Are people born gay?

I haven't been on for awhile, so I don't know if someone already posted something like this. But does everyone here think people are born gay. I know most gay people beleive that they are born that way, but I have a bi-sexual friend who believes that it is just a choice. What does everyone else think?

Yes i choose to be gay so i can be called a fag or lose have of my friends!!

[pirateninja]

I've been gay all my life. No doubt aboot it. When I was four years old, I remember imagining that I would grow up to marry a female friend.

It's not that my mom didn't care aboot me and I'm trying to fill a void, it's not because my dad pressured me to like football with him, it's not because I chose it, I just am.

I don't know to be honest. One the one hand it seems obvious that no one would pick a life of discrimination. But on the other hand I don't think it's directly inborn. I think it's a combination of certain inborn things and environmental factors.

Yeah I don't know sometimes either. I've known for awhile, but at the same time I don't. Is it the influence of everything? I know that I like guys, but was I born like that? Sigh....

I think some people are born gay, and it develops in others. I don't understand why someone would choose to be gay though. It definitely is not a choice for me.

[Miles D]

I believe that it's in my DNA (Avenue Q? )
I really doubt it's something environmental or developmental, or something that can be controlled.

like, some people are good at math, some people are gay... can't really know until you know....

[Wander]

I've been gay for as long as I can remember, and I never made a choice to be this way. I don't think anyone knows it better than a real gay person. If there is a person out there who claims that they made a choice to be gay, I doubt that they really are.

[Ben]

I suppose we won't know the answer to this question until the answer is found and proven.

Sexual desire is natural and is experienced by all humans, so it's part of how we are born. And if we're born with sexual desire coded within us, aren't we born with the gender we are sexualy attracted to coded within us too? And if it is the environment and hormones which develop this sexual desire to be of a particular gender, then the environment would be a cause for heterosexuality as well as bisexuality and homosexuality.

I think that we are born with our sexuality already determined because it makes a lot more sense. If sexuality is purely environment then why are my brothers straight when we got the same upbringing? Why is being gay found in all cultures? What is the thing that makes us gay?

I think most likely it is a complex tapestry of different factors (environment, genetic, hormonal etc.) rather than a black and white 'cause' of being gay.
Though I disagree whenever I hear the word 'choice'. None of us made a conscious choice when we were young to put ourself into a minority and suddenly to like members of the same sex, especially when many of us were bombarded with "That's not natural", "You'd better not turn out like that" and other ignorant comments from family.

[ArcaneVerse]

Your not alone in wondering if it was a choice, environmental\influenced or a choice. I think everyone has gone through those same thoughts at sometime in there accepting themselves faze and you will find that people come to different conclusions. Most will be born that way, others will say it was environmental factors, a few will say its a choice and then sometimes it can be a mix of all three. either way people shouldn't judge anyone else for who they are.

[SpacerX]

You never hear too much about straight people having to choose their sexuality; it's not really a choice for them. My sexuality was not a choice, and I'm sure for many more people it wasn't either.

I think it is predetermined to an extent, but not so far as on a genetic level. Could hormone ratios be another factor?

[Geist]

All too often people who hear someone say that gay people aren't born that way assume that it they are saying gay people made a choice or that it can be changed through therapy.

Do I think people are born gay honestly I don't know. I do know however that the human brain undergoes massive changes post birth. It would not be a too large a leap to say that sexuality could influenced by environmental events during this time period. I'm not just talking about being around the same sex or being coddled or anything like that but something as small as temperature or basic diet. Almost any environmental differences between two children can massively change how the brain reconfigures itself during this period. This is of course also effected by minor mutations in DNA so there could really be no way to know what conditions if any influence human sexuality since it would most likely change from person to person.

So to answer your question..... maybe but one thing I do know is that once the sexuality is set it very rarely yields to changes and any attempts on a person to change would most likely suffer severe psychological anguish, and that it is definitely not a choice.

[Ben]

I read somewhere about a scientific study that suggested homosexuals (particularly lesbians) are exposed to different levels of hormones whilst in the womb.

[Nodnarb]

All I know is that I didn't choose to be gay, and as far as I can tell, I've always been gay.

[littledinosaurs]

If its a choice can i choose to be straight for a day and then go back? Can they do the same thing?
O.o

[ccdd]

I don't know whether it's that people are born gay (although I'm sure that some people are), or that in some people a mixture of genetics and other things combine, but I do know that it's not a choice.

Your bisexual friend probably thinks that it is a choice because for them in a way it is. As in, I could be gay or straight, or deny to myself one half or the other, but that doesn't make a difference to what I fundamentally am. Whether I'm born gay or what, I know that I didn't choose it, and that I can't.

[gentlegiant4]

I don' think so. There are a few events I know of that took place early in my life that lead me to believe that it was caused by outside factors. Regardless, I'm happy the way I am.

[grapevine fires]

Yeah, people (more specifically males) are born gay. It has to do with the bursts of testosterone fetuses get to signal development at crucial points like, for example, wiring the brain for a boy. All humans start out female. If the testosterone isn't delivered at the right moment, and the fetus is destined to be male, then the brain might not transition from the basic female wiring to the male wiring.
If the mother is stressed while being pregnant, it can cause the testosterone to be delayed, which in turn delays the development of the fetus.

I'm really sorry if this doesn't make sense.. it's all laid out in my head, I just can't translate it to my fingers.

[Wander]

Originally Posted by grapevine fires

If the mother is stressed while being pregnant, it can cause the testosterone to be delayed, which in turn delays the development of the fetus.

Or, you know, if she *cough* smokes *cough* WHILE PREGNANT WITH HER FIRST CHILD *cough* that could, of course *cough* have an effect. Just throwing something out there.

Man, I could use a throat lozenge.

[grapevine fires]

Originally Posted by Wander

Or, you know, if she *cough* smokes *cough* WHILE PREGNANT WITH HER FIRST CHILD *cough* that could, of course *cough* have an effect. Just throwing something out there.

Man, I could use a throat lozenge.

Yeah, that's very true.. I wasn't saying that it was the only way to give birth to a gay infant, it was just a common way.. I suppose I should have began that segment with, "for example"..