Actually, I'm glad that was said.

Date: 4/29/2000
From: Brand_S

It has been shown to some degree that homosexuality isn't as unnatural as was originally thought.

In 1991, psychologists Michael Bailey and Richard Pillard studied the incidence of homosexuality in same-sex siblings. They did a study involving men. They studied identical twins, fraternal twins (who are just as related to each other as non-twin siblings), and adoptive brothers for cases in which one brother is gay. They found that, with identical twins, 52 percent were both gay if one was. With fraternal twins, 22 percent. With adoptive brothers, 11 percent.

The same study was repeated by Bailey using females. They found that it was 48 percent with identical twins, 16 percent with fraternal twins, and 6 percent with adoptive sisters.

There has also been research done on the brain structure of homosexual men. In 1991, Simon LeVay, a neurobiologist, discovered one small difference in homosexual and heterosexual men. There is a small cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus, a peanut-sized area of the brain dealing with survival behaviors, including eating, drinking, and yes, sexual activity. With male homosexuals and female heterosexuals, this cluster is only half as large as that of heterosexual men.

Now, neither of these cases flat-out says that homosexuality is biological, but the correlation is there nonetheless.

Finally, it has also been shown that homosexuality is not always due to childhood experiences. In 1981 Alan Bell and some of his colleagues studied 1000 homosexual men and women, and a control group of 500 heterosexual men and women. They found that homosexuality is not due to an "unpleasant early heterosexual experience," like sexual abuse from a member of the opposite sex. They also found that homosexuality is not the result of an "abonormal relationship between the parents and the child." Bell also found that sexual orientation showed up long before adolescence or even puberty.

Also, it HAS been found using empirical reserach that it IS entirely possible for homosexuality to be determined by chromosomes and genes. This has been proven (albeit not conclusively) time and again.

It has also been found that this so-called "therapy" for gay people to force them to act heterosexual is actually very harmful to the patient's psyche. If homosexuality IS the result of genetics, then this "therapy" forces homosexuals to suppress (or repress) their homosexuality. Freud and a vast number of psychologists succeeding him agree that suppression only leads to trouble.

And yes, if you DO look all this up, it does check out. If you don't believe me, go ahead and find the research yourself. There really is a Michael Bailey, a Richard Pillard, a Simon LeVay, an Alan Bell, and there really was a Sigmund Freud. Now, I'd never pass misinformation purposely like this a la Exec and the other First Wave posters, so if anybody here thinks that I'm wrong about any of this, then please, speak up.

S

Futhermore, arguing non empirically...

Date: 4/29/2000
From: Brand_S

Far too many things in history have been defended by people thinking that it "just isn't right." The reason the KKK was formed was because General Nathan Bedford Forrest thought that seeing black people act like whites "just isn't right." The reason that for hundreds of years men (and even women) thought that women weren't capable of logical reasoning or anything else men can do is because men thought that women having legal rights "just isn't right." This one has caused massive amounts of trouble, and even today in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive, in Afghanistan women are barely (and I MEAN barely) allowed to leave their own houses, and in many countries it's still a law that women can't vote. Heck, women in this country have only been allowed to vote for 80 years.

The primary reason gay marriages haven't been legalized is not due to "scientific research." The reason gay marriages haven't been legalized is because both Congressmen and thousands of Americans think that allowing same-sex couples or even single heterosexual people to be treated the same way as everybody else "just isn't right." I personally think that this is yet another civil rights obstacle to overcome, and we still have yet to actually practice what the Constitution and organized religion says about everyone being equal in the eyes of the law and God.

S

Whoops. Typo...

Date: 4/29/2000
From: Brand_S

There's that sentence in my last reply. It reads, "The reason gay marriages haven't been legalized is because both Congressmen and thousands of Americans think that allowing same-sex couples or even single heterosexual people to be treated the same way as everybody else 'just isn't right.'" Needless to say, that should read like this...

The reason gay marriages haven't been legalized is because both Congressmen and thousands of Americans think that allowing same-sex couples or even single homosexual people to be treated the same way as everybody else "just isn't right."

That's better.

S

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Nominated by Brand_S