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<p>So much for fighting for “their” freedom!</p>
<p>It seems to me (50+ years experience) that all sexuality is preferenced at birth. Having said that, I think there is no set-in-stone sexuality, only a variably strong preference. I have also observed that males seem to have a greater affinity to ether be solely heterosexual or homosexual, much more so than females. </p>
<p>Females seem to have the ability to be very chameleon like in their sexual identity, especially in their youth. Hence the not unusual, “Gay Till Grad” or “Just experimenting” or “Girl on girl make-outs” (very common these days) and the very high incidence of open homosexuality in formally heterosexual female inmates in prison phenomenon that always reverses itself upon release.</p>
<p>“There must be a geographic influence as well. I mean, after all, there are no gays in Iran.”</p>
<p>I don’t know of ANYONE who has ever said such a thing, except for Americans.</p>
<p>ha! mini…did you know there are TWO of these threads in progress? go see the other one, if you think this one is bad!!! :p</p>
<p>Mini - are you not aware of Akmedinijad’s(that was a spelling disaster) proclaimation that there were no gays in Iran, and that it was an American problem.</p>
<p>DSC: As has been said many times, he said that they have no gays in Iran “like you have here”, which in context almost certainly meant openly practicing homosexuals. While the media seized on the comment as a ridiculous one (as many of his others were), a closer investigation reveals that, once again, critical reading is important to discerning the real meaning of a statement.</p>
<p>so, um, briefly from the perspective of a mostly-homosexual teenager:</p>
<p>I was raised Catholic, went to catholic school, etc. In 6th grade all of a sudden I realized I was attracted to girls. I was very upset (understatement of the year!) and proceeded to do everything I could think of to ‘change’ my orientation: I went to church every sunday without complaint, confessed my feelings of “sexual deviancy” (yes, I used those exact words), prayed to God every single night before bed, “please make me normal.”</p>
<p>Flash forward six years and after a few fastballs to the head-type realizations (and several really brutal relationships that I’m sure will provide excellent fodder for when I’m 35 and in therapy) I have realized that God made me who I am for a reason. See, if engaging in homosexual activities were sinful, that would leave me with two options to live a “good” life: a) abstain from sex, or b) marry a man even though I tend not to be attracted to men more than superficially. Neither of those would make me happy. God wants all His children to be happy, so therefore… I should embrace my homosexuality!</p>
<p>So, basically, it’s not a choice or I’m sure I’d be just another boring straight girl vying for the attentions of the three attractive guys in my school. Instead I “chose” to be fabulous(ly gay). Seriously, though, if I were given the choice right now, I wouldn’t change… you know why? Because I have the support of everyone around me. Sure, the rumors about me that my emotionally unstable ex-girlfriend spread after I broke up with her were, quite frankly, nasty (to contrast: the one boy I dated doesn’t even remember who I am. granted, he’s done so many drugs I don’t know if he knows his own name, but still. boys don’t do that stuff). And yeah, I get “you’re a lesbian? but you’re so pretty/smart/skinny/whatever!” ALL THE TIME. But overall, I consider myself a very well-adjusted teenager, because I have a support system. That’s incredibly important- teenage suicide rates are highest in teens who are gay. We need you (adults) to show us that there are people out there who support us and accept us, especially during high school. (which is why I think threads like these, though incredibly interesting to read/participate in, can be counterproductive.)</p>
<p>And now i need to go to bed, because it’s 12:04 AM! (use that as the excuse for spelling/grammer/syntax errors, or just plain stupid remarks. kthx.)</p>
<p>“Mini - are you not aware of Akmedinijad’s(that was a spelling disaster) proclaimation that there were no gays in Iran, and that it was an American problem.”</p>
<p>Never said it. See above. (Be aware: I worked for the U.S. government in Iran, and know just a little Farsi.) In fact, the reality that openly gay folks are also openly persecuted proves that they know differently.</p>
<p>He never said “Israel must be wiped off the map” either.</p>
<p>[Mahmoud</a> Ahmadinejad and Israel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel]Mahmoud”>Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>"Norouzi’s translation is identical. According to Cole (that’s Juan Cole of the University of Michigan), “Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ because no such idiom exists in Persian”. Instead, “He did say he hoped its regime, i.e., a Jewish-Zionist state occupying Jerusalem, would collapse.”</p>
<p>This is, in fact, much less than a bipartisan Act of Congress, at the urging of President Clinton, put forth in the “Iraq Liberation Act of 1998”, which was closely followed by the U.S. kicking the U.N. weapons inspectors out of Iraq, and the largest and most massive aerial bombing of a sovereign nation since the Viet Nam War.</p>
<p>So I read this thread quickly and then the one happycollegemom alluded to, and just about fell out of my chair, but am still a little confused as to the purpose of the op. Why does the question interest you? Are you gay? One of my children is gay and I do not believe anyone has a choice in their sexual orientation. Nor do I believe my child was born damaged, defective or sinful. Some of our “Christian” relatives do and feel the born vs choice argument is an interesting one, also whether it is okay (not sinful) to be gay if you aren’t “practicing” and in what ways society or the state is justified in limiting civil rights based on sexual orientation. After insisting on having such “debates” one too many times, they are no longer welcome in our home. The interesting question to me is not whether we choose orientation but how we choose to live in this still very homophobic society. That I struggle with all the time and have no good ideas about at all. Is there anything I could say to change my realtives worldview? – doubtful, but what happens when you insulate yourself from that type of unpleasantness? Does that just contribute to the problem? IMO this was an interesting approach: Some years back while home for freshman winter break one of my sons told me he was bisexual. Because it has been clear since the early teen years that he is very very attracted to women this was a bit of a surprise. Turns out one of his extremely close group of friends had just come out and the rest of the group, after some intense typical late-night college philosophizing had decided that it was impossible to really define and perhaps not necessary to label sexual orientation. Their response was to all identify as bi. Janetlover, if you aren’t in college already I hope you get to go where you can hang out with a similar circle of friends.</p>