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I think some people get so caught up in the whole SEX SEX SEX (especially male sex) aspect of homosexuality or in their interpretation (or misinterpretation) of ancient religious beliefs, or their misunderstanding of what sexual orientation is, that all the diverse and positive traits that homosexuals bring to the human race, are ignored. The fact that most homosexuals want fullfilling relationships and often have familes is also ignored.
According to many recent studies we know that many homosexuals are biologically different to heterosexuals and are not just heterosexuals with a desire for homosexual sex. For example- brain stucture eg amygdala, hypothalamic structure, right brain/left brain emphasis and auditory brain waves are different. All these (and other) differences lead to homosexuals thinking and perceiving differently to heterosexuals.
If we look at the way heterosexual males and females think, feel and perceive differently to each other, it's obvious that homosexuals, who have (to varying degrees) some of the characteristics of both genders, would also think, feel and percieve differently to someone who has only the characterisics of one or the other gender.
I see this as a very Positive thing. The world needs people who think and perceive differently to the majority. "Group think" and conformity to one way of thinking and perceiving is NOT usually a positive thing for any culture. Diversity in thinking and perception is important to keep a culture from stagnating.
There are many homosexuals throughout history who have contributed to the rich tapestry of human culture.
Here's just a few of the more well known philosophers, artists, generals, leaders, writers, poets, composers etc: Alexander the Great, Sophocles, Socrates, Sappho, Julius Caesar, Hadrian, Virgil, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael, King James I (of KJV fame), Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Byron, Tchaikosky, Rachmaninov, Rudolph Nuryev, Frederick the Great, Tsar Alexander I, Evelyn Waugh, Proust, Somerset Maugham, Walt Whitman, Radclyffe Hall, Virginia Woolf, Gertrude Stein, Alice. B. Toklas, Saint-Saens, Georges Sand, Noel Coward, Laurence Olivier, Alan Turing, Cecil Beaton, Tennesse Williams, Thomas Mann, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter... and many more.
Diversity of genetic traits is also important for a population to adapt successfully.
All this obsession that many anti-gay people have with gay "sex" almost leads me to think that maybe "sex" is all THEY ever think about themselves.
I don't know why some folks can't just leave those people alone. If god has a problem with it, let it deal with it. Why do they bother some so much? For the most part, they just want to be left alone and live their lives in peace. The loud-mouth activists do not represent the majority of the gay population just as the loud-mouth activists do not represent the majority of other groups. I've often wondered if these people who are so vehemently opposed to them ever really got to know a gay person?
I had a very good friend that was gay. He was no different than anyone else I knew, except for that. I didn't even know he was gay for a long time until he felt comfortable enough to tell me. It did not change our friendship at all. What had changed? He was still the same good person and friend I had always known and I called brother. He never "hit" on me or tried to convert me or any of the other nonsense fundies accuse gay people of. He had fun, danced in the powwows, laughed and joked, was there for his friends, would give you the shirt of his back, listened, loved his family...just like anyone else. BTW, no, he did not die of AIDS...I know some of you fundies were already thinking that. If maybe they got to actually know someone who was gay, maybe they'd see that they are just people. If they were treated as such, then the activists would go away. That's honestly all they want....to be treated as people. Why are fundies incapable of doing that?
Last edited by Fullback32; 08-07-2009 at 10:05 AM..
Some people argue that homosexuality can’t have a genetic cause because two homosexuals can’t reproduce, so homosexuals would have bred themselves out of the gene pool long ago.
This is a little too simplistic and doesn’t take into account recessive genes or “balanced superior heterozygotic fitness”.
Jaymax, this is nice and all, but you're making the assumption that gayness is determined by a single gene. And that's a huge assumption. Don't get caught in the media hype of the "gay gene". Sexual desires, like any behaviour, are likely caused not by one gene but by a combination of many different factors (and possibly non-genetic factors too).
[/font]Jaymax, this is nice and all, but you're making the assumption that gayness is determined by a single gene. And that's a huge assumption. Don't get caught in the media hype of the "gay gene". Sexual desires, like any behaviour, are likely caused not by one gene but by a combination of many different factors (and possibly non-genetic factors too).
No, I'm not. If you read my post again, you'll see I said scientists think a combination of genes may affect sexual orientation and that sexuality is quite complex. I explained I was using an example of a single gene to get the point across about how recessive genes can carry traits that may not always be expressed. I know no "single" "gay" gene has been found, nor is it likely that there would be only one gene. The current theory is that sexual orientation has a basis in a combination of genetics, pre-natal hormones, fraternal birth order etc...
Edited to add: Here's some quotes from scientists from some of the more recent studies:
Quote:
Mustanski, B. S.; DuPree, M. G.; Nievergelt, C. M.; Bocklandt, S.; Schork, N. J.; Hamer, D. H. “A genomewide scan of male sexual orientation.” Human Genetics 116: 272-278, 2005
Mustanski concluded that: "There's a converging line of evidence between the hormonal studies, the genetic studies, and the neuroanatomical studies. My research has identified candidate genes within these new chromosomal regions that could link together all of these different findings”
Quote:
Swaab DF (2007) Sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 21:431–444.
Current evidence indicates that sexual differentiation of the human brain occurs during fetal and neonatal development and programs our gender identity— our feeling of being male or female and our sexual orientation as hetero-, homo-, or bisexual. This sexual differentiation process is accompanied by many structural and functional brain differences among these groups.
Quote:
(2008) Brain scans have provided the most compelling evidence yet that being gay or straight is a biologically fixed trait.
The scans reveal that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggressiveness resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex.
The differences are likely to have been forged in the womb or in early infancy, says Ivanka Savic, who conducted the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden
There's probably a few things that happen that are not considered good by most societies today. Stuff like incest, cannibalism, murder, rape, homosexuality, polygamy, and other things. Even the concept of might makes right is frowned upon by most of us. If we want to follow nature's example, I'd be able to take however many wives I wanted as long as I could beat up their husbands.
I can't believe people see things so black and white.
Obviously just because animals rape each other or eat each other doesn't mean we should emulate them. But homosexuality doesn't equate to the other examples given on any level, so I don't see the validity of such an argument.
[quote=Fullback32;10160271]I don't know why some folks can't just leave those people alone. If god has a problem with it, let it deal with it. Why do they bother some so much? For the most part, they just want to be left alone and live their lives in peace. The loud-mouth activists do not represent the majority of the gay population just as the loud-mouth activists do not represent the majority of other groups. I've often wondered if these people who are so vehemently opposed to them ever really got to know a gay person?
I had a very good friend that was gay. He was no different than anyone else I knew, except for that. I didn't even know he was gay for a long time until he felt comfortable enough to tell me. It did not change our friendship at all. What had changed? He was still the same good person and friend I had always known and I called brother. He never "hit" on me or tried to convert me or any of the other nonsense fundies accuse gay people of. He had fun, danced in the powwows, laughed and joked, was there for his friends, would give you the shirt of his back, listened, loved his family...just like anyone else. BTW, no, he did not die of AIDS...I know some of you fundies were already thinking that. If maybe they got to actually know someone who was gay, maybe they'd see that they are just people. If they were treated as such, then the activists would go away. That's honestly all they want....to be treated as people. Why are fundies incapable of doing that?[/quote]
It's the same concept as abortion, pure and absolute control.
We all simply have one of two choices, whether we're gays or straights.
We can either live their way, or we can live their way.
No, I'm not. If you read my post again, you'll see I said scientists think a combination of genes may affect sexual orientation and that sexuality is quite complex.
Huh? Being gay or straight is not a choice. Who you have sex with is a choice, but orientation is not.
Disagree? Then I have a question to ask...
When exactly did you choose to be straight?
My observation is that it is not a light-switch paradigm, but more of a long see-saw. Genetic predispositions weigh on one side of the lever, social and survival instincts and behavioral conditioning weigh on the other.
Thus, in some societies the weights make it easier for someone predisposed to homosexuality to fully develop that behavior, in others it is not developed, or is repressed (in the individual). This correlates to studies in other social animals such as rats, where overpopulation and limited resources lead to much higher rates of homosexuality and infanticide.
I can't believe people see things so black and white.
Obviously just because animals rape each other or eat each other doesn't mean we should emulate them. But homosexuality doesn't equate to the other examples given on any level, so I don't see the validity of such an argument.
You tell me. I've heard people make the point on numerous occasions that because it occurs in nature it must be healthy and "natural".
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