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Originally Posted by quicksteal
Gilda, you're right to point out that "homosexuality is wrong" is a value judgement, but it's apparent that you have made your own value judgements about the issue.
"Normal" and "healthy" are both value judgements on your part in the context of today's society.
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Sorry, no. That homosexuality is normal and healthy is the consensus conclusion of the medical and psychological community in the US.
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So I hope that you do not use these terms to describe homosexual behavior in the natural environment of humans, since you don't want our fellow poster to use the term "wrong".
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Context. In the context of the biological imperative to reproduce and pass on genes, I don't think that "right" and "wrong" are appropriate. Successful and unsuccessful are better suited, I believe.
In the context of what the laws and social mores should be concerning homosexual behaviors, what the physical and psychological effect homosexuality has on the individual and on society, normal and healthy are entirely appropriate descriptors.
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I'm glad that you posted the original article...it is interesting and insightful. It should not surprise anyone if there is some genetic basis for homosexuality. There have been homosexuals for at least 2000 years--the behavior was common enough to be mentioned in the Bible multiple times. This would suggest to me that it is in the nature of some people to be sexually attracted to their own gender.
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Though I don't believe that the bible is an accurate source of historical information, I'm in general agreement so far.
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Whether or not we choose to act according to our nature is what makes humans so beautiful. Humans are naturally selfish--we lie, cheat, steal, etc. to our own advantage--yet we are also able to come together and forsake what is in our nature in order to be unselfish for the benefit of others.
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I think humans also have in their natures a great capacity for love and generosity, but otherwise, I agree. Choosing to act unselfishly for the benefit of others is one of the great qualities of humanity.
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My argument about homosexuality is that it may be perfectly natural for some, but that doesn't mean that it is appropriate to engage in homosexual behavior. I believe that it is a self-serving sexual act that is done in the exclusion of love (I make the same argument about heterosexual sex outside of marriage).
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Self serving? Often, but it is also often done in for the benefit of another, and most often, if done right, for mutual benefit. To the exclusion of love? Not even close. I can assure you that I love my wife and she loves me. What we do with each other is an expression of our love for each other, not to the exclusion of it. Also because it's fun.
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And getting back to that, if there is some "gay gene" (or five of them), it would take many, many generations for it to be taken out of the population if most homosexuals chose not to reproduce. But it's only been socially acceptable to be gay for maybe 50 years...and that's in America. If I was gay during the Spanish Inquisition, the first thing I'd to is find the first woman who would marry me whether I liked her or not and start making babies as fast as possible to keep anyone from being suspicious of my sexual orientation. So, really, there may have been a sociological incentive for homosexuals to reproduce until recently in a limited part of the globe.
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I'm paraphrasing from my therapist this afternoon on the causes of homosexuality:
We know almost for certain that male homosexuality is fixed at birth and is caused primarily or exclusively by variant hormone levels during gestation. Most gay males tend to identify as such prior to puberty, often as early as four or five. All of the evidence, both biological and psychological, is consistent with this explanatiion. The evidence is not quite as strong, but points to a similar, though different, cause for MTF transsexuality.
Female homosexuality has been less studied, and thus much less is known at this point about the origins, but it seems to be a case of multiple causes leading to the same effect. The most common correlation is that lesbians as a class tend to be much more likely to have had at least one male abuser in their pasts, usually in childhood, than straight women. In at least some cases lesbianism seems to be chosen, while in others it seems to have been present from puberty or earlier. Multiple factors influencing and leading to the same result. It's all natural, though.
Gilda