, hermaphrodites are considered to be those who have physical appearance of both male and female, generally that would be just the genitalia. Those with attraction to the same gender cannot be defined with this term as the majority of them do not have physical characteristics of both genders.
Even if we were to look at this in the sense that it could be applied to those with leanings of the opposite gender we'll need to first define what constitutes as  the "normal" behavioral pattern for females and males? Are we accurate in these translations? How can we find out? Is there even a way to find out?

LGBT ~ Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans-gender (just in case you didn't know)😊

I have always been of the opinion that all humans are bisexual. There is a spectrum of absolute straightness to absolute gayness. No one is absolutely straight or absolutely gay, they just fall somewhere on the spectrum. Just like body type, hair color, and other features have a genetic spectrum, I feel sexuality has one too.

Straight people just tend to be closer to the absolute straight end, gay people to the absolute gay end. Bisexuals just scattered in between. In my opinion all people experience a same sex crush/attraction of some sort throughout their life. It is not always explicitly sexual but an attraction of some sorts. People do not pay heed to it because society has molded us into a gay/straight mindset.

If we were born in Ancient Greece our perception would be very different altogether.

Originally posted by: Morning_Dew

It is not "only" theory .. they are actually doing work on it .. I am not very fond of wikipedia but anyways some links related to this

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18074215?ordinalpos=2&a mp; ;itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel .Pubm ed_RVDocSum

and Cutes has already given this link

http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20050128/is-ther e-gay-gene

[/quote]
Exactly, they're doing work on it thus it's not proven, making it a theory or hypothesis if you don't like the term "theory" (with it's multiple meanings). Either way it hasn't been proven. Also, again, they're not looking for a "gay gene" they're looking for what causes the difference in sexual-orientation i.e.what makes a person straight/gay/bi. Even your sources informs me of that. The research doesn't assume that heterosexuality is superior.

Originally posted by: *Jane*

Do you mean to say that everyone is straight (in the terms that they're attracted towards only the opposite gender) and that those who are attracted to the same gender have hormonal imbalances, making them part female part male?

That's what I got from this. And if that is so, how are you so sure that it's the "hermaphrodites" (which from your post, I understand, conveys LGBT's) who have the hormonal imbalance and not the straight people? I could very well assert that pansexuality is the "norm" sure where does this norm come from?because it allows for attraction to all genders and gender-identities thus making it the more sensible  choice to be considered the "norm".

Also, In Biology and Physiology, hermaphrodites are considered to be those who have physical appearance of both male and female, generally that would be just the genitalia. Those with attraction to the same gender cannot be defined with this term as the majority of them do not have physical characteristics of both genders.but there is nothing beyond physical and mental characteristic...
Even if we were to look at this in the sense that it could be applied to those with leanings of the opposite gender we'll need to first define what constitutes as  the "normal" behavioral pattern for females and males? Are we accurate in these translations? How can we find out? Is there even a way to find out?

LGBT ~ Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans-gender (just in case you didn't know)😊 whatever you call it they are all perversions of a wilful mind and not medically compelling cases...😊