Are you a disease?

Are you? Am I? Well, bare with me, I was watching X Men 3 and I was curious...

There are a lot of people that say being gay is a 'choice'. Bull right?
I don't remember having a choice. It's just something that happens. I doubt all the young teenagers up and decided..."Hey guys! Lets be cool and be gay! Whos with me?" I mean really. lol

And I've also read articles on how being 'gay' is a disease of the brain...What're your opinions? If being gay is a disease than I don't mind being a plague. You gain some qualities you otherwise wouldn't being straight and I'm not talking interior design or fashionability.

Why do doctors see the need to 'cure' us? I mean why're they REALLY trying to see if there is a cure...? I'm not a disease...And even if I had HIV or AIDS I think labeling a human as a disease is a bit excessive.

Are you ever afraid that maybe one day they may create a 'cure' to homosexuality?
If you've also seen the movie...
Aren't you afraid something like that may be forced? That really, REALLY scares me.

[Dazed]

i didnt make a choice. it was just something i knew. and people who say there is something wrong with me id kick between the legs :]

[tallship]

Ahem , think thats already been tried , not only the Jews and gypsys were gassed in WW2 , if someone comes up with a genectic "cure" you can bet that if there is test before birth most of us would not even have the choice to breath ,unless you have decent parents that is

[Dazed]

if there was a "cure" for being gay i can say i wouldnt take it.
being gay is part of who i am.

[EM68]

its been proven that someone can not be cured being gay. Most people who tried to be 'cured' have wound up being more screwed up. As far as being called a disease, are you kidding me? I would not even answer the question. I would not want to even waste my time if somone asked me that.

I feel the same. Watching that movie and thinking of this website I was like:
Wow. What if other people saw us [gay people] as a disease?

Isnt that alone terrible? It really makes me wonder...do they?

What about that famous pastor who went to rehab and came back straight? Does anyone remember that? I thought that was HILARIOUS. Why? Cuz its a load of crap...pure and simple Lol. Just because he went to rehab it doesnt make him cured of his taste for guys. PLEASE...get real.

[Derek the Wolf]

I can't say if I'd take the cure or not. How I feel regarding my orientation changes. Sometimes things get so confusing and screwed up I just want it to be done with, and there's other times it just is the way it is. Nothing is concrete with me. X3

[Greggers]

Whoever still clings on to the ancient way of thinking "being gay is a choice" i would say has a 99% chance of not even knowing a gay person. If there is one thing that just pisses me off, its one sided arguments, propaganda and people jumping into a fight without the facts to back themselves up. Dont sit there in your church and preach how homosexuality is "a sinful lifestyle choice" or some bull like that. Cause a) you dont have to be gay AND sinful, they dont go hand in hand b) its not a freaking choice so get over it! I hear countless horror stories of people who repress and ignore this huge part of themselves out of shame, they try and force it out of themselves by sleeping with women, cutting themselves, or even at the extreme suicide. Society tells them its "wrong to choose to be gay" and so they just buy into that and try and "choose" not to be. But sadly, it does not work like that. I wish there was another strong, political figure who could stand up for LGBT rights. Someone to make the rounds, debating all the people using the age old arguments that have been beaten time and time again. When all you hear is one side of an argument, what the hell are you supposed to believe? Its either believe what your told, or nothing. You are only given one option.

[littledinosaurs]

I don't think there are any institutions left (that aren't religiously inclined) that actually think its a disease. (I could be wrong but the APA stopped seeing it as a disease).
And i don't think GM of humans will ever be allowed, so i don't think there is too much to worry about.

[pirateninja]

Originally Posted by littledinosaurs

I don't think there are any institutions left (that aren't religiously inclined) that actually think its a disease. (I could be wrong but the APA stopped seeing it as a disease).
And i don't think GM of humans will ever be allowed, so i don't think there is too much to worry about.

Yep, in 1992, the American Psychological Association officially took homosexuality out of the psychological medical journal, I think it's called the DSM.

[Emberstone]

if it is, then to quote hairspray "your like a fatal disease babe, but theres no cure, so let this fever rage."

[AS1989]

Sometimes I think being gay is just nature's little way of controling population. If x percent of people turn out gay,that percent would most likely never reproduce by conventional means.

[silas99]

Originally Posted by AS1989

Sometimes I think being gay is just nature's little way of controling population. If x percent of people turn out gay,that percent would most likely never reproduce by conventional means.

Hehe....thats an interesting way of looking at it.

[Mickey]

Okay,just a little off the thread for a second.
Sometimes I may sound condescending ( I surely don't mean to ) but I think there are some really great ,intelligent people,here,on EC. I read the responses and I am so proud of some of the responses. The above posts are just awesome and I'm glad I am here.
Okay,back to the point. If each one of us could get to sit down with someone who felt like we were a "disease" and actually be able to talk to that person,I think a lot of this BS would stop.I agree that some people who feel this way just don't know anyone who is gay. They were raised with the notion that we make a "choice" to be gay.
I also HATE this way of thinking.
When I was younger,if given the "choice",I probably would have "chosen" to be straight.
It would have saved me a lot of BS and heartache.Of course,I only felt like this due to society's perception of us. Man,am I glad there isn't a "cure"! I am happy just being ME!
I do think that this generation is and will make a huge difference on how we're seen .
I never thought I'd live long enough to actually see gay marriage,let alone live in a state
(Mass.), where it's legal.
There will always be those who are negative towards us,but I believe,also,that things are getting better. Once people realize that the world isn't going to end,because gays can get married, people will just forget all this nonsense.
I am just so damn proud of all,fighting the good fight and making a real difference,in a rather screwed up world. The real "cure" is trying to educate those who treat being gay as a "disease. And I think this is happening,a little at a time.
Am I happy being gay? You bet your ass I am!

When I saw this thread, I was actually thinking more along the lines of The Matrix, where Agent Smith's theory is that humans are a virus. That actually makes sense to me, in a way.
But homosexuality as a disease? Nope. It's just a trait, like black hair or big hands. XD This has me thinking all philosophically, like "But to tell whether or not it's a disease, we must first define disease."
Disease, according to Merriam-Webster: 2: a condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that impairs normal functioning and is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms : sickness , malady
3: a harmful development (as in a social institution)
I guess you could see the inability to reproduce with a partner of your preferred gender as an impairment to normal functioning... But that also makes plenty of other people diseased, such as the elderly, the infertile, and people who choose not to have children. As for definition number 3, homosexuality is not harmful.

[Daniel]

If homosexuality is a disease then eugenics must be okay. FT.

so since
gay=disease then...
blue eyes=disease
blond=disease
penis=disease

Damn I should be dead!

[Jeimuzu]

Being gay to me is a genetic abnormality that's first physically determined in the womb, and nurtured by society and family inadvertently but not created by them. Gay penguins wouldn't exist if it was societal. Besides, if it was a society thing, I honestly don't think it'd be this widespread. Gay men are executed in the middle east. And c'mon, if it's a choice, then their choice isn't "Do you want to be gay?" It's more like "Do you want to die?" I refuse to believe, given the former option, they'd go "Sure, I'd like to be executed."

[starfish]

I wish I could find it, but my google-fu is failing right now.

A friend told me the other day of a study he read. The results suggested that the same mutations that caused homosexuality in males also caused promiscuity in females. From a biological prospective promiscuity in females is good for species because it promotes diversity in the gene pool. It also makes sense from development prospective, since all humans start out as females.

Of that does not mean much to those that object to homosexuality on religious grounds, as most of those folks also reject evolution for the same reason.

I would like science to find the cause for homosexuality. Mostly for my own edification, but legally it would be great to show it as an innate trait.

[jazzrawr]

I really don't know. I don't think it's a disease; and I think that if they did find a cause for it, there'd soon be genetic screening to make sure nobody has gay babies. And that wouldn't be good.
I'd rather not know than have people knowing it's genetic and making sure it doesn't happen.

But that's just me. I prefer being gay.

[pirateninja]

Originally Posted by starfish

Of that does not mean much to those that object to homosexuality on religious grounds, as most of those folks also reject evolution for the same reason.

For some reason they like to reject the darndest things, especially stuff that science has proven to be true. I don't get religious bigots at all.