What if homosexuality is proved to be genetic?

Oy.

I honestly hope it’s not proven to be genetic. That’ll only lead to isolating the “gay gene”, and closed-minded parents-to-be will engineer their kids to make sure they’re not gay. Terrible.

@seazen : Read any good books lately?

Does it really matter?

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Isn’t every trait genetic to some point?

It’s not?

The whole point of saying being gay is a choice, no matter how illogical it is, is to take the blame of God and nature. Religious people want being gay to be a choice so they can chalk the sinful nature of being gay to personal wrong choices as opposed to something they can’t help or a “mistake” of God. It’s a matter of convenience.

If homosexuality were proven genetic, I do think it would cut down on discrimination, but I also think it could have a harmful effect as @Seelix said. People might be able to test to see if their child is going to be gay and then abort it or swap it out for a non-gay one. I can see all kinds of horrible things done in that case…

The really hardcore religious side of course may just disbelieve any scientific evidence that it’s genetic or continue to label it as a “mental disorder” and won’t care either way. But it would be nice to have an end to this whole “where does homosexuality come from?” debate/mystery. Any homosexual knows it’s not a choice, it’s not a matter of wondering if it’s a choice or genetic, but there’s still a question of the effect of environmental influence on sexuality.

I always found it bizarre that right-wing hardcore individualists had an issue with homosexuality even if it were a choice. One would think the right wing all for personal freedom would support the choice to be gay, since it is a personal freedom.

People are stupid.

@hawaii_jake Not on this stupidity topic, but I’m reading this

Well some of the things in the bible aren’t so strictly followed or cared about by Christians. What Lacy says.

Covenant with Noah from wiki:
In Genesis 9:8–17, God makes a covenant with Noah, Noah’s future descendants, and every living creature. God promises to never again destroy the earth by flood. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow. As, so to speak, the divine warrior, God is hanging God’s bow in the sky. When God sees the bow, God will remember the covenant between God and all living creatures. Now what does the word rainbow make you think of? Do you see where I’m going with that? God clearly promised to save the world by sending us homosexuals.

Ok seriously it occurs in nature, if it’s not genetic, it’s still natural. And as far as disproving everything that hardcore Christians stand for? I’m sure that’s been done before.

uh… if it’s not genetic it’s out of His hands? Kind of a weak premise.

Well the rainbow is a natural and Universal law and once the planet began to rain they saw rainbows. Homosexuals was not planned for it just is what it is and part of an less than perfect world. The natural and Universal laws govern this planet as it does all planets and the Universe itself.

I don’t believe it’s a choice and I don’t believe it is natural. As a Christian, I believe what is natural is what was created and since the Fall of man, the world has changed and has become unnatural. Homosexuality is just as unnatural as masterbating to pornography. They are both forms of lust and one is not more or less wrong than the other, although, culturally, one is more widely accepted.

Belief is just that and it is your own reality that you have created for yourself. Doesn’t make things wrong or right how about that it just is.

@Summum Did I make a claim of what is wrong or right?

We all make things right/wrong but I was not putting words in anyones mouth. Sorry if it seemed so because my answer was below yours. It is not my place to say anyone is right/wrong.

@Summum Ahh, my bad. I did not mean to put you on the defensive, I only thought you were refering to my statement. Now, I am really interested in your statement though. When you say “we all make things right/wrong” and that each persons beliefs create an individual reality for them, does this mean, IYO, there are no absolutes? I am only asking because I don’t think I have ever thought about right and wrong something created by each individual in a way I think you are implying.

You make it seem as if Christians are the only ones who would only be homophobic. Natural is what a person sees as normal for themselves or the general public.
In some cultures it is an accepted practice to suppress women. I happen to grow up in a culture where that is abnormal behavior.
What I’m getting at is that religion may play some part in acceptance or non acceptance of a behavior but in the end, it falls to each individual to decide for themselves as to what they are willing to accept as normal. In the countries where women are suppressed, it is the only life style they are aware of and so they accept this behavior as normal. Of course with computers, world wide views are being shared more.
But my point is that so long as people don’t see a certain behavior being normal for themselves they will always have a problem with accepting a different way of being. It has more to do with how alien a behavior is to yourself. So I doubt it matters what science proves.
Oh, I forgot to also mention that lust is natural and proven to be a chemical response made in our bodies and yet that too is forbidden. Religion doesn’t always give a pass to natural behavior.
Some men have been shown to have high testosterones and they still continue with the animal urges to have sex out of the marriage and yet that also doesn’t give them a free pass.
So like I mentioned, it probably won’t change a thing with religious views either.

As humans we always judge things. We make things right/wrong, true/false, should/shouldn’t and so forth. But these judgements have to do with many factors. I would say that if you are born inside the Muslim world there is a huge chance that you will be Muslim etc… The thing with that is this. How we view anyone is how we will act toward them. Past history is a huge part of this so many project their future ahead of time from the past and what story you made up about the subject. So then your past becomes your future. But one doesn’t have to do that. You cannot change nor fix the past is has come and gone. So put aside the past and create your own life how you want it to be. Now homosexuality is a choice because we do not have to go that route as is being straight.

@Pandora I agree that lust is a very natural response and that it is not a bad thing.

@Summum Very interesting thought. Thanks for expounding!

Well, I read an article about 5 or 6 years ago that pointed to a smaller pituitary gland having something to do with homosexuality. I believe they were doing a study on male twins. Apparently there is an increased rate of homosexuality in male twins. According to the article I read anyway.

Actually, homosexuality is a fairly new concept. Back in Biblical times, they didn’t really think of it as gay vs straight, you just screwed who you screwed. But there wasn’t this concept of “sexuality”.

For me it’s very simple: scientists have opened up, studied and learnt about the whole gender/sexuality issue to bits and have concluded that some people are simply homos. Secondly, as a believer in God; he made us in His image. He doesn’t make mistakes.

Homosexuals are people, too. Therefore, they didn’t choose to be that way any more than someone chooses to be short or tall. And make no mistake: God didn’t.

It doesn’t take a Simone or Downtide to know that limiting people to gay or not is simply stupid, and quite tedious. There is a whole spectrum, and, from my experience, those who limit themselves to thinking there is only one way or the highway, usually travel a very lonely, boring road.

@seazen : I’m glad to see you’re still reading. (I was only trying to change the subject from this insipid question.) I also think you said something quite profound. We don’t have to limit our thinking. That way is indeed very boring.

Precisely. Limit is the key word here: as soon as you do that, in any capacity, you are doing the opposite of what God intended. He said: go forth and think, man, think.

If you decide that there is something wrong with Homosexuals, then you have decided you know better than Him. Uh, wrong again.

Who’s to say God isn’t a transgender or a lesbian woman, for that matter. Seen Him (or Her), lately? Pics or it never happened.

@seazen Pics of tits?

I was confused enough as it it – what with your nickname and all. Now you mention the T word? I’m outta here.

I meant pics of God.

@jballs the OP wrote: Back in Biblical times, people didn’t know that homosexuality could have been genetic, and assumed it was a choice. And also saw it as a huge sin because God designed us to have sex and reproduce.

Hey hey, he has a window into the past and knows what people thought in biblical times. Calling Matt Browne: is this possible?

@seazen Screw pics of God, I want pics of tits.

@MyNewtBoobs here’s one.

[hehe]

I’m atheist and queer (in several ways) so I’m probably not your target audience. My suspicion is that it’s either genetic, or comes about as the result of something that happens hormonally during pregnancy. Anyway @seazen‘s already said it the best so far.

Thank you.

Haha, if its Genetic then it will die out.

@Odysseus I think you’ve just put forth a non sequitur. Which makes me not so sure you understand how genetics works. I know I don’t but… I think you’re thinking about heritable traits. Homosexuality couldn’t be propagated by homosexuals alone, obviously.

That’s like saying we descended from chimpanzees… No, we share a common ancestor. All humans are human, and on a side note we’re all African Apes. Homosexuals clearly aren’t a branch of humanity that will die out, from a phenotypic variance, that is doomed itself to end. Rather it’s something more primordial, inherent and prevalent.

Homosexuality is at the very least, a part of mammalian sexuality, not apart from it. Likewise homosexually is a part of human sexuality, not apart from it.

So… please tell me you were joking.

I don’t think science will ever go far enough to prove that homosexuality is genetic or not. They have found similar genes in homosexuals as well as in transgendered individuals (genes more similar to the opposite sex than to their own), but no one seems to care enough to even have that knowledge.

I come from a Christian family, not hardcore but you get my drift. I don’t go to church but I do believe in God, Heaven and Hell, and all that. I am all for gay rights, gay marriage, yay for gay, etc. As a heterosexual female, I can’t imagine what these people go through on a daily basis, being ridiculed and stereotyped, even beaten and killed because of who they are.

I honestly don’t see a difference in homosexuality being genetic or not, a choice or not, etc. I honestly think that it is the furthest thing from a choice imaginable (because young boys REALLY love all the attention they get while “pretending” to be gay…psht), but even if it was…so what? If Joe Schmo down the street likes to don leather and spank his female sex partners, no one cares. But if Joe’s sex partner was Johnny, then it’s suddenly an issue. I don’t understand where people get off judging how others have sex. If it doesn’t affect you, stay out of it.

But hey, people are stupid. Simple as that. The best we can all do is learn to ignore ignorant people and their comments and viewpoints.

It’s not genetic. Sexuality is aquired. Nobody is born staight, gay, or bi.

To add to my answer I must say that once aquired it is pretty much there. Nobody should be descriminated because of their sexual orientation. They are people with feeling just like the rest of us. What someone does with their partner is of no concern to me. Shouldn’t be the concern of anybody.

@Mikewlf337 How would you say it’s acquired? I feel like I was born this way, my first “sexual” (I use the term relatively loosely) experience was at 2 ½ playing house and doctor. I knew I liked the opposite sex very early on, and I know many people who would say the same thing about how they felt about their own sex at that young age. I’d be interested to hear you expand on the how you think it’s acquired. I think that the same is probably true for gender identity.

I’ve seen young girls and boys show that they are attracted to people, even much older adults. Not in the same sexual response as two adults mutually attracted to eachother would have, but still an emotional attraction to physical beauty, or handsomeness. I mean it’s completely innocent but it’s still seems like an orientation, to me at any rate.

@everephebe I just feel that the things that make me attracted to women is something that was aquired by experience in the formative years before puberty. My friend has a gay brother. There was no history of homosexuality in his family and that he used to play with dolls as a child. I don’t know if I am actually correct that it is aquired. I may be wrong. Maybe the homosexuals in his family where closet homosexuals and nobody knew. Wether it is genetic or not really isn’t important. Either way there is nothing one can do to change his/her sexuality. They more than likely do not want to change things about themselves. I look at the unique things that turn me on about women and I know that they were aquired. Of course the things that got me into womens feet were not sexual during my childhood but they certainly were a sign that I will grow up to have a foot fetish. Of course the women who use to playfully rub my belly with their feet did not know that. They thought of it as innocent play. That is why I think all sexuality is aquired. Maybe I should have said that I think that sexuality is aquired. I’m not a professional of the human brain. The genetic theory does make sense. There are children who grow up with heterosexual relationships all around them and some of them turn out to be homosexuals. I get mad when Christians say that all homosexuals will go to hell because they forget the “judge not lest thee be judged yourself” verse. Nobody makes that decision except for God. Just my way of thinking I guess.

See, I don’t think a gay parent would produce a gay child. Gay wouldn’t equal gay, genetically speaking.

I don’t think being gay is like being blue eyed, having a widow’s peak, cleft-chin or being left or right handed… I think it would be the genetic possibility, in everyone=the whole human gene pool, to have a genetic sexual predisposition “assigned” to them because of certain triggers or environmental factors or hormones or… god knows what. But it wouldn’t be a mistake in genetic coding, a disease, or a heritable characteristic. Just a random chance, based on a currently unknown factor, that is built in to our genetic code to help balance nature. But hey, I don’t know. It’s quite possible that it is acquired somehow in the first two or three years or even later. Usually, in the argument of nature vs. nurture, both play a role.

You’re absolutely correct, I think “judge not lest thee be judged yourself” is one of the most apt thoughts to cover the way Christians, and indeed all people should think about these kinds of topics. It can’t be a conscious choice. I think that fetishism certainly arises out of early development. Something that we relate to our own sexual feelings. It’s a form of connection. Two things bring deeper meaning to eachother, for some reason. I think that, that is acquired. But you could be accurate in saying the whole tamale, is acquired.

@everephebe I agree that I was not accurate with my original answer.

My opinion is that it is not genetics at all because if it became a standard the species would not survive. It takes a man and a women to procreate another being and if we were attracted to the same sex then the species would die out.

@Summum What about genetic mutations?

You mean like me?

It would help end discrimination.

Research is still inconclusive, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation

Any funding for genetic engineering, gene mapping etc. would be opposed with a fierceness of the troops storming Omaha beach.