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Are people born gay?

Yes? No? Let’s find out…

This debate has been going on for a long time. Some people think that sexual orientation—being gay, straight, bisexual, and so on—is one of the many features we are born with.

Others think that environmental factors, such as where we’re raised or what happens to us during childhood, determine or influence sexual orientation.

The more scientists study sexual orientation, the more they believe that it is just something we are born with—part of who we are.

Are there factors that can influence?

Scientists have conducted several studies to investigate whether certain factors—such as culture, social environment, genetics, or traumatic events—influence a person’s sexual orientation.

None of these studies have produced convincing evidence of a connection between sexual orientation and any particular factor (or combination of factors).

Instead, evidence suggests that no single factor makes us straight, gay, bisexual, or something else. It’s just the way we are.

Homosexuality is not a disease

There is a misguided belief that homosexuality is a disease. This is not true. It is wrong to assume that.

People with different sexual orientations are NOT sick. Sexual orientation (being straight, gay, bisexual, etc.) is one of the many aspects of a person.

Think of it this way: People with green eyes are in the minority, but that doesn’t mean green-eyed people have some sort of disease. The same is true for sexual orientation.

Can people change their sexual orientation?

The debate on whether psychotherapy can be used to change one’s sexual orientation has been going on for a long time. In the past two decades the vast majority of the medical community has come to the following conclusions:

Non-heterosexual people are perfectly normal, and they have nothing that needs to be cured or repaired.

Since sexual orientation is a predetermined feature of a person, it cannot be changed, especially under duress.

On the other hand, there can be a natural shift in sexuality. Some people change preferences of who they love or are attracted to. However, this has to be a personal decision and should not be influenced by societal pressure, pressure from family and friends, or religious beliefs.

Human beings possess sexual flexibility that we often admit or even explore.

Therapy aimed at changing one’s sexual orientation is not only ineffective but also potentially very harmful.

Over to you, do you think that people can change their sexual orientation? Talk to us in the comments section.