[Union Of V]

The whole "born gay" debate is mostly a more controversial version of the "nature-nurture" debates that are all the rage at the moment. I've discussed (argued) this with a friend of mine who's convinced that the "gay gene" exists (as in there is a gene that will cause the brain to be wired in a such a way as to cause that person to be attracted to people of the same sex). However my argument is that since it's firmly accepted that there is no such thing as absolutes when it comes to sexuality (think of the Kinsey scale), how can the presence or absence of a gene dictate how hetero- or homosexual a person is? (In other words, how does an on/off switch fly a plane?)

What's more, if you look at things from a genetics point of view their sexuality cannot change, so that means a man who chases skirts for most of his life before finally becoming gay did not experience a change in his sexuality, he was only "repressing" his homosexuality. That's well and good, but what about someone who came out, lived through several gay relationships and then finally settles down with a partner of the other sex. Sticking to genetics, it's impossible to explain this other than by outright insulting the person in question by claiming he/she was merely "acting" gay. In the end of the day, our sexual preferences are informed by our past experiences, and experiences aren't something we're born with.

I do think there's a case for saying that certain people are more predisposed to a certain sexuality, but I don't believe that genetics directly affects it. Rather, I think that a person's personality is a large factor in how they perceive their own sexuality, and as such genetics do play a role. However life never stagnates - couples enter relationships with gusto only to leave when they find they've lost their love for each other; people discover they are attracted to that which previously disgusted them, and conversely many lose their interest in activities which formerly aroused them. Is homosexuality still considered such a taboo subject that we have to write "gay" with a capital G and think of gays as a separate species altogether, or can we demystify sexuality and finally accept that people simply change?