@Phillip-George(c)2013:
@ Sorry Adrian, Patty Hearst [not Hurst- SIC] - no excuse, but working from a distant memory.
I'm all for proper spelling, but are you seriously more bothered by that little error than by the suggestion that you are advocating for a mental problem? (You do realise that, unlike homosexuality, Stockholm Syndrome is classified as a psychiatric disorder by the DSM-IV, don't you?) May I suggest working on your priorities?
"....refuse to admit the existence of genuine same-sex attraction?"
I don't. I wished I had Ron Ely's body. Or Bob Marley's stage authenticity. Or NatKingCole's vocals, or Joseph Conrad's creativity, or James Mason's diction/ voice. I'm attracted to all sorts of people. I wish I had Chuck Missler's memory, Winston Churchill's acumen. Eclectic little list.
Sorry if this comes out as aggressive or insulting, but... are you being deliberately obtuse? We are speaking about romantic and sexual attraction here, not about admiration/envy for a remarkable skill or characteristic possessed by a member of the same gender.
I have no doubt a 14 year old can be sexually aroused by a member of the same sex, while holding not much interest to the opposite.
By definition, if someone is genuinely gay, romantic/sexual interest in the other sex is null (though friendship, admiration and so on are perfectly possible and probable, of course). If there is also some genuine attraction to the opposite sex, it is a case of bisexuality leaning toward the gay side.
Of course, a 14 years old gay kid who hasn't come to term with his orientation can be trying to force himself to feel attracted to girls because, well, that is what is expected of a boy in our still-very-heteronormative societies. He may not even be aware that homosexuality exists. I know that when I was that age, my understanding of the notion was fuzzy, to say the least. Of course that was twenty years ago, in a rural environment and it wasn't really a big question for me as I am hetero, but back then while I knew that words like faggot or cocksucker were insults, the idea that people could be attracted to members of their own gender wasn't really clear in my mind.
I doubt the wisdom in necessarily acting on it at all, or forgoing a fairly normal married life for having not been so attracted to women. Plenty of women would help a bi-guy over a hurdle; and tolerate their affairs, discrete or otherwise.
I have no problem with the notion that 14 is a bit young to be sexually active; I rather agree with it, as a matter of fact. But that applies to all 14 years olds, gay, straight, bi or any other orientation. And how is this relevant to gays in general? Some may call them fairies, but gays age like any other human, they do not magically stay eternal teenagers... An adult homosexual is as ready and competent to make romantic decisions as an adult heterosexual.
As for that second part: you seriously imply that it would be better for them to live a lie for the sake of "normality"? To find a beard and to pretend to be straight, no matter how miserable it may make them, said beard and the children that may ensue? I thought that the Bible condemned dishonesty and harming other people a lot more than homosexuality (which only warranted a few passing mentions), and yet here we have you, a Christian, advocating the formers over the latter...
No, I suspect the eating disorders and depressive illnesses, and psychological profile "cofactors" to mental illnesses/ as muted, compulsive behaviors speaks of something, not to be condemned but empathized with. Fetal development plays some role. Family life, role models. This is not black and white. And choice is very involved.
I'm not sure how I should parse your first sentence, but you seem to be implying that homosexuality is a mental illness: the APA (you know, people who actually study mental disorders for a living) disagrees. As for choice being possible, some think it is, if I understand correctly the majority of people actually concerned don't think so, and in any case it doesn't matter: you don't bother people for choosing to be stamps collectors or sports fans, you would have no more right to bother people for being homosexual... (as a matter of fact, to me sports fans are actually repugnant, unlike gays. Doesn't mean that I go out of my way to advocate having them forced to undergo reparative therapy, sports banned on TV and stadiums razed)
In terms of philosophy/ genius Alan Turing is a hero. What would he have done with quantum computing?
Indeed. What new heights could he have reached if he hadn't been treated like a criminal or a madman, forcibly drugged and possibly driven to suicide, all for something that wasn't harming anybody...? (I say possibly because his wikipedia entry states that his death may have resulted from accidental poisoning due to careless handling of chemicals rather than the suicide it was thought to be at the time)
There's also the attraction to naughty sex? Extra marital affairs, forbidden apples. And if naughty isn't just naughty enough there's really dirty out there too. Sometimes body image and self loathing meet the maelstrom. I'm not going to trivialize what people's many experiences are. A bong or getting drunk obviously helps some people engage anyone.
WTF is this supposed to mean? Are you trying to link homosexuality to everything you disapprove? Or claiming that everything you don't like/feel squicked by is baaaaaaaaad and should be outlawed? I must say that I'm getting a real authoritarian/socionormative vibe from you...
A couple of girls/ actual friends seem to have gravitated to gay simply with frustration at lack of any serious attention from men. Female sexual identity seems a little more fluid.
Possibly, yes. Is flexibility supposed to be a bad thing in your world?
Despite your lenghty and wordy posts (pot, kettle, black, I know ^^"), you have yet to give any valid reason to oppose homosexuality. And no, "I find it icky!", "it is a choice!", "it isn't natural!", "tradition/my religion oppose it" are not justifications, and claims like "it destabilizes society!" or "it's bad for the kiddies!" actually need to be demonstrated.
