Homosexuality - choice or not

<p>well someone mentioned that only religious ppl think its a choice. Well i am a very strong atheist and i believe that being gay is much of choice/ how you are raised.</p>

<p>^ Interesting, I consider myself a rather devout Roman Catholic and believe that homosexuality is innate; that one isn't born hetero, then after one strange college night of experimenting, ends up gay. </p>

<p>You could be gay, but not know it (like, you just never experimented, and the society you grew up in leans you towards heterosexuality, so you never consider that you are actually gay). That made more sense in my head, but whatever.</p>

<p>"Post 12</p>

<p>Hmm. Do I smell contradiction?!"</p>

<p>Post 21</p>

<p>On the contrary, that makes perfect sense. Just because you are attracted to a gender doesn't mean you have to sleep with it - that is an action you can control.</p>

<p>For example, if a heterosexual male is attracted to females, that doesn't mean he HAS to sleep with females. Maybe he wants to lead a celibate life as a monk or something. He may have a hard time repressing his urges, sure, but at the end of the day, except in cases of rape and other coercive scenarios, sleeping with someone is a physical action and you can refrain from taking that action with enough self-control.</p>

<p>Now, I don't know WHY it would be a good idea to do this, but who is counting.</p>

<p>Does it matter? Let them do what they want. I don't tell you how to live your life :rolleyes:</p>

<p>In response to post 21. I am sorry for any confusion. I should have made it clear that this is the same for heterosexuals
.</p>

<p>I can't believe a milli keeps starting these threads knowing she has a firmly established belief and is only looking to push it on others.</p>

<p>I've worked with Shamans who were able to remove homosexual energy from people - left over from past lives or implanted in this life when they were young. </p>

<p>So, the answer is that it's both natural and conditioned within the context of this individual life.</p>

<p>The solution is to allow people to live out the life they came here to live. We are all evolving souls that came here to experience certain realities. It is not up to government or religion to tell people their expression is wrong.</p>

<p>Of course, if you want a bunch of little boys molested, then by all means suppress sexual desire. It worked really well for the Catholics and has created a culture of promiscuity in many homosexual communities because of the oppression.</p>

<p>You reap what you sew, creating the very culture you seek to suppress because you desire to inhibit free will in others due to your belief that you know what is best for them. (I use you generally, not targeted at anyone).</p>

<p>
[quote]
Of course, if you want a bunch of little boys molested, then by all means suppress sexual desire. It worked really well for the Catholics

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This implies a correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia, which is not only false but pretty offensive. I don't know if it was meant as such but regardless... it's offensive.</p>

<p>No, I didn't mean that at all. I just meant sexual suppression in general.</p>

<p>I'm the last person who would make that correlation. </p>

<p>Sorry.</p>

<p>That's okay. :) It's just that I'm Catholic and so I get a little defensive about the whole priest sexual abuse scandal... not in a defending the priests way, in a defending the religion kinda way...</p>

<p>I find it funny how people are against attraction towards people who are young, but nothing with homosexuality. </p>

<p>I think homosexuality is a choice, or at least can be changed. and I do not belong to any religion, though I guess I do believe that a god exists. but I really dont' care if god exists or not so, yeah.</p>

<p>
[quote]

I've worked with Shamans who were able to remove homosexual energy from people - left over from past lives or implanted in this life when they were young.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>you actually believe people are gay because of a magical spirit-energy that follows them around when their souls are reincarnated</p>

<p>do you believe in fairies too</p>

<p>
[quote]

you actually believe people are gay because of a magical spirit-energy that follows them around when their souls are reincarnated</p>

<p>do you believe in fairies too

[/quote]

Not necessarily worse than Christianity, but that is for another thread (which you have already started).</p>

<p>
[quote]

I think homosexuality is a choice, or at least can be changed.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Homosexuality is definitely NOT a choice. With all the abuse they receive and the rights they're denied, what heterosexual would willingly decide to become homosexual? That's like saying that you, as a man, chose to like women, or as a woman chose to like men. Just as we heterosexuals have the innate attraction toward the opposite sex, so too do homosexuals have an innate attraction toward their own sex.</p>

<p>
[quote]
you actually believe people are gay because of a magical spirit-energy that follows them around when their souls are reincarnated</p>

<p>do you believe in fairies too

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If you are going to start these threads, I am going to ask that you carry yourself with a higher degree of maturity and respect. If you are truly seeking answers, then consider the experiences of others, test their ideas, and accept or dismiss them based on experiential evidence, not your existing belief structure. If you only seek to use this forum to spout your judgment, then please stop participating. </p>

<p>What I spoke of is not a "belief". It stems from years of interaction with Shaman and exploration on the frontiers of science and spirituality. It is not a "magical spirit-energy", as you so dismissively suggest. It is simply an energy field that exists on the quantum level. When you understand the basics of quantum mechanics, you understand that life is far more infinite than our scientific and religious dogma allow. There are vast universes at work simultaneously. The illusion and "belief" is what we perceive within time and space.</p>

<p>Just because science has not yet figured things out doesn't mean it's all "magic" that can be laughed away. As yourself "What works?" and test ideas against that litmus.</p>

<p>It is not a choice. </p>

<p>And even if it were, those on here who are talking about "converting" or "changing" homosexuals so that they fit into their paradigm of what is a "normal" human is insinuating that being attracted to the same gender is wrong. Homosexuality is documented in every known species of animal, and is natural. </p>

<p>And for straight people, do you wake up one morning and just decided "Hey, I think I'm going to like the opposite gender today"? No, obviously not. It was just something you were born with. Liking the same gender happens in the exact same way. </p>

<p>And again for straight people, can you honestly say you've never been attracted to someone of the same gender? Women, can you honestly say that you've never looked at a female model or a woman in a poster and not thought she was beautiful and been attracted to her? Not many of you can. That is a homosexual tendency. Does that mean that you want to go and have a relationship with her? No, but it does show that there is a tendency in most of us to be attracted to both genders. </p>

<p>And it is really primarily only in Judeo-Christian and Muslim cultures that homosexuality is even considered bad. In ancient Greece, love between 2 men was considered the most pure love. In many pre-Colonial African cultures, men and women generally only are with each other to reproduce but their "romantic" relationships are more often with the same gender.</p>

<p>
[quote]
In ancient Greece, love between 2 men was considered the most pure love.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I had an older guy try to use that as a pickup line on me. Something about older warriors passing wisdom down to younger ones. I don't think he was talking about a tutorial at the library, but I gave him props for incorporating historical context.</p>

<p>Anyway, good post.</p>

<p>Post 20-

[quote]
"Being attracted to members of the same sex is not a choice. Having sex with members of the same sex is a choice."</p>

<p>Post 12</p>

<p>Hmm. Do I smell contradiction?!

[/quote]

Not at all.
To feel hungry is not a choice. It's human.<br>
BUT, you have a choice between eating a guacamole chicken salad or a burger from McDonald's.</p>

<p>i don't understand the basics of "quantum mechanics"... please explain??</p>

<p>
[quote]
What I spoke of is not a "belief". It stems from years of interaction with Shaman and exploration on the frontiers of science and spirituality. It is not a "magical spirit-energy", as you so dismissively suggest. It is simply an energy field that exists on the quantum level. When you understand the basics of quantum mechanics, you understand that life is far more infinite than our scientific and religious dogma allow. There are vast universes at work simultaneously. The illusion and "belief" is what we perceive within time and space.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Please appreciate that whether or not one dismisses this text, there are "reasonable grounds" on which to doubt the veracity and reliability of its claims.</p>

<p>/offtopic</p>

<p>
[quote]
Homosexuality is definitely NOT a choice. With all the abuse they receive and the rights they're denied, what heterosexual would willingly decide to become homosexual?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Great point. If homosexuality was a choice, then why do not all the gays simply "choose" to become heterosexual? It'd make everything much easier for them.</p>