Homosexuality - Nature or Nurture?

both... I know MANY lesbians who were BORN gay and the I know some who will admit that they CHOSE to be gay... This is a hard debate to settle especially in this day in age when being gay is "trendy"...

Sexuality Nature Vs Nurture

ABC News 20/20 just did a story on this a few days ago. There is some research going on right now on this issue. The results are expected out later this year. The researcher (listed below) expects to find a mix of both (including a genetic link).

In short, all of the scientific data are not in yet. This question hasn't been resolved yet.

A couple of older sources are:

Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture, The Journal of Homosexuality, Ryan D. Johnson

April 30, 2003

Gay, Straight, and In-Between: The Sexology of Erotic Orientation, John Money

Honestly... I think it's nature. But nurture affects a child heavily as well. I was acting "gay" very early on, before the effects of nurture could set in. But, I was also raised in a very accepting surrounding, which accelerated my realization and confirmation of my sexuality. If things had been reversed, if I had been a masuline child who like to wrestle and fight, and I was raised in a home where homosexuality was frowned upon, then the closet might have stayed for another good ten years. I like boys, but not because of how I was raised. Then again... my sister is gay too. But, we can from the same father... so this evidence could support both nurture and nature. However, I don't see the importance of "Why" we are the way we are. I think that it's more important to focus on things and issues at hand.

I am writing my senior thesis on "the biological basis of sexual orientation" and I've come to the conclusion that sexuality is innate. (Except of course for the people who just jump on the bandwagon, which I cannot understand). There are biological differences in homosexuals and heterosexuals. Things like hypothalamic structure, LH levels, hormones, and genetic factors. I've only just begun my research, but it is very evident that in the scientific world there is no debate on this topic - it is accepted as "nature" not "nurture".

To ask if homosexuality and/or bisexuality is Nature vs Nurture is a moot point.

You would automatically have to ask then if heterosexuality is nature vs nurture. I'm sure everyone would answer "nature"

How one responds to those feelings of attraction either hetero, bi or homo is where Nurture comes into play. The feelings are already inborn. Physical environment, parental teachings, religious or nonreligious upbringing, immediate and extended family attitude, community attitude, exposure to alternate lifestyles, knowledge of acceptance or non acceptance all combine to effect how an individual acts and reacts to their feelings be they hetero, bi or homo. Just as a heterosexual individual whose upbringing has taught them abstinence is the only answer will make their own choices and then choose with whom they will share their decisions and actions so too will a homosexual or bi individual who has been taught heterosexuality is the only option choose if and when to act on his or her feelings and express them to others. Being abstinent doesn't make you any less hetero, bi or homo. Sleeping with someone just to do it doesn't make you hetero, bi or homo either. Nurture either denies us or allows us freedom to grow to whomever we are supposed to be in every area or our lives. Nature makes us who we are, Nurture helps us develop through support or adversity.

i believe its nurture. we had many discussions about this in my psychology classes at uni and a large percentage of my class, as well as the lecturers believed it to be nurture. i discussed this topic in a dissertation in relation to how children are treated by parents, particulary the mother, their balance of friends (more males or females etc), toy and clothing, influence of peers and siblings. according to a large amount of the papers i studied, the result seemed to be that homosexuality is nurtured in a child and they are not simply born that way. i believe that would be impossible without the influences of family, friends and society shaping the individual

Scientific researchers who specialize in human sexuality have shown that homosexuality is linked to biology and genetics, therefore it is nature.

An October 2004 scientific research publication stated that scientists at the University of Padua have found that women tend to have more children when they inherit the same genetic factors linked to homosexuality in men. This fertility boost more than compensates for the lack of offspring fathered by gay men, and keeps the “gay” genetic factors in circulation.

A 2005 study reported genetic scans showing a clustering of the same genetic pattern among gay men on three chromosomes - chromosomes 7, 8, and 10. The regions on chromosome 7 and 8 were associated with male sexual orientation regardless of whether the man got them from his mother or father. The regions on chromosome 10 were only associated with male sexual orientation if they were inherited from the mother.

A study published in Human Genetics in February 2006 examined X chromosome inactivation in mothers of gay sons and mothers whose sons were not gay. Researchers found extreme differences between women who had gay sons and women who did not.

Another scientific study from 2006 said that researchers have known for years that a man's likelihood of being gay rises with the number of older biological brothers, but the new study found that the so-called "fraternal birth order effect" persists even if gay men were raised away from their biological families. Anthony F. Bogaert, Ph.D., professor at Brock University, said "The research suggests that the development of sexual orientation is influenced before birth."

The older-brother effect was constant regardless of whether the men were raised with natural, adopted or stepbrothers. It also didn't matter if they weren't raised with their biological mothers. If gay younger brothers and older brothers don't have the same home environments, what do they have in common? "They shared the same uterus, the same womb, the same mother," Bogaert said.

In addition to these studies, there have also been twin studies where identical twins are compared to fraternal twins. If something happens more often in identical twins, then that something is influenced by genes. Numerous studies have shown that homosexuality happens more often with identical twins, which shows that homosexuality has a genetic component.

The 1952 Kallmann study found the correlation to be 100% for identical twins and 15% for fraternal twins; the 1968 Heston & Shields study found the correlation to be 50% for identical twins and 14% for fraternal twins; the 1991 Buhrich, Bailey, & Martin study found the correlation to be 47% for identical twins and 0% for fraternal twins; the 1991 Bailey & Pillard study found the correlation to be 52% for identical twins and 22% for fraternal twins; the 1993 Whitam, Diamond, & the Martin study found the correlation to be 65% for identical twins and 29% for fraternal twins. In a study exclusively with lesbian identical twins, the 1993 Bailey, Pillard, Neale, & Agyei study found the correlation to be 48% for identical twins and 16% for fraternal twins.

Well, my "nurture" was very anti-gay. So I'd have to go with "nature."

Nature! It's genetic!