I've known I was gay since I was 6, but I still think it's more complicated than just psychological or just genetic. Some people's sexualities change when they're in their 40s, and some spend their whole lives trying to change it and never can.

this is a interesting question. i myself have no idea. and sence its never been proven one way or the other i dont want to make a statement come to find out that it was wrong.

but when ever i think about my own situation i cant help but to believe that i was born this way. like everyone else i didnt really have an interest in sex until puberty. But i can clearly remember seeing a naked women for the first time and it not have the same effect as when i saw a naked man.

Growing up i spent equal amount of time with my mom and sister as i did with my dad and brother. so i dont think im gay because i grew up with a more feminine influence. Infact i had a frind in High School who grew up w/o a dad and wish 6 sisters and his mom and he is straighter then anyone i know lol.

maybe one day we will know the answere. but if i had to guess i would say i was born gay.

I certainly believe it is more a case or nature rather than nurture. I don't pretend to know what makes you bi or gay, but I firmly believe it is not a choice. If it were don't to nurture, all siblings would have the same sexuality, asuming they were treated equally by their families. I have 3 brothers, but I'm the only one who is bi or gay.

Another poster felt it was a choice because even if you were born gay, you could renounce it and choose not to live a gay life. To my mind this is merely abstinence, like a priest taking a vow of celibacy - you are not changing your sexuality, you are still gay.

Steely Dan wrote:

QUOTE:
I've known I was gay since I was 6, but I still think it's more complicated than just psychological or just genetic. Some people's sexualities change when they're in their 40s, and some spend their whole lives trying to change it and never can.

Do you think they have changed their sexuality in their 40's or have just repressed it because they could not come to terms with it? Preasure to confirm is very strong, especially in past times. Its not uncommon for gay or bi men to have felt presured into marriage as young men. Soon they find themselves with families. They only feel they are able to be their true selves letter in life when they are more confident - and they feel they have forefilled their duties once the kids have grown up.

typical nature vs. nurture question deserves a typical answer.

a bit of both .

some may be pre-disposed as in higher certain hormonal levels.

there has been a correlation b/w high estrogen amounts in the mom at the time of pregnancy and homosexuality.

as well,

sociological aspects can arise from family dynamic.

the typical mommas boy syndrome

absent father or non dominate father role in the upbringing.

there are some pretty convincing concepts provided by psychologists like Freud.

my favorite is that homosexuality is acceptance of the female role and the attraction of same sex stems from a desire to want to be them. in a sense they are objects of obsession in which our sexual desire is tied with a desire to want to be like them (masculinity) .

all of this in mind,

it is well to say that as humans we tend to want to categorize everything and in truth nothing falls so neatly into them.

it is probable there are vindicated "straights" that still have same sex attractions.

as is there are gays who still swing the other way.

Mark42 wrote:

QUOTE:
I think it depends on the individual. Some people are probably born gay because of genetics, and some people are probably gay because of environmental reasons when they were growing up.

For me, I don't think I was born gay, because I remember being attracted to girls when I was younger. I only became attracted to guys when I was like 13 (puberty?). I know it sounds ridiculous, but I think my gayness can be attributed to the fact that I've been going to an all boys school basically my whole life. Without girls around for so many years, I probably just got used to seeing guys, and hence became attracted to them. I'm probably way off though.

Another theory is that everyone is born bi, and their sexuality develops as they grow up. I don't really think that one's true though because if it were there should probably be a lot more gay ppl.

^This. I've always believed that we are born essentially with no sexuality, which develops at puberty because of environmental variables and circumstance.

Like everything, really, happens for a reason - in my belief.

i personally think that people are either born gay or straight. u would think that in a world that for the time being ne way looks down on gay people and there is such hate for the gay community, why would anyone want to choose that over the normal get married, have kids, retire, die happy. there were times in my life that i wished and prayed that i would be attracted to girls but it never happened. if it is a choice for me, why cannot i not be with girls when my concious mind wanted to be with them. sure some might have called it denial and being scared, but i truly wanted to have a family when i grew up. being able to have kids of your own to me is what life is about. being gay makes this kind of difficult when a woman doesn't even get my dick hard, let alone have sex with her and get her pregnant. how is it that a family of 10, only has one sibling that is gay, or has come out for being gay but the other 9 claimed they were straight. what special event happened to that 1 child that made him want to be gay. but on the other hand how is it a family of 6 siblings are all gay, both boys and girls. were they raised gay? or were they all born gay?

is there a gay gene passed on by a parent that makes a child gay? not sure but it is a personally choice and im not sure if they will ever figure out what causes someone to be gay because i think the answer would scare to many people.

Well, I have a lot of personal opinions on homosexuality, so I'm going to source my opinion from another post that I posted on a different forum.


You may all know by now, but I am also a homosexual. Being a very philosophical and hypothetical person, who often theorizes things that puzzle until I come up with a solution that I am satisfied with, I have created many theories to which, I consider very accurate.

Okay, now for my theories on homosexuality. A few people sometimes bring the animal argument into homosexuality. "How can homosexuality be natural when animals are also God's creations, yet they are all straight?" To this, I'd like to say 'Wrong'. There have been animals that are bisexual, but more to the point, animal's brains are not as complexly developed as our own. Their drive is more on instinct, such as assemble food for the colony... reproduce with the queen... survival 101... etc. Animals experiences just help, for example, something bad happens once, they'll refrain from doing it again, the electric muffin experiment. But humans evolved past the instinct point, and everybody is different. Humans interpret experiences into emotions in the same unique way as a fingerprint. Because of this, people have different desires and cravings, and to some of you, who completely gave it to the point of gay SEX, mostly it's a physical and emotional desire, not a sexual one! I do not consider sex yet, I'm a complete virgin, and all I think about in a guy is somebody whose personality I like, somebody who I'm not embarrassed to spend time with, and somebody who will love me for who I am. Is this too far from the heterosexual example? I think not.

Also, the theory I hold on homosexuality, you may or may not approve of it. No-one is born as a homosexual. We are all born with an ability to become attracted to the same gender. Although, this does not occur for most people. It requires a trigger, and that trigger differs for each person, it could just become a realization one morning that you don't like the opposite gender, or in my personal experience, it was a heavy debate in my head for a lengthy time, until I myself was ready to admit who I was, and what I liked. At one point, I considered myself bisexual, because I thought it sounded better, and I wanted to have a kid in the future, being the heir to both families (the sole male of both families in my line including my cousins). But eventually after accepting bisexuality, you venture more into the topic, and I discovered I was a homosexual. I have been asked before, "If you could be straight and avoid the prejudice and homophobic comments, would you?" This is an interesting question, and the response differs from person to person. My answer is, "No, I wouldn't." I am completely happy with who I am, and the emotional desire to be with a guy makes me happier than anything, and I would not be straight for the world. It's not going to be any different to what somebody thinks of me just because of my sexual preference, I'm oblivious to what others think (badly) of me anyway.

Anyway, I might have forgotten some other things that I think of, but I've presented my major opinion, and now that it's out of the way, feel free to call me an idiot or whatever ;D

don't ask! seriously!

until the world is ok with people being gay its best to stay away from this topic - because questions give birth to studies and then they will look for a gay gene and then some ruddy twat will make that gene dissappear.

and then it will all turn into a holocaust-like-mission to eradicate the gene.

and ofcourse more of the world is homophobic than accepting atm so it could all happen!

so if you didn't guess i think your born gay.
but sssshhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

To the above poster, they already ARE looking for a gay gene.

And have I already contributed to this thread?
Anyways, you are born gay.
Anyone know John Barrowman?
He's a gay actor and he did a program, doing tests to find out why he was gay.
On it, it claimed that gay men have brain patterns similar to straight females. I mean, if you want to go with choice, how can we choose brain patterns?
It also stated that tests show, the more brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay, proven by statistics showing a high amount of gay men had many older brothers.
The explanation behind this was that when developing in the womb, if you get a lack of male hormones you can develop female characteristics such as the attraction to males, as most females are attracted to males.
The older brother effect is because, the womb tries to develop an immunity against the male hormones, so everytime a male is developing, the womb becomes more immune if you will, against the male hormones.
This makes sense, because it's a female's body, and the male hormones are alien and not supposed to be there and the female body does not want them to be there.
I think I got that right?
Enjoy reading

P.S. I read on yahoo answers a few months back about scientists saying if they found a gay gene they will try to eliminate it. Uhmm no thanks! I love being gay
Isn't a bloody disease which you have the right to take away.