Homosexuality In Society

How Does Homosexuality Affect The Lives Of Young Adults?

Many anti-gay groups are keen to show that homosexuality is "learned behavior". From this they try to infer that it can be unlearned. Since there is increasing evidence that many aspects of personality are to a degree genetically determined, this is liable to be a losing battle. Some commentators hope that such groups will have to accept gays when they are proved wrong on this issue.

While biological research is finding impressive correlations involving the homosexual condition, up to a third of homosexuals do not exhibit any of those biological traits identified as correlative. Furthermore, the social and cultural expression of sexuality has varied greatly over time and culture. In some societies virtually all men seem to have had some homosexual relationships during their lives, in others very few. So it is clear that patterns of sexual behavior are culturally formed. In this sense, sexuality is indeed "learned behavior". One of the important processes in almost all cultural constructions is the process of reification whereby arbitrary cultural conventions come to be regarded as "natural". One observable reification is the belief of many modern heterosexuals that their pattern of sexual behavior is "natural". Another would be the belief of many gay people that they were "made that way".

The moral issue is not really about "choice" or "non-choice". While people who argue that they did not have a choice regarding their sexuality may be correct, such a statement has no moral force. Indeed it may seem to imply that "if I did have a choice, I would not have chosen to be gay". In other words the contention of the anti-gay forces that homosexuality is wrong is implicitly accepted, and one is making a "special pleading" argument.

To the degree that a person is