Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
The Science of Homosexuality
Homosexuality is an issue that has sparked tumultuous debate in the United States, and has been brought to the forefront in the last fifty to sixty years. While the legal and social implications has captured the attention of the media, the lingering question of biology remains at the core of the debate. Is it possible that one is born with the characteristic of being homosexual, or is it solely a learned behavior embedded in cultural norms? Researchers since the nineteen-fifties have studied homosexuality in a variety of ways, through genetics, animal behavior, and even birth order. While few have come to a conclusive answer, important progress has been made since the time homosexuality was merely considered a mental disorder that could be cured.
In the March 2004, Health and Medicine Week, research findings from the study of homosexuality in rams was published. Scientists at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine had looked at the biological foundations of a male sheep's homosexuality. They used the animals since they had been consistently and thoroughly studied in the past, and provided for a controllable experiment. They studied the oSDN, "an irregularly shaped, densely packed cluster of nerve cells in the hypothalamus of the sheep brain." The hypothalamus is an important part of the brain that regulates body temperature, blood pressure, as well as sexual behavior. Researchers found that the ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN) was larger and contained more neurons in male- oriented rams (1). This information is important in several different ways. While it is solely a study on ram behavior, it is believed that homosexuality can be found in many different species, not limited to humans. This is also important because it is the first study to show a relationship between variations in sexual partner preference and brain structure in an animal, which could provide insight into how humans are studied and what should be looked for in humans to unlock the clues of biological causes of homosexuality.
While the rams are an interesting case study, there are also research findings directly relating to humans. The prenatal hormone theory is a provocative explanation of the link between biology and homosexual tendencies. It is based on the idea that hormones can affect a fetus in the womb and can influence brain development. Studies on the neuroendocrine function in homosexuality has shown that while levels of testosterone and estrogen do not typically vary along the lines of homo and heterosexuality, it is one's response mechanisms to these hormones that can play a role in sexual orientation. It is far too basic to attribute homosexuality with a lack of testosterone in males and a lack of estrogen in women, and many studies have negated this idea. However, the central nervous system, which mediates behavior and physiological responses, can be heavily affected by the level of hormones present (2).
It is also believed that birth order has a direct relation to whether or not one is gay. It is possible that a woman's fetus builds up certain antibodies in her first pregnancy, if it is with a male, to male antibodies, and these affect the development of male fetuses in subsequent pregnancies (4). For each older brother, humans are believed to be approximately 33% more likely to be homosexual. In other studies, it has been found that homosexuals are 39% more likely to be left- handed than heterosexuals (3).
Biological study of sexual orientation is not without its flaw. It has been criticized in the scientific world for reducing the subject to simplistic sides of homo and hetero sexual behavior. Simon LeVay is a scientist who has published extensive research on the difference in biology between homo and heterosexuals. In Science magazine in1991, Thomas A. Schoenfeld writes about his work and the faults he finds with LeVays work. Schoenfeld states that biology cannot always be viewed as something that runs against social environment and upbringing, "It is all too common to see early experience, social learning, or choice pitted against biology, but these are false dichotomies" (5). Rather it is the genetic and biological traits that lead to predisposition towards certain behavior characteristics. This approach allows for the biological factors in homosexuality, without limiting the subject to exclusively culture or biology.
All of the research that has surfaced in the past century reflects an interesting pattern of social acceptability of homosexuality. What was once thought of as a negative and controllable defect, is now recognized and embraced by many. While society is far from fully accepting homosexuality as a cultural norm, it has entered the public sphere as a subject worthy of discourse, rather than feared and ignored. It is in this sense that scientists are able to invest more of their time and money into researching homosexuality. In addition, the study of homosexuality itself both in its cultural causes and social effects, such as AIDS, depression, gender roles, marriage laws, has gained world wide attention. The research presented is far from conclusive, and generally generates more questions than it answers. It is uncertain whether or not humans will truly understand the relationship between nature and nurture and the intricate balance of biological or genetic effects and learned cultural behavior. After seeing some of the evidence about biological theories of homosexuality, I am not completely convinced of researchers conclusions. However, I do believe that it presents the interesting point that one cannot consider homosexuality to be a purely psychological or behavioral characteristic, completely disregarding any evidence of biological or genetic influence. After all, in our society, where in some places homosexuals are treated with little respect, and often times, are met with hostility, why would one choose to be gay?
Works Cited
1) "Biology is Behind Homosexuality in Sheep, Study Confirms." Health and Medicine Week (2004): 422. ProQuest. Bryn Mawr College Canaday Library. 25 Sept. 2006 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=588863761&Fm t=3&clientId= 42764&RQT=309&VName=PQD>.
2) Diamant, Louis. Male and Femal Homosexuality: Psychological Approaches. Cambridge: Hemisphere Corporation, 1987. 129-153.
3) Kristof, Nicholas D. "Gay At Birth?" New York Times (2003): a19. ProQuest. Bryn Mawr College Canaday Library. 24 Sept. 2006 <http://proquest. umi.com /pqdweb ?did=430686171&Fmt=2&clientId=42764&RQT=309&V Name=PQD
4) Levay, Simon. "The Biology of Sexual Orientation." Homepage of Simon LeVay. Feb. 2006. 25 Sept.2006 <http://members.aol.com/slevay /page22.html#_Brain _stud ies%97function>.
5) Schoenfeld, Thomas A. "Biology and Homosexuality." Science 254 (1991): 630. JStor. Bryn Mawr College Canaday Library. 25 Sept. 2006 <http://links.js tor.org/sici?sici= 0036-8075%2819911101%2 93%3A254%3A503 2%3C630%3ABAH %3E2.0.CO%3B2-9>.
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
About Student Papers
| This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. |
What's New? Subscribe to Serendip Studio
A Random Walk
New Topics
-
1 week 8 hours ago
-
1 week 3 days ago
-
1 week 3 days ago
-
1 week 4 days ago
-
1 week 4 days ago
Comments
Not Gay
Bottom Line, no proof that being Gay as genetically inherited. All is theory. The problem is that no one wants to admit that it is something wrong with the actual human nature. Lets just pretend it is right, and for it to be right we should measure it on all human beings. Which means if everyone becomes Gay, then the whole human race will extinct. And if it is genetically inherited why wont it be treated like any other genetically inherited disease ? Why does the schizophrenic has to go psychologists and psychiatrists and a Gay person should be left ? Why wont they let the schizophrenic stay as he is even if he want to ? aren't they both something against human nature ? The only reason why gay people is being defended is because people nowadays are sexually obsessed that they will make sex an excuse for everything. Plus peoples' minds are limited to what they hear in the media were most people that talk are dumb idiots.
Speaking of dumb idiots.
It is extremely difficult for me to seriously consider any so-called intellectual comments or opinions of someone who cannot even construct a sentence or paragraph properly. Please learn how to write down and convey your thoughts correctly, or stay off of written media.
Please grow up
Your comment tells much about how arrogant you are. I think you understood what I said previously and thats enough. You should be aware that not all people in this word have English as their first lamguage. So get over it.
Do you actually read scholarly journals?
Actually, there is significant evidence of homosexuality being genetic and epigenetic. To ignore research like the study by Campieri-Ciani and others (Padova) and Rice and others - is to approach the topic without any understanding of the underlying science.
Campieri-Ciani and others clearly imply an antagonistic genetic component to homosexuality ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15539346 )
while Rice and others clearly demonstrate the likelihood of an epigenetic component ( http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/668167?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents )
Nor are these studies alone. Further the prevalence of exclusively homosexual behavior among thousands of animal species further reinforce the notion that homosexuality is both natural and normal throughout nature. (Bagemihl, B. "Biological Exuberance" St. Martin's Press)
Your position seems to me to be related strongly to the "ick" factor. You don't like homosexuality and you find it icky. You do not have a robust understanding of genetics - beyond Mendel's model - which has long been known to be grossly oversimplified and sometimes plain wrong ( http://arstechnica.com/science/2010/04/breaking-mendels-laws-the-value-of-informative-errors/ ). Therefore you lash out at homosexuality - not because you have an understanding of the science that allows you to legitimately discard or even challenge the various research projects that are extant and ongoing - but because it makes you uncomfortable.
After what is at most a superficial attack on the idea that homosexuality is inborn, you then turn to why it isn't treated as a disease. The simple answer is - because it isn't a disease.
1. Most homosexual persons are indistinguishable from heterosexual persons on all functional tests.
2. Homosexuality has no associated symptoms that indicate mental illness - that is to say, unless you accept from whole cloth that the idea of homosexuality is a sickness, there is no reason to consider that it might be. Put another way, its a matter of faith to believe homosexuality is mental illness - faith in direct contraindication of evidence. On the other hand, a schizophrenic - the group you compared gay people to - demonstrates many clear indications of mental illnesses of all sorts to a knowledgeable observer.
3. The whole society is not going to "become" homosexual, because just as you know you are only attracted to members of the opposite sex, and have known that since puberty - likewise homosexuals know they are only attracted to the same sex, and have known since puberty. There is no "becoming" homosexual if you are not. Even if somehow that did happen though (which would require an act of god) - there would simply be new ways of producing children and structuring community - those would emerge organically and quickly - how do we know that? Because such methods of having children have already emerged in the gay community - organically. I know many gay people with children who are of their bodies - and obtained by consensual decision between either straight women who don't want sex, or gay women, using the sperm of gay men - with no direct sexual contact. Now I'm sure you also find that icky - but let me assure you the children are healthy, happy and quite normal - and the problem with them - entirely yours. Our present social constructs are just that, and if new ones had to emerge, they would be just that - and life and humanity would go on.
4. Human nature is also a construct of course. Homosexuals have existed for as long as we can find written records, and the evidence exists that they existed far before writing - in fact, back to our primate roots. They are as natural and as much of human nature as any group can be.
Rather than struggling to defend your prejudices, perhaps you would be better served to increase your scientific knowledge and your understanding and acceptance of the universe as it is.
Regards.
Too much editorializing. For
Too much editorializing. For your statement to be believable, you should provide the evidence and leave the conclusion to the reader. You accuse the other guy of the ick factor. What about you for the arrogance factor? You come across as too arrogant, know-it-all, sore-loser type. Sorry.
In Response to the last line...
in response to the last line.. And why would people choose to be stutterers in this world? And yet they do and there are many other illnesses that are purely psychosomatic and have no biological influences, yet people chose to have these impairments.
And as for a reason...how about this.....
I know people who have chosen to be gay in rebellion to growing up like their parent. They want to be nothing like their parent.
there are no gay animals
Why does lgbt keep saying there are gay animals when there isn't? Why do they insist there is a "gay gene" when there isn't? Why isn't there a homosexual monority in ANY ancient culture? Hmm its also very interesting that the historicity of homosexuals seems to begin in western society some 150 years ago. Why do they consider themselves promoters of love when they become so hostile against anyone that has a different opinion than thiers? Being discriminated against shouldnt be an excuse when I'm discriminated against in the same way by gays & thier supporters, hypocrites using homophobia as a label against anyone disagreeing with them. Homophobia is a fear of gays nobodies scared of you clowns
lol sounds like your talking
lol sounds like your talking about religous people not homosexuals , you actually described them perfectly.
religous people : " Why do they consider themselves promoters of love when they become so hostile against anyone that has a different opinion than thiers? " ( DONT YOU THINK ?)
Being discriminated against shouldnt be an excuse when I'm discriminated against in the same way by gays & thier supporters, hypocrites using homophobia as a label against anyone disagreeing with them. ( I'm willing to bet my last no homosexual has ever came at you FIRST clown .YOU INITIATE and it goes from there. AND IF YOU DONT LIVE THAT LIFESTYLE WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE ENOUGH TO GO BACK AND FORTH WITH A SO CALLED CLOWN THAT WILL NEVER EFFECT YOU lol AND PLEASE dont say I insulted you or I have a anger problem etc etc and Im mad because Im not its people like you that need to just GONE ON .
And to put the cherry on top Im a heterosexual woman :) I just had to say something because your post dont even belong here .
GO AWAY
There certainly are gay animals
Start with Bruce Bagemihl's book "Biological Exuberance" (St. Martin's Press) and work from there.
Ignorance is no excuse for prejudice.
Regards.
Reality of homosexuality
Is homosexuality according to medical science healthful or not? It is disease state or normal?
Science says
that it is a normal state, a standard variation on sexuality. Not a disease in any sense.
Regards.
You couldnt have been more wrong.
There are over 150 different species that show homosexual behaviors. Why don't you get your facts straight before you open your prejudice mouth.
why compare
WE ARE NOT ANIMALS THE WAY YOUR TALKING WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE SEX WITH ANIMALS & GET MARRIED TO THEM!!! JUST BECAUSE SCIENCETIST SHOW THAT ANIMALS ARE GAY AND PEOPLE ARE BORN GAY DOES NOT MEAN THAT IS TRUE SCIENTIST GET PROVEN WRONG ALL THE TIME !!! AND GAY PEOPLE KNO ITS WRONG THEY SAY THERE BORN GAY TO COVER IT UP AND TO LET PPL EXCEPT IT !!!!!!! get your facts straight !! :)
oh but it is you who is wrong
That's that same crap that's been regurgitated over and over, lol if you actually checked your facts then you would learn that the same scientists that the lgbt took out of context say in these words "in all actuality what's observed is not homosexuality in the animal kingdom but an act of dominance or the instinct of survival" for example the emperor penguin in a New York zoo I believe was believed to be gay because a same sex couple were cooperating with one another as a heterosexual couple, but as soon as an opposite sex was introduced guess what happened lol they left each other for the opposite sex!
homosexual animals
It always fascinates me when people pull things straight out of the air and confidentially assert them. That is SIMPLY not true. While all sex can be dominance based, I suggest you actually READ some of the research you are disparaging and, frankly, lying about. Start with Bruce Bagemihl, Ph.D. Biological Exuberance; St. Martin's Press.
Regards
You're wrong.
First of all you are seriously mistaken if you think being gay is a choice, why would people choose to be taunted and abused. second you know why people get so hostile about this subject, it's because being told who you can and cannot love is fucking ridiculous. How angry would you be if you had multiple people a day telling you that you are not allowed to be with your significant other just because they didn't believe in your relationship, you can bet your ass you would be pissed off about it. lastly the only reason history shows it coming up just 150 years ago is because people were scared to show anyone who they were, they were scared that they would be harmed because of who they were, because being different is so weird and telling everyone just how different you are is probably the scariest thing ever. try not being so narrow minded.
Gay
Bottom Line, no proof that being Gay as genetically inherited. All is theory. The problem is that no one wants to admit that it is something wrong with the actual human nature. Lets just pretend it is right, and for it to be right we should measure it on all human beings. Which means if everyone becomes Gay, then the whole human race will extinct. And if it is genetically inherited why wont it be treated like any other genetically inherited disease ? Why does the schizophrenic has to go psychologists and psychiatrists and a Gay person should be left ? Why wont they let the schizophrenic stay as he is even if he want to ? aren't they both something against human nature ? The only reason why gay people is being defended is because people nowadays are sexually obsessed that they will make sex an excuse for everything. Plus peoples' minds are limited to what they hear in the media were most people that talk are dumb idiots.
this is so true! 1
this is so true! 1 corinthians 1:9-10...9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Small bits and pieces of the
Small bits and pieces of the bible do not dictate how one should be a "christian" the WHOLE book does. Read the book and stories from cover to cover every last word and take notes and then take a week to just sit and think about what you read and then speak on what the bible says and does not say. You've based your religion off of a bunch of random scriptures that you googled or heard from the next so called christian.... I'm so tired of all these bandwagon christian people who swear they have studied the bible and probably only know John 3:16 and then all the other verses they swear condemn others to hell. PLEASE FILL YOURSELF WITH REAL KNOWLEDGE FOR YOUR SAKE. GOODBYE :)
Just...no....
Nothing in the bible qualifies as proof to back up a claim....sorry.
why not?
why can't the Bible support the claim that homosexuality is actually sexual perversion and it is wrong, it is a sin, it is God's will that mankind do not indulge in it. When the Bible has been around longer than any book, when the Bible is the best seller of all books every year that you have been alive, when the law of this land has been based on the Bible since the founding of America. why can't the Bible support a claim against homosexuality?
Please understand
Actually homosexuality has been going on for 1000s of years, they even have old torture devices they used during medieval times if your gay. You are born gay, and by what you are saying, you are basically telling the scientist that they are wrong. If you choose to be gay, why are there so many suicides from being gay? Wouldn't the person change there sexual intentions to something else if they could? There are many questions to be awnesered about this subject but no matter what, they still proved that it is in animals.
I for one am homosexual, did not choose to. I have been depressed for a very long time and do not accept that I am. Even though I may have sexual interactions to males, I for one will never marry a male or have any relations. I don't like being a homosexual but I have to deal with it. Homophobes are human beings that are profoundly afraid of homosexuals, but the term yes is used loosely. I do not label a person homophobe unless they are actually scared, but what I call people like you are small minded, hypocritical, bigoted, prejudice, ass holes.
I would never judge any one by the way they where born, and you may just brush this off your shoulder. But please listen, I would give anything to be a heteralsexual. Trust me I am in depression, and please just understand, or just give it a thought. If you are religious, and that is the reason for hating homosexuals then that is your belief but if this accusation is based just by your opinion, then please just think and try to understand what homosexuals are.
If they chose to be a homosexual then why is there the term "hiding in the closet". That term is used because they don't like it and do not want people to know because they are afraid of not being accepted, so please.
O animals?
Homosexuality is found in over 1500 different species of animals. Please just educate yourself.
I'm not sure why I'm even
I'm not sure why I'm even bothering right now, but showing off your ignorance isn't the best way to advocate your case. It has been scientifically proven that homosexuality exists in animals, and if you choose to ignore facts for your own comfort then good for you. There have been records of homosexuality as far back as Ancient Egypt, which doesn't really seem like 150 years ago.
DoYourHomeWork
Hi Don't show off your ignorance. Looks like somebody is not up to date with credible science? How do you believe that homosexuality was "Scientifically" proven ?? Properly speaking, homosexuality does not exist among animals.... For reasons of survival, the reproductive instinct among animals is always directed towards an individual of the opposite sex. Therefore, an animal can never be homosexual as such. Nevertheless, the interaction of other instincts (particularly dominance) can result in behavior that appears to be homosexual. Such behavior cannot be equated with an animal homosexuality. All it means is that animal sexual behavior encompasses aspects beyond that of reproduction, as for the egypt claim I'll have to look into that but that misses my point.
I disagree, I've witness my
I disagree, I've witness my dog (a male) engage in sexual activity with another dog of the identical gender. Not to mention this seem to satisfy him completely.
Heart
The heart has straight lines and curved lines.
Self Defeating
I really don't care one way or another who wants to do who as long as they keep it to themselves. I don't go around saying that people need to accept me because I'm straight and I'd like them (GAYS) to extend the same courtesy . Please don't march in those ridiculous parades acting like children who should be on some kind of medication. Act like grown ups who are trying to get your message out. Whatever that message is now I don't know , since you've already gotten what you've asked for. I don't support gays because of my up bringing and Christian values, and that's my right, just as its your right not to support straight people. As my husband says It really doesn't matter as they are self defeating in a way because they can't reproduce. I will say though that It needs to be looked into in the science field a bit more than it is being though. We need to find out what is causing this abnormality and fix it. This may just be the tip of the ice berg and may progress to something more damaging down the line where everyone born has this whatever it is that's making people gay and the population dwindles down to none. I always like to have answers to things that don't seem quite right. Man was made to reproduce. Somewhere down the line things have screwed up. What I cannot answer, but I sure wish they'd find out soon.
the science of homosexuality
Some people are caught, show their ignorance by speaking.
You Are Not Christian
I know that many people have already replied to this message, but as a Pastor's daughter who has a girlfriend, I feel the need to contribute.
Firstly, heterosexuality has always been what society considers 'normal'. You do not need to defend yourself at almost every opportunity. When you go to church, you are not told that you're going to hell. You aren't in danger of being physically hurt because of the fact that you're happy. The parades are not ridiculous; we don't have rights yet in most states. In many states, in fact, I could be fired because of the fact that I have a girlfriend.
Secondly, you don't have to support gay people. That is your right. However, it is not your right to go to a page explaining the science behind it and say that it is an abnormality. It is definitely not your right to say that we are just acting out.
Thirdly, your faith (if you are, in fact, a Christian) is BASED on the idea of loving everybody, despite their failings or sins or what have you. You cannot claim to be a Christian and discriminate. In fact, in the Bible itself there are only 2 verses that even mention it by name, and 3 that reference it at all. In the Bible there are approximately 31,000 verses. If you look at the affirmation of slavery throughout the Bible, there is almost no comparison at all, and yet we've disregarded that. Furthermore, two of those three verses are in Leviticus, a book that is obsolete with the death of Jesus Christ. Only Paul referenced homosexuality in the New Testament. Jesus himself never said a word about it. As some others commented below, homosexuality may even be mistranslated. I would not be surprised.
If homosexuality is really abnormal, then why has it been in existence since the human race began? I see God's hands all over my current relationship. I only realized I liked her after praying to Him and asking why I have trouble developing romantic feelings towards people. Less than a week later, I started to date her.
Also, your husband's belief that man was created to reproduce is false and frankly medieval. Humans were created to use our gifts to glorify God, not to reproduce.
I'm sorry if I caused offense, but I believe you need to re-evaluate your faith.
Gay Pride Parades
I used to live in San Francisco. When there was a "gay pride" parade we couldn't get home from work until after midnight because all of the downtown streets were closed for the parade, which consisted of gay males standing on top of unimaginative and unattractive floats wearing Speedos. The "pride" was over the size of their genitals.
you are not a
pray tell, explain just how God gets the glory out of a homosexual relationship or practice?
You are not a Christian
I agree that the woman needs to re-evaluate her faith. And may I add she needs to understand the New Testament. The last place in the world that I want to be as a Christian is to judge another, but it appears that precept is not understood by most. I don't want to be judged by the same judgement that I could use, a.judgement most people use. The highest command is to love without judgement. Judgement cuts down love right at the root.
science and gays
Very good reply. My lesbian daughter was raised in a loving and supportive Christian home by heterosexual parents. I totally agree with your statements. I have read the Bible and scriptures over and over, Leviticus has many laws in it that today would seem inhumane if we followed them. Christians need to read all the scriptures, not just pick and choose which ones don't pertain to their lifestyle to support and "believe in".
question
I'm curious, what denomination of religion is your father a pastor of?
you are not a christian
i do have to say it is people like you that are killing a belief system that i love, lets get this right, there is a vast difference btwn what God decrees and what society craves, the word of God is specific wether it was said once or a million times, homosexuality is a no no, but here comes the twist we live in the world of man and we are gorvened by man on this earth, so homosexuality has been put in law that it is normal this however does not make it normal, it is a preference that should be kept in the bedroom end of.take religion out of it you will find homosexuality serves no purpose to humanity besides just being a preference outside the realms of natural human behaviour. point is love your girlfriend and be happy but please do not justify it by calling it natural or right in the eyes of the lord it is just what you like period....when the day comes that two people of the same sex can produce a child or a gay man can carry a baby in their belly then by all means you shall be normal........LEAVE GOD AND NATURE OUT OF YOUR LIFESTYLE CHOICE FOR THATS ALL IT IS A LIFESTYLE CHOICE
being gay
To tell a the truth,I believe I was born gay for I was very you in grade school and I had some kind of attractions towards.the same sex,I didn't understand the felling until junior high,but I was raised a Christian so that was a sin athat hell fire if Jesus finds you doing such things so,I quinched it and when I was older I married a man and I tried God knows I tried but him getting in trouble and always in jail and his neglect me and our kids I despise him,and kicked him to the curb and found me a lady friend and she and were together for 18 years it was the best thing I ever.did, I know God was with me she I live well and she left me after the kids was grown she left because she became mentally ill and just left.but I don't regret it.
Re-evaluate Your Faith
Christianity is only based in Christ. (Hence the name) That is it. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was that you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The 2nd was that you love your neighbor as yourself. He didn't abolish the law, but He came to fulfill it. He never said anything about homosexuality because it didn't bear talking about. People inherently knew that it went against natural law. (Even though promiscuity and open homosexuality were practiced unabashedly in Rome) Paul addresses it several times as a sin. I know it may make you angry: I think you know in your heart that you are only trying to justify your lifestyle. Please evaluate your own faith.
Regarding (your not Christian)
Man was created to reproduce read Genesis 1:27-28
That is understanding of you
That is understanding of you to "allow" others the privilege of saying what they can and cannot to whoever they want to. It is obvious that heterosexuals do not need to share their heterosexuality with the world because heterosexuality does not trigger a problem in society. Homosexuality does trigger a problem as can be seen by your own reaction to people "sharing" that they are homosexual or not. You are as equal as the next person; you may think that you have a voice in telling people what they can and cannot do in their lives but you do not. You can only be on the sidelines and have an opinion that can go in someone's ear and go out the other within a second. I like how you acknowledge the fact that everyone has a right to an opinion, but keep in mind that you do not have a right as a citizen to have any type of authority whatsoever to prevent people from accessing their first amendment right--in this case the freedom of speech to be specific. I also love the establishment clause because it reminds people like you that church and state are separate and therefore your religious upbringing does not provide you with any more right than a non religious person to command what people can or cannot do. If homosexuality is an abnormality, then lying with someone of the opposite sex is also an abnormality. How can two totally different species be interested in one another being so different? They act differently, think differently, speak differently, dress differently, and carry themselves differently--did I mention they are completely different? Oh, but two people of different races seemed abnormal, two people of different religions seemed abnormal, and two people of the same sex seems abnormal? Oh, but two different species are automatically waived just because an edited book states it. Well my religion, history, states that homosexuality extends back to ancient times, therefore it must not be an abnormality. Go tell the ancient townships and cities who approved homosexuality that they were abnormal. I would love to see how that would turn out.
Nice wann
You should go into politics my friend, that could not have sounded more straight forward and honest at all..
If you don't have anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut
Gays march in parades to celebrate their freedom of expression in this country. If you don't like watching human beings embracing their well earned happiness, turn the channel. We haven't got what we've asked for actually, many of my gay friends along with myself experience homophobia mainly from men today. Our country is already overpopulated, if anything we are doing the Earth a favor by not using up even more natural resources. Why don't you deliver that message to your husband! There is no mistake for our existence and there is a reason why our gene has continued to be carried throughout human history. Why the fuck would we still be here? Maybe you should do some more research before you spread your so called Christian "faith" onto others. GOODBYBE
You will go to hell
believe that liars will go to hell if they do not repent. I believe that swindlers, arrogant people, abusers, selfish people, manipulators and gamblers will all go to hell if they do not repent. In other words, all of us will go to hell if we do not repent of our sins. There is no difference (Romans 3:10-12). I will acknowledge that homosexuality carries some special issues with it, but in the end, there is no significant difference in how God will deal with one kind of sinner than another. - See more at:
Many of those parades are in
Many of those parades are in moral by any means. There one thing about any body being homosexual but why show everyone how you are able to bare all in front of crows.
My dear, homophobia will not be last bad experience you will suffer in this world; any one is exposed to different types of fear throughout one's life.
You are right in the fact that homosexuality if been around since probably the beginning of time.
Also consider this, The sexual intercourse is a selfish act promoted by nature to make you pro create. It does not matter how much you give yourself to your partner (homo or hetero) to give love ( or so) at the end, your pleasure is yours alone.
There nothing wrong with loving a person of the same sex gender the problem arise when there is more than hugging involve.
Breaking the norm imply that society is allow to break all rules of conduct and therefore anyone can live by her or his own rules of engagement and the is very dangerous for all of us as society if we want to live in piece.
When you are born, you really only have one right. To be Free. Let's not complain where there are children having less than one meal per day, men and women not having descent jobs, people getting killed like insects, etc, etc.
Homosexuals would have no
Homosexuals would have no need to go around saying that people need to accept them if people actually did accept them for who they are and actually did not reject them from full societal interaction.
Heterosexuals have never as a group been rejected from society and so have never had to campaign for acceptance.
What you are saying is that you want a world in which homosexuals have no need to campaign for acceptance.
You ask us not to march in our "ridiculous parades". Do you ask the same of the Irish on St Patrick's day? Do you ask the same of the participants of any one of the many other parades that occur?
Here's a list of the US based ones for you to double check your responses against: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Parades_in_the_United_States
You claim that gays cant reproduce. You are wrong, misinformed and delusional on that front. 20% of gay men are fathers and for lesbians the percentage is even higher.
We can reproduce using IVF (with or without complex laboritories & equipment, a cup and a turkey baster will do the job). There are millions of kids being raised by their homosexual parents all over the world.
They may not be reproducing in the old fashioned way of engaging in a heterobonk at a serendipitous fertile moment, but they ARE reproducing.
You say that you need to find out the cause of what YOU diagnose as an abnormality. I would like to remind you that for a quarter of a millenium you had every opportunity to do just that in both Europe & later in North America.
250 years of gays being locked up in lunatic asylums and experimented on at the whims of the Christian population. Prodded, poked, drugged, castrated, electrocuted, surgically altered.
All to no avail. 250 years of "Finding out the cause & seeking a cure" and all you came up with was an ASSUMPTION that something was wrong and only ONE proven way of halting homosexual urges: castration, which is a breach of their human rights.
YOU WILL NEVER BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO EVER PUT HOMOSEXUALS THROUGH THAT AGAIN.
Your hatred, driven by the teachings of your church is what will be cleared and eradicated from this planet. Human beings should be treated like human beings.
Remember: your Christianity is a choice. It is not a physical characteristic, it is not genetic, it is not hormonal, it is not a structural aspect of your physical being. It is a man made religion, like many others, and you selected it and chose it.
When your faith puts you in fundamental breach of human nature and human kindness, then your faith becomes a problem that needs solving or eradication.
There is nothing wrong with homosexuality. There is everything wrong with hating homosexuals.
You have talent! WELL
You have talent!
WELL SAID
I'm beginning to believe that the devil is real, and he does his work best right from inside our church.
The heaven that the church describes sounds more like a hell to me, and if it's going to be filled with biggots, well you can have your heaven.
I couldn't help but applaud
I couldn't help but applaud your brilliant and marvelous remark. I was so impressed how you managed to make it this powerful without a single exclamation mark, so enlightening without having to quote God or the Bible, yet so profound without challenging my vocabulary.
It has been baffling me since the first time Marriage was associated with religions, or more precisely, said to be a part of the sacred Christianity.
Now, let's suppose this is true, in whose case if we go through the historical documents, it should have been impossible to find marriage or equivalent forms of union prior to the first appearance of the Bible. In Chinese civilization, the nation's first culture hero in legend and mythology, Fu Xi, was actually recorded "married to Nvwa" in historical documents, and that went all the way back to the 2800s-2700s BCE, approximately 1200-1500 years before Bible was even written, and their domestic union marked the commencement of the Chinese Civilization, at the same time, disavowed the authority Christian claimed to have over “Holy Matrimony”. As a matter of fact, marriage has always been a extinct element of the entire human race, the only way to legally and socially found a family. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion has the right to marry and found a family. The above quotation is the Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights published by the UN. It is universally acknowledged that marriage is neither the blessing of any religion nor the invention of any culture. It is one of the few fundamental and unalienable rights naturally received by each human being upon birth. Through out the glories and advancing in history, marriage has survived 2 despicable World Wars, 21 centuries, hundreds of empires, thousands of amendment, numerous eras of survival, countless waves of revolutions, and is still the synonym of love and family. I believe it’s only a matter of time for it to arise from fear, ignorance, discrimination, and reconceptualization. After all, what on earth can be harsh and spiteful enough to break the coalition of humanity and empathy, especially when it is incubated in the name of LOVE?!
Why do gay people have to restlessly fight for a right everyone else inherits effortless, and why do gay people have justify the rest of the world for the opportunity and approval to have a home? Why is it not even up to me to choose a person I vow to stand by, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health?
Apart from abnormalising it by magnifying one of the many qualities that define an individual, namely sexual orientation, which to me seems no less important than movie loving, coffee drinking, biographies reading, violin playing, I really couldn't think of any other justification other than intentional segregation and degrading. Intentional segregation and degrading of a certain group of people. It struck me that I came across this term reading documents about a few events in human history, one is said to have lit the fuse of the WW II, one is believed to have caused the explosion of American Civil War, one is claimed to inspire Martin Luther King Jr. to draw up the draft of "I Have a Dream".
Then, why do we push the hard earned progression back a good 7 decades and push our own species onto the same gallows? And who is the one to decide I don’t deserve to fall in love and update my marital status like everyone else? Why did they make my love feel so shameful, and instead of petals and laughters, why did they carpet my wedding with thorns and tears?
To whoever makes an effort to belittle my love, I challenge you, if love is so great and beautiful, then why did you make me feel mine so disgraceful and ugly?
Bravo!
I swear I couldn't have said it better myself! U gave a very rude hateful woman an educated well spoken response to her very rude comment she made without stooping to her level! I must say it made me angry reading her comment and then yours made me smile reminding me how proud I am to be homosexual and how intelligent we are as people. Thank you for that! It was beautiful!
arbitrary
"Human Beings" deserve to be treated like human beings. Implying human beings deserve a fucking cake wake life where no one gets hurt. The difference between you and me is I don't mind getting discriminated against for what I believe in especially if its arbitrarily defined as hate. Your society redefined love, marriage and hate to cater to its screwed up narsicism. You create concepts like sexuality as a comfort blanket for your mental disorders not just homosexuality but all your disturbing forms of sexual behavior. Your culture has destroyed families and broken the spirit of man. I see the levels of depression and suicide on rise because of the hopelessness you create. And you think you're immune from the suffering hahaha. You will experience the darkness, loneliness and deep saddness. You jump around at your parades acting all giddy like life is just some careless experience that you don't have to come down from. You will face death, loss, disease and mundane days like the rest of us. You're not special and neither am I. The only difference is I'm not afraid. So bring "YOUR" hate to my kind. I'd rather die than live in a society with a moral foundation that destroys the spirit of man.
homosexuality
there is nothing wrong being homosexuality, so let's stop judging other people's behaveour. i'm not homosexual and i won't be so i'v nothing to do with them. please good people let's give then a better life like every individual on our plannet.