What are some evidences against gayness being inborn?

Answer 1

1. Some LGBTs claim they chose their orientation, though they claim it was a partial choice.

2. A common argument for gayness being inborn is that if something causes gayness, then people could choose not to be gay on demand. That is not true. Those who claim to have chosen gayness also say that it is mostly a one-shot deal. The argument that if gayness is chosen or caused by the environment that it should be easy to stop ignores how the brain works. Many people suffer from PTSD. They were neither born with it nor chose it. As you get older, the brain is less flexible and less open to change. Things related to the emotions and personality are not connected through the brain organs related to learning. So things are harder to get stored in areas related to emotions and personality. That is why boot camp environments and programs like Landmark Education are so effective in bringing lasting behavioral changes. They reduce the persons emotional defenses to cause lasting changes. Also, as you age, synaptic pruning occurs. So you lose the ability for neurons to alter things in nearby neurons, making it harder to change certain types of beliefs and behaviors.

3. Defensiveness. If someone was born with something unusual, it seems they would be more likely to take criticism of their situation in stride, since they know deep down that it is not a choice and that they are not responsible. The truth never needs an emotional defense, since the truth can stand on that realm by itself. The more self-imposed something is, the more emotional defense is necessary. So, it is possible that there are both people who are born gay and those who become gay during their lifetime. Now, even if this is true, both groups deserve the same rights and protections.

4. People choose inconvenient or noble things all the time. People choose to fight in unpopular wars and choose unpopular religions. Some schools and colleges have the phrase "gay until graduation." So it is plausible that people will choose things that cause themselves deep pain if the perceived benefits outweigh the perceived pain.

5. Just as much evidence could suggest that bisexuality is the norm, and that many people simply lose the ability to love both genders equally. A few bisexuals pathologize both gayness and heterosexuality.

(Answer 2)

I can't think of a single piece of evidence to suggest that homosexuality arises solely from environmental factors. What may be confusing the issue is a failure to distinguish between homosexual behaviour and homosexual orientation.

Homosexual behaviour is endemic in environments where 'normally' heterosexual males are forced continually into each other's company with no other sexual outlets - think prison or the armed forces - Winston Churchill said that the three great traditions of the British Navy were rum, sodomy and the lash.

So homosexual behaviour need not imply homosexual orientation. In fact homosexual orientation is by-and-large a self-assesment. Even if there were scientific tests that could accurately determine homosexual orientation they would be of little use since homosexual orientation does not necessarily lead to homosexual behaviour - gay celibates, repressive societies, self repression, fear of disease and so on.

Perhaps a better way to consider the question is like this: if homosexuality were entirely the result of environment and socialisation then that implies that all children are born heterosexual but some become gay. Since children in our society are not responsible for their own welfare and have no control over their own environments than we must conclude that their homosexuality is beyond their control and has been caused by their parents, their teachers, their families and neighbours and other environmental factors. If this were so then homosexuality would not be stigmatised - it would be the parents or schools who would be blamed and imprisoned or fined - not their innocent victims. That this is not so indicates a tacit acknowledgement in our society both that there is a genetic component to homosexuality and those that most have children's welfare at heart are powerless to alter this predisposition.