What Makes People Gay? - Boston Globe

[Kire]

What Makes People Gay?
The debate has always been that it was either all in the child's upbringing or all in the genes. But what if it's something else?

By Neil Swidey | August 14, 2005

With crystal-blue eyes, wavy hair, and freshly scrubbed faces, the boys look as though they stepped out of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. They are 7-year-old twins. I'll call them Thomas and Patrick; their parents agreed to let me meet the boys as long as I didn't use their real names.

Spend five seconds with them, and there can be no doubt that they are identical twins - so identical even they can't tell each other apart in photographs. Spend five minutes with them, and their profound differences begin to emerge.

Patrick is social, thoughtful, attentive. He repeatedly addresses me by name. Thomas is physical, spontaneous, a bit distracted. Just minutes after meeting me outside a coffee shop, he punches me in the upper arm, yells, "Gray punch buggy!" and then points to a Volkswagen Beetle cruising past us. It's a hard punch. They horse around like typical brothers, but Patrick's punches are less forceful and his voice is higher. Thomas charges at his brother, arms flexed in front of him like a mini-bodybuilder. The differences are subtle - they're 7-year-old boys, after all - but they are there.

When the twins were 2, Patrick found his mother's shoes. He liked wearing them. Thomas tried on his father's once but didn't see the point.

When they were 3, Thomas blurted out that toy guns were his favorite things. Patrick piped up that his were the Barbie dolls he discovered at day care.

When the twins were 5, Thomas announced he was going to be a monster for Halloween. Patrick said he was going to be a princess. Thomas said he couldn't do that, because other kids would laugh at him. Patrick seemed puzzled. "Then I'll be Batman," he said.

Their mother - intelligent, warm, and open-minded - found herself conflicted.

More: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/08/14/what_makes_people_gay/?page=full

[Inland]

1. The Boston Globe makes people gay? OMG Santorum was RIGHT!

making joke at the thread title.

[Kire]

3. LOL

[TaleWgnDg]

11. This is a duplicate . . . see DU GLBT Issues thread . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x14996

[Ian David]

2. I think Rick Santorum makes people gay. n/t

[kweerwolf]

9. If Little Rickie Santorum was my own choice for a partner ...

... I think I'd be scared "straight"!!!!! :wow:

[Roland99]

4. I thought it was indoctrination by "free-thinking" liberals?

:shrug:

[Dogmudgeon]

5. What's the big deal?

Some people are Gay. Most people are not. And most people in either group think it's more important to accept people as they are than as we would like them to be. Even most of the religious folks in this country affirm that "God made Gays, too".

This right-wing crusade is running out of steam. In ten years, the anti-Gay zealots will blush with shame when the "bad old days" are called to mind. And being Gay will be no big deal at all.

--p!

[SteppingRazor]

6. I think having sex with people of the same gender makes people gay

:evilgrin:

[Inland]

7. Maybe not. Did you see the article in the Onion?

"Why Won't Gays Stop Sucking My Dick?" The author was confused as to why gay men were constantly having sex with him, a straight male.

[Kire]

10. willingly, yes

[bluestateguy]

8. This is a no win issue for gay rights activists

If you prove homosexuality is biologically genetic then the Right will demand that homosexuality be treated as a biological disease.

If you prove that homosexuality comes from one's social background and/or upbringing then you give credence to the people on the Right who argue that it is a "lifestyle choice" that can be "changed" through "reparative therapy"

The Right has two different playbooks to respond to whatever the scientific findings say.