Sexual orientation is innate....
Jonathan Kay has a terrific op-ed in the National Post today on being gay....
It's worth pointing out, at this point, that no one knows for sure what causes homosexuality. There is no known "gay gene." According to the American Psychological Association (APA), rather, "most scientists today agree that sexual orientation is most likely the result of a complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors." But whatever the cause, sexual orientation becomes part of one's identity no less than skin colour or sex. (The APA has declared that sexual orientation is "not changeable.") Not surprisingly, the "ex-gay" men who find Christ and declare themselves "cured" of homosexuality usually wind up not so "ex" in the long run. As others have noted, the truest test of a person's claimed belief that a gay man can be turned straight is whether he would let such a convert marry his own daughter. (If there's a reader out there who can pass that test, I'd like to hear from him. I'm talking to you, Dexter38.)I totally agree. I knew early on that I was 'different'. High school was a torment since my friends just couldn't stop talking about girls, and I just had no interest. It was a very lonely time since I had no one to talk to. And, there was no support structure back in the 70s for gay people. A gay society only started at Concordia University in my last year there.
All this should be fairly obvious to anyone who grew up with even a few gay acquaintances. I did have one university friend who, after a bad breakup with a lothario boyfriend, tried to turn lesbian as a political statement. (Surprise, surprise: It's didn't last.) But the gay men I know typically acknowledged their homosexuality reluctantly, and only after years of guilt, confusion and social terror in their high-school years. The idea that these specimens "turned gay" voluntarily -- or that they could reverse their God-given lust thrusters 180 degrees as a matter of conscious will--is laughable.
I say all this not to make fun of religious types. But speaking selfishly as a secularized conservative, I do find their line of free-will argumentation slightly embarrassing. It furthers the unfortunate stereotype of conservatives as being out-of-touch with anyone outside society's mainstream (narrowly defined). It also bespeaks a mindset that privileges dogma above empirical observation, an accusation usually reserved for the left.
In some cases, culture wars have clear winners. That's what's happened with homosexuality: The love that dared not speak its name a half-century ago has now been normalized to the point of banality. Conservatives should concede liberals this victory and move on. Advancing dubious theories of homosexuality's origins may help Christians keep their faith in God's existence. But on the political stage, the tactic merely undermines the right's credibility.
Homosexuality is innate and it cannot be changed. I hope more social conservatives will hear Jonathan Kay's message.
posted by GayandRight @ 10:18 AM
4 Comments:
Ted Haggard should be proof enough that Homosexuality is part of the human condition.
but through bisexuality into the mix & where r u. i think that for the sake of group cohesion things have been thrown into a black & white , u r or u r not mold. from the diversity i have seen , common sense seems to say that sexuality is a continuom and that gay and straight r a lil naive terms. everyone is sexual beings and we all have preferences, some very strong preferences maybe 98%, 92% on one side of the continuom . sure i love girls but i can appreciate a few men like johnny depp. or sure i love boys but an exception that proves the rule is i would't rule out angelina jolie .and then there are many more that r closer to the middle. & people r becoming more open to being sexual beings and loving who we happen to love or be attracted to. rather sometimes unconsciously self limiting to half the human race because of fear of not being on a side. sure the majority of us are mainly on one side and will choose that side in life but we may experiment a bit when younger to find who we are. it is not so hard wired in most that it excludes some younf curiousity. also a groing number of people with socital change are becoming open to people and not just gender.
reading logic of life by tim harford an economist who shows when someone knows someone with aids it changes one's sexual behaviour in some cases ( this is shown via quite credible statistics), to the point that there is a change in gender preference in some . also a change in sexual activity. so young people in the risk reward ratio have sex but oral instead because less risky. some males switch to female partners and some females switch to female partners as well. here do to a tangible felt risk behaviour changes and sex changes which to me implies a continuom where all people fall between gay and straight. some 99% gay some 57%, some 98% straight some 63%. no one is 100% anything because we are humans and nothing is ever that black and white.
thanks
don't hate
celebrate
I agree with you about the continuum, anony, which also makes me think there is something in the early developmental stages in-utero that determines sexual orientation rather than being in the genes.
hi. just wanted to say great site! I am so sick of stereotypes of what a conservative 'should' be,personally I always use churchills adage
'if you're not liberal in your youth,you have no heart.
if you're not conservative by your 30's, you have no brain.'
anyways...much luck and yes many of us 'evil right wingers' support your right to marry,pursuit of happiness and all that,right?
shelley leibowicz
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