Comment

Comment by Anne Halligan on August 30, 2009 at 11:52pm

I was relieved till she said she would rather have a gi joe boy...Still she is allowing him his own identity which is wonderful. I suspect you're on to something with the transgender issue, though too often homosexuality and transgender are considered one and the same.

Comment by Sentient Biped on August 30, 2009 at 11:47pm

The 60 mnutes episode would be especially useful for parents who question their own role min their child's sexual identity. I wondered if the 'gay' little boy wont really turn out to be transgender. He did state that he would rather be a girl. I was so releived to see that his mother was understanding.

Comment by Anne Halligan on August 30, 2009 at 11:43pm

Daniel I agree for the most part. The 'reason's a person is gay are irrelevant to those of us with open minds. However the global villification of homosexuality inevitably leads to research into cause. Don't forget that in your and my living history it was still considered a mental illness. Unfortunately some people will only accept homosexuality if there can be seen to be some organic reason to it. I don't like that and wish it were different, we're not evolved enough yet.

I also agree homophobia ought to be the topic of research - there is after all the phobia tag at the end of it and we know how to treat them. If we use homophobia as a starting point from which to resolve that as a problem, we know we have indeed made progress.

Regards

Comment by Sentient Biped on August 30, 2009 at 11:35pm

It's frustrating that people get hung up on (1) is it a choice and (2) If it's not a choice, is it genetic or environment. I understand the many reasons why people, supportive or not, feel the need to ask these questions, but-

If it's a choice, so what? What's wrong with choosing to be gay? If you find someone who you want to share your body, and your life with, why should anyone feel the need to judge or restrict that choice?

If it's not a choice, OK, we can say this is inborn and therefore it's 'wrong' to discriminate. If it's genetic, parents can stop feeling like they did something wrong. If it's hormonal, ditto.

I think that most people 'know' if they are gay, from too early for it to ever have been a choice. I suspect that some parents can even see it in their child long before they want to admit it to themselves. I suspect that there is a genetic liklihood, that shapes response of the fetus to its hormonal environment, that this is give-and-take with the mother's hormonal response to the fetus, and these are further shaped by environmental and social factors. I suspect there is little choice.

There has been research into the origins, neuroanatomic and biological differences related to sexual orientation. There is probably a social & political role for doing such research. But the bottom line is, if there is nothing wrong with being gay, then we don't need to try to prevent it or cure it. The rest of the world needs to accept that there are gay people around, they need to think of benefits in society for having gay people around, and they need to get over it.

Personally, I would rather we study homophobia - is homophobia a choice? Is it inborn? Can we do twin studies to find out whether there are discordances in homophobic vs. nonhomophobic twins? Can homophobia be cured or treated?

Comment by tbw on August 30, 2009 at 1:38pm

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