Analysis of Homosexuality in Society

We are now in the 20th century, where most now have open minds and feel more open and free to be how they truly are. Also, many people are coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, pansexual and more. During 2016 - 2018 alone, thousands of people came out compared to the years beforehand. But where are all of these people coming from? Is it a trend? Could it possibly just be that people are getting comfortable in this day and age to come out of the closet? Or is it the new set of genetics entering the new generation? Many have debated and others have even began doing experiments to find the answers to these questions.

But not everyone thinks in the scientific way.

“People are gay because they were influenced some time in their lives. Most likely when they were little and they saw someone doing it around them.” says Pastor Ronnie Butler of Fishers of Men. While some believe homosexuality is a choice or influenced some think otherwise. On the other side of the spectrum, people like scientist and theorist believe that somewhere hidden in the human genes there is a ‘gay gene’. This ‘gay gene’ is the key to unlock the puzzle to being gay and it is also the answer to thousands of questions asked about homosexuality.The US News Civic also feels this way in their article ‘ Scientist May Have Finally Unlocked Puzzle of Why People Are Gay”. “A group of scientist suggested that homosexuals get that trait from their opposite sex parents,” states US News Civic, “ A lesbian will almost always get the trait from her father, while a gay man will get the trait from his mother.” Although this statement makes some sense, one could still say that this can fall under the opinion that sexual orientation is influenced.

What is influence? And how does this affect us? To be influenced is to have the capacity, to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. So the side of the scale were those who believe that being gay is influenced, wouldn’t you have to have someone close to you who you almost look up to in order to influence you? The answer to that is also debatable. But the majority of the people who believe this way say yes. According to new research by Anthony Bogaert, a psychologist at Brock University in Canada, gay men tend to have older brothers. “The more biological older brothers a man has, the greater his likelihood of being gay.” says Anthony. Nonetheless, it was also said that this lead Bogaert to conclude that a man’s sexual orientation is influenced by the conditions in his mother’s womb when he was a foetus.

However, the scientific side states that two gene variants have been found to be more common in gay men, adding to mounting evidence that sexual orientation is at least partly biologically determined. “In 1993, Dean H. Hammer and colleagues in the US published results from their research that indicated that men specific genes were more likely to be homosexual than were men without those genes,” The Embryo Project postulates, “the study hypothesized that some X chromosomes contain a gene, Xq28, that increases the likelihood of an individual to be homosexual.” Prior to those results, researchers had argued that the cause of homosexuality was environmental and that homosexuality could be altered or reversed. Many preachers believe this way as well. They believe that through God and salvation the ‘evil’ that has come over you will be expelled and the influence to be homosexual will be no more.

Although a number of biological factors have been considered by scientists, such as prenatal hormones, chromosomes, polygenetic effects, brain structure and viral influences. No scientific consensus exists as to how biology influences sexual orientation. What about homosexuality being a trend? Well most young adults believe that it is becoming a trend to be gay. “Are there people right now who identify as homosexual who are, in fact, not homosexual? Almost certainly,” says Braxton Fuller. “ I mean plenty of people in the LGBT community have to pretend to be straight everyday just to be accepted into society, and their families.” Now, it could be said sexual orientation is a trend but, then doesn’t that also fall under the influence of one’s surrounding and environment. Could it fall somewhere in the middle? Where someone feels as though it is wrong so they don’t do it even though it feels natural to them. Some people say that they have been gay or have had homosexual feelings since birth. So does that fall under the biological perspective of things? Many seem to think so.

This belief then contradicts the article, ‘I Am Gay - but I Wasn’t born this way’. “Is sexuality purely the result of our biology?”. Brandon Ambrosino argues that simplistic explanations have ignored the fluid, shape-shifting nature of our desires. The popular understanding of orientation is that it was something you were born with, something you one can not change. “In 1977, just over 10% of Americans thought gayness was something you were born with,” according to Gallup. “That number steadily risen over time and is currently somewhere between 42% and 50%.”. Simon LeVay, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute in San Diego, has found that in homosexual men, part of the anterior hypothalamus , a brain region that governs sexual behavior, has the anatomical form usually found in women rather than the form typical of heterosexual men. That connection raises the possibility that this difference may not only correlate with homosexuality but also play a role in causing it. “If it’s true, the implications are amazing,” says Dennis Landis, a neurologist who studies the brain structure at Case Western Reserve University. “It would begin to suggest why male homosexuality is present in most human populations, despite cultural constraints. It suggests it’s biological phenomenon.”

Qazi Rahman also argues this point in, ‘ ‘Gay Genes’: science is on the right track, we’re born this way. Let’s deal with it.’. Simon Copland argued that it is very unlikely people are born gay, or presumably any other sexual orientation. Qazi Rahman would also go to argue that understanding our fundamental biological nature should make us more vigorous in promoting LGBT rights. Evidence from independent research groups who studied twins shows that genetic factors explain about 25 - 30% of the differences between people in sexual orientation - heterosexual, gay, lesbian, and bisexual. Anna Kosmynina reports that a study has found possible clues about genetic differences between heterosexual and homosexual men, but many scientists are skeptical.

At the same time, in ‘Gay Gene Debunked’, “Vladimir Putin, Robert Mugabe, Pope Francis and other anti-gay world leaders may well rejoice at new scientific research that points to homosexuality as being significantly influenced by pre - and post-birth environmental factors, ” states United Kingdom, Peter Tatchell. The study by Dr. Tuck C. Ngun and his team at the University of California found that an algorithm using epigenetic information from a mere nine regions of the human genome can predict this sexual orientation of males with up to 70% accuracy.

In all things considered, both sides, agreeing and opposing, are making good points, but i feel as though there isn’t a definite right or wrong. On the scientific side there is evidence that their point could be legit, but it hasn’t been proven all over to be factual to the point where it became a worldwide breakthrough. For instance, it’s as saying a woman and another woman can have a child together through the use of one of the participants bone marrow. Yes, experiments have been done to show that one can indeed have a baby by this method but, it has never been used on human. This example can be used for reasoning behind not believing that being homosexual is not biological or hereditary. Yet again, it can also be proven that even though some homosexual experiments come from social environments or gay experiences; who's to say that the individual involved was not already having these desires for the same sex and the current event is what helped them finally ‘ come out the closet’. Some say that if your truly straight, you may falter from your path slightly but, in the end you will remain gay and popular phrases as ‘ everyone’s a little gay’. In conclusion, both sides viewpoint can be seen from but neither side is fully factual nor false.

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