<p>this was a debate with my family after easter dinner and i wanted some other opinions! oh and explain why you think so</p>
<p>btw i think you are born that way</p>
<p>I don't know if it's genetic or enviromental, but I'm guessing there are tons of gay people who would rather be "normal" (quotation marks so I don't offend anyone) and fit in. So for those people, I have a hard time beliving it's a choice.</p>
<p>I think your born that way</p>
<p>This thread is a heated argument waiting to happen.</p>
<ul>
<li>another vote for genetically determined sexual orientation.</li>
</ul>
<p>I think it's just innately who you are. No one wakes up one day like "you know, I think I'd like to be gay". If anything people "discover" they are gay because they've repessed it to varying degrees because of society.</p>
<p>you're born that way. exactly like someone else said, if you could simply choose your sexual orientation, you would think lots of people who were "gay" would just "choose to become straight." I mean, beyond some people just trying to be different, what advantages does being gay have? Having a hard time getting married? Being discriminated against? Really... Also, those of you that whip out the bible, it's completely unfair for you to force decisions on someone based on standards that you take from a book that they don't [for the most part] believe in. Obviously that doesn't stop the majority of people. Also, oral and anal sex is against the bible in the same place it talks about gay sex so lets hope you haven't done either of those if you're a bible-wielding opponent of homosexuality.</p>
<p>i agree with the above opinions. yet i get really annoyed when people (especially teenagers) choose to exhibit homosexual behaviors because they think its cool (i can't tell how many chicks at my school have become "overnight bisexuals" in order to impress other guys)</p>
<p>I think its absurd when people use religion as an excuse to be bigoted against homosexuals. After all, according to THEIR OWN RELIGION, God made them the way they are supposed to be and loves them just the same. Also, in my personal opinion, the Bible is totally up for interpretation. After all it wasn't faxed down by God, it was written by MEN.</p>
<p>i am so glad this isnt just my school with the overnight lesbians/bisexuals. god it is sooo annoying!</p>
<p>also I think there is an important distinction between participating in homosexual behavior and actually being gay. I would sleep with another dude for a billion dollars. I'm not even close to being gay though; just because another chick makes out with another chick or whatever doesn't make them lesbian. That's just a call for attention or being sexy or whatever you want to call it. Those people that are religious fanatics but still gay that "change their orientation" are doing nothing more than suppressing their sexual desires and putting on a facade of being "straight." I'm sure someone could convince themselves that they will become straight or something and try to participate in only heterosexual behavior and avoid homosexual behavior; fact is that the homosexual tendencies are still down inside them somewhere.</p>
<p>Woah, jcrew, this is gonna sound wierd, but I thought you were a girl. I agree with your comment, too, by the way.</p>
<p>I read a study that suggested that sexual orientation isn't determined by genes (because otherwise there'd be no accounting for the sets of identical twins containing both gay and straight siblings) but by the combination of hormones received in the womb. I wish I could find a link, because it made a strong case for itself.</p>
<p>Of course, it'd be foolhardy to throw out environmental and developmental factors completely, but those are much more difficult to retrieve hard data on. The bottom line, though, is that sexual orientation is not a conscious decision made on anyone's part.</p>
<p>lol, this reminds me of obese people who blame their extra weight on genetics. </p>
<p>Maybe people just make their own choices throughout their lives? Sounds like a foreign concept...maybe it is genetics, either way I cba to argue, because then I'd have the gays and the overweight on my case.</p>
<p>^^ body weight and sexual orientation are not remotely comparable...</p>
<p>But at the end of the day who really cares? You?</p>
<p>I think it's a combination of your life experiences and genetics.</p>
<p>Life experiences would make the majority of the pie. I mean, if you were "genetically straight" and raised in a homophilic (gosh I hope that's a word) environment and given proper pushes, one would become at least bisexual. Same if you are "genetically homosexual"--if you were raised in an environment where there are lots of attractive people of the opposite gender and homosexuality is unheard of, it'd affect one in their decision.</p>
<p>I definitely do not think homosexuality is a choice. Like the argument has been made, I don't think anybody would actively choose to be homosexual, and deal with the discrimination and hate that so many people possess. Not to mention, in the cases of the gay people I've known, it's been very very apparent since they were little. An old friend of mine, for instance, is gay, and it's honestly been plain as day since as long as I've known her (since fifth grade), though she didn't come out until high school. </p>
<p>I don't know about you, but I personally haven't known any 10 year olds to decide, "Hey, I'm going to turn gay today."</p>
<p>I also think that homosexuality isn't a choice; it's something genetic. If you think about it, guys don't choose to be attracted to girls and vice versa. It just kind of happens. The same thing with homosexuality: guys can't help being attracted to other guys and same thing with girls.</p>
<p>I think that homosexuality is located on a gene that becomes dominant very rarely and randomly. That's the only possible, as there's way less gay people than straight people, and very often a gay person won't even have a case of homosexuality in his family's history.</p>