Originally Posted by guy44

My God, alansmithee, you really don't get it. At all. You really think that homosexuality is the act of engaging in gay sex.

Unbelievable.

Let me engage with your logic for a moment. If I understand you correctly, "gay = engages in sex with members of the same sex." I assume that, therefore, "straight = engages in sex with members of the opposite sex."

Now, what if you are a virgin? What does that make you? You aren't engaging in sex with men or women. When you were a virgin, did you consider yourself "straight?" If so, how could you? You weren't engaging in sex with someone of the opposite gender?

My guess, and obviously I don't know yet what you considered or consider yourself, but my guess is that you considered yourself straight. The thought of having sex with guys didn't really do anything for you. However, thinking about women...well, that got your libido going. I know it has for me.

So you probably labeled yourself straight, as I did. Even before you ever had sex with anyone.

Therefore, you might understand why I can't quite see how one's sexual orientation is entirely defined by who they are actively sleeping with.

Sexual orientation is something you are born with. My lesbian friends discovered, well before they slept with anyone, that the thought of men did nothing for their libidos, but the thought of sleeping with women did. Vice-versa for my gay friends. It wasn't a matter of who they were having sex with, but a biological factor that defined for them their sexual orientation.

So don't tell me that homosexuality can't be a biological determinate because nobody would ever "come out of the closet." Coming out of the closet is when a gay person reveals to others that they are not straight. Not because they recently made a choice to become gay, or because they just had sex with someone of the same gender. It is because often, a gay person faces discrimination and abuse for simply being themselves. That is why there is the proverbial closet. That is why, because society punishes them so simply for being gay, many make an attempt attempt to have sex with members of the opposite sex and even get married, despite their true feelings. It is assumed that is what Governor McCreevy did.

You are right that I cannot just decide - bam - I don't want to be white anymore. But neither can homosexuals decide - bam - I don't want to be gay anymore. It isn't a choice.

Let me ask you, alansmithee - when was it that you decided that you would rather be straight than gay (or gay than straight, I don't know)? What went into that decision? How long did you think it over? When were you sure?

My guess is that you just always knew, same as me, same as my homosexual friends.

And I'm not even getting into scales of sexual orientation, the mere concept of which may just blow your mind.