Tom

It used to be an easy thing to change my avatar but now I can't even find the avatar page! Did they get rid of them? It just wants me to add a photo of myself. Does know one value privacy anymore?

I haven't been on YA for a while and I was so surprised when I was reading some of the passages today and saw a lot of people either bashing bisexuals or saying just weird stuff about them.

I've heard the thing about a lot of gay guys saying they're bi because they feel it is slightly more socially acceptable, but some people on here were even saying that bisexuality doesn't exist! Or that if it does exist, "liking both [sexes] is not possible except through forcing or choice."

And these are not bigots; they're people here, on this page, who label themselves as homosexual (many of them) and get mad at other people for saying their sexual preferences are a choice.

For real people? I'm shocked at the close mindedness and insensitivity, especially in this part of YA.

Anyway, for the question part:

Do you think it's hypocritical for some people to insist that their sexual orientation is not a choice while saying in the same breathe that someone else's is?

I mean lesbians are gay. It's not like gay specifically refers to men. Or at least it didn't used to. Maybe it changed while I was under a rock or something.

Anyway, I find it offensive. I say either lesbians are gay too or we need a new word for gay men.

While we're at it, what would your new male-specific word for gay be?

It has become increasingly popular among some people to say that being gay is something you're born with and is an unchangeable, unquestionable force. I personally do not agree with this. I give way more credit to nurture over nature when it comes to sexuality. Once you have heterosexual or homosexual tendencies they may be permanently ingrained, so it's not a choice, but it's far from genetic.

I haven't even seen any sufficient evidence to suggest that the origins of sexuality start it the womb. I've seen correlational studies (like 80% of gay men like something, but only 30% of straight men like it) which suggest that sexual preferences follow certain trends, but again nothing to explain how or why these differences might have manifested in different individuals.

I understand why people WANT being gay to be genetic. It takes a lot of the social pressure off of someone and more importantly it would then make homosexuality a protected class (giving them equal rights to any other race, gender, religion, etc), I just don't see why it NEEDS to be in order for people to feel like their lifestyles are justified.

On a slightly unrelated note, someone posted this earlier and it really got to me: "I believe gay people are born that way. It is not an alternative lifestyle that you choose... Being Bi is an alternative lifestyle. You choose to experiment with the same sex. We all can have sex with anyone and anything, including the family dog."

Does anyone else agree with me that this just doesn't make sense? That if you do believe you are born with a sexual preference, then having a preference for both genders would naturally be included? And what the hell is up with the dog comment?

PS. I'm bisexual

I am so sick of hearing people complain about how they pray and pray and pray and nothing happens when they have done nothing to deserve their prayers being heard.

The way I look at it, God created Man and considers us to his best and most cherished creation. He wants Man to succeed, prosper and be happy. So to please God, you should try to make your fellow Man succeed, prosper and be happy. If you don't do that, then what right do you have to ask God for any favors?

That's how I feel but I'd like to get other people's views on it.

I thought of this question because a friend of mine recently got a girl pregnant and he's only 19. I was talking with him and my BF about what he was going to about it and found out my BF is Catholic. Well, I knew he was raised Catholic, but didn't know he practiced. Anyway, we got in a disagreement about whether the girl should have an abortion or not (I know it's ultimately the girl's decision, but we were just talking hypotheticals) and it got me thinking how having different religions can sometimes cause conflict within a relationship. I imagine even more once people get married.

So I was wondering: Would you ever end up with someone from a different religion?

Which religion would you want your kids learning?

Just for fun, can you think of some horrible or just plain funny religion combinations for couples?

I'm not trying to put Christians in the spot light or anything. The question just occurred to me randomly. They didn't really cover that detail in history class so I was wondering if anyone knew what religion Adolf Hitler associated himself with.

I've heard rumors that he might have been born from a Jewish parent, but I don't really care about his origins personally. I just want to know what he himself thought was the right way of the world.

Ok so I'm white and live in America and hear black people around me mention slavery over and over again like it's just ended. Then, in the middle of an argument yesterday, a black guy just randomly said I had no right to argue with him because of slavery.... Seriously? The argument wasn't even about race (we were talking about Cain and his sexual harassment bullsh*t)

Here's why I think black people should get over it:

1) At the time in history, slavery was pretty common. In fact, it's only in very recent years that slavery has become taboo or "wrong". For the other 400,000 years or so of human history, slavery was just a way of life for the unlucky people.

2) It was the dominant tribes in Africa (other black people) who sold slaves to the Spaniards and English who then brought them to the Americas. So yeah, blame us for the ride, but it was your neighbors who put you in the situation

3) If slavery never occurred in the US, all the black people here would still be in Africa. So basically, they would either still be slaves, be starving, have typhoid fever or malaria, or have AIDS.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not pro-slavery and, even though I may sound like it, I'm not racist either. I just really don't like current-day black people saying that white people are at fault for slavery and acting like we owe them something for what their great-great-great-great-grandparents went through.

And yeah, I know people are still racist and bigots and all that stuff, but that's an individual preference. I'm just talking about being blamed for something that ended before I was even born.