Is Homosexuality A Matter Of Genetics Or A Matter Of Choice?

1 word. Both!

It is not a matter of choice.
Sexual orientation is a combination of genetic *and* in-utero hormones.
One is born wired to be gay, straight or bi, just as one is wired to be born left-handed, right-handed, or ambidextrous.
EDIT: As for situational homosexuality, as in prisons, that is a temporary phenomenon springing from desperation, and has more to do with sheer horniness than with love or true and deep attraction.

A study of prison populations says 90% choice.
Gay activists who want to claim civil rights protection say 100% genetic.
The answer above in/re epigenetics I find very interesting. Probably a good area to apply for a research grant.
Don’t expect very many honest answers on this one. Politics has tainted the subject beyond redemption. You can’t claim discrimination because you are outside the area society considers acceptable if it is a matter of choice. You can if it is a matter on genetics. Strange old world, ain’t it?

Personally, I believe that it is related to epigenetics, which would explain why some times identical twins raised in the same home, by the same parents, in the same exact way, occasionally have one gay twin, and one straight twin.
Epigenetics are related to every thing in your life. From places you go, what you drink, and what you eat, to how many times you scraped your knees or what medicines you have taken. Epigenetics are what turn parts of your DNA on and off, because obviously, not all parts of your DNA are active all the time, in every cell (for instance, parts of your DNA for growing toenails, are not active in your liver).
DNA in twins is the same through out their life, but their epigenetics change. New born twins will have the same epigenetics, by five, there are many differences, and by 13 you would never know that they were twins.
Watch the discovery channel at 9pm tonight(Sunday) there is going to be a show on Twins, and it will touch on the subject of sexuality among twins.

Scientific researchers specializing in human sexuality have shown that homosexuality is genetic.
Scientific research publications from October 2004 and June 2008 stated that scientists have found that women tend to have more children when they inherit the same genetic factors linked to homosexuality in men. This fertility boost more than compensates for the lack of offspring fathered by gay men, and keeps the “gay” genetic factors in circulation.
A 2005 study reported genetic scans showing a clustering of the same genetic pattern among gay men on three chromosomes – chromosomes 7, 8, and 10. The regions on chromosome 7 and 8 were associated with male sexual orientation regardless of whether the man got them from his mother or father. The regions on chromosome 10 were only associated with male sexual orientation if they were inherited from the mother.
A study from 2006 said that researchers have known for years that a man’s likelihood of being gay rises with the number of older biological brothers, but the new study found that the so-called “fraternal birth order effect” persists even if gay men were raised away from their biological families & that “the research suggests that the development of sexual orientation is influenced before birth.”

i find it funny that the person blames politics for the dispute and says not to expect honest answers. you directed the question towards gay/lesbians. who would better know whether or not it was a choice? i know i didnt choose to be a lesbian. personally, i’ve always known that i wasnt attracted to the opposite sex. im not a scientist so i cant say it’s genetic. but i know that i was made this way.
PS: is britney a closet dyke?

I doubt there is a single defining factor. I know it would be easier if we could say it is down to factor “X” but that’s simply not the case. Regards active conscious choice though, I have to ask who would choose to be be gay? Now with the dust settling, there are bound to have been people who say it is purely choice, but if true, then why are bisexuals, well umm bi?

It’s definitely not a choice. I never decided to be gay. I’ve always been like this.
I don’t know if it’s genetic. It doesn’t seem to run in families so that would suggest that it’s not a gene. But all I know is that straight people are born straight and gay people are born gay. They might not realise their sexuality until much later on in life, but that doesn’t mean that they decided to become gay.

1. I think you mean genetics or environment (nature vs. nurture). No one ever goes “You know what? I think I am going to love women!” It just happens, there is no conscious choice.
2. I think it’s genetics. There have been studies that show similarities between the brains of gay men and those of hetero women.http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/17/…
3. Who cares? Even if it was a product of environment it shouldn’t matter.

I’m not sure if it’s genetic, but I’m sure that it’s biological. If I had the ability to choose who I did and did not find attractive, I’d have workshops to train others how to do this as well. There are SO many women who fall for ‘bad boys’ and ‘thugs’ and they’d pay me big bucks to train them to no longer think such men are sexually appealing.
I’d be a millionaire! Mwahaha!

Ones ‘sexual orientation’ is NOT a choice. Ask yourself why anyone would ‘choose’ to do something that most people find repugnant… Simple: they wouldn’t. Now, ask yourself why anyone would ‘choose’ to do something ‘repugnant’ just so they can be hated, discriminated against and, in general, live a life of misery and pain…some even being murdered for it… Simple: they wouldn’t. By far the vast majority of people ‘go right straight toward the Bible’ when they ‘FIRST’ should try studying Sacred Scriptures…their background…the history…the socioeconomic conditions as the time the Holy Word was recorded…the MANY different interpretations over the centuries, etc…let alone trying to interpret Sacred Scripture with care and compassion… For those who cannot, or refuse to, understand that…then ‘simply’ explain what Jesus, the Christ, meant when He said, “you know the letter of the law, but you’ve lost the ‘spirit’ of the law”… Once you know what ‘that’ means you might begin to understand Sacred Scripture as something a LOT more than just the printed Word… Had those people who called themselves Christian and voted ‘for’ Proposition 8 in California understood what Jesus meant, there wouldn’t have been one single vote ‘for’ it… Like the Bible says, “the road to Hell is paved with ‘good’ intentions”…

genetics:

I’m not gay/lesbian but really, who gives a crap whether or not its genetics or choice, people are people so why does it matter

No one knows for sure. But I know no one who is gay who chose to be gay.

I am NOT gay at all but I would have to say Choice no one is born gay God wouldn’t do that to them.

I use to give a really long answer to this but it gets asked so often, you really only need two words. BORN GAY!

Its a choice…when your a child I dont think that somebody knows what that even means…its how you get treated by the opposite sex and besides when your a baby…r u really thinking about that!!!!!