I don't believe homosexuality even exists. It's a made-up term used to persecute those who display a simple natural variation of sexuality. I don't believe in hetereosexuality either. There's just 'sexuality.' Males and females who prefer romantic and sexual relationships with their own sex have occured throughout human history. The terms though are relatively new. One of the less noble accomplishments of human beings is the inclination to categorize everything. For whatever reason, rather than viewing ourselves as one species, we seem to need to break ourselves up into categories. Free/Oppressed, rich/poor, democrat/republican, straight/gay are just a few examples. But these are all just ideas as concrete as fairy dust but not as pretty.
It doesn't matter what you choose to believe, homosexuality does exist. In most cases, it is the cause of a hormone imbalance. Scientists have done CAT scans/ MRI's on the brains of homosexuals and heterosexuals, the physical make up of their brains ARE in fact, different.
Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14146-gay-brains-structured-like-those-of-the-opposite-sex.html#.Uxp8iYUz16A
Brain scans have provided the most compelling evidence yet that being gay or straight is a biologically fixed trait.
The scans reveal that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggressiveness resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex.
The differences are likely to have been forged in the womb or in early infancy, says Ivanka Savic, who conducted the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
"This is the most robust measure so far of cerebral differences between homosexual and heterosexual subjects," she says.
Who actually CHOOSES to become a homosexual? They were born that way. Has nothing to do with mental illness. Not a shrink and not a doc, but that is what I believe. Who would want the shunning, the ridicule, the hate by CHOICE? Nobody.
Absolutely nobody. That is why it is surprising that the diagnosis of Gender confusion, or more properly, Gender Dimorphism has been taken out, or has never been put in the DSM at all. We now know, and there is more evidence that this is a legitimate hormonally caused abnormality that no one would ever consciously choose for their offspring. There seem to be multiple causes for this abnormal hormonal development syndrome.
A Review of Scientific Research on Homosexuality
http://www.viewzone.com/homosexual.html
In 1959 a report was published with the title, "Organizing action of prenatally administered testosterone propionate on the tissues mediating mating behavior in the female guinea pig" by Charles H. Phoenix, Robert W. Goy, Arnold A. Gerall, and William C. Young [6]. This was one of those "animal studies" -- of interest only to psychologists and neurologists. In 1991, the popular journal, Science, published a paper that revisited the 1959 report and included many more recent studies. Their paper came to the conclusion:
"This finding indicates that INAH [part of the hypothalamus] is dimorphic with sexual orientation, at least in men, and suggests that sexual orientation has a biological substrate." [4]
Ever since Science published the article, I've been waiting for the big changes. But they have been slow. Public opinion still maintains that homosexuals have chosen to live a deviant lifestyle. Some of the worst hate towards homosexuals -- from an anti-homosexual religious group that targets veteran's funerals [below] -- comes from the belief that it is a chosen lifestyle.
Ignorance about the cause of homosexuality has been responsible for many teen suicides as well as violence against teens who are perceived as different by their classmates. School officials, even parents of homosexual children, do little to clarify this condition and seem often to turn away from the issue all together.
. . . . . .
Homosexuality is a congenital condition much like being "left handed". Before you dismiss the analogy remember there were times in history when being left-handed (the archaic meaning of "sinister") meant you were possessed by evil. You could have been hanged, burned, stoned to death or buried alive. Having personally lived in an Arab country, I can assure you that being left-handed was something that I did my best to hide. Today we know that left handedness is the result of excess testosterone slowing the growth of the left-hemisphere in the developing fetal brain.[2] It's not a choice. It's a condition.
Ironically, homosexuality is caused much the same way as being left-handed. Instead of excess testosterone, the developing male fetus receives too little, often too late.
Researchers naturally focus on an organ in the brain called the hypothalamus because it is known to be responsible for gender preference. It is also what is called dimorphic, meaning its structure is different in males and females. There's also differences in the hypothalamus between homosexuals and heterosexuals. Recent studies of the different sections or nuclei have revealed much that was not known before. And there have also been some surprises.
With advances in laboratory technology, a specific region of the hypothalamus, called the sexually dimorphic nucleus (SDN), has been the focus of some interesting research. The SDN is the most conspicuous anatomical male/female difference in the mammalian brain. The nuclei is 3 to 8 times larger in males than in females. Another nuclei of the hypothalamus, INAH-3, reveals that heterosexual males have double the volume of both homosexual and female subjects.
. . . . . .
In 1972, Dr. Ward had no idea that androstendione in male pregnancies would prevent or inhibit the hypothalamus to develop into a healthy male brain, but this stress-related hormone now appears to do just that. The brain makes its gender commitment very early in development and, once committed to either male or female, it can not change.
The interference with environmental testosterone in the later stages of pregnancy does little or nothing to inhibit gender development of the body. By mid-pregnancy, the gonads can produce enough systemic testosterone to develop the body along male plans; however, problems do happen in these later stages [11]. Sometimes the receptors which receive testosterone are defective or greatly reduced in number. This is generally seen as a defect resulting from the initial blocking of testosterone by the presence of other androgens [7]. This can inhibit the effectiveness of testosterone and cause a less effective defeminization.
In Doctor Ward's own words:
"...The present data support the hypothesis that exposure of pregnant rats to environmental stressors modifies the normal process of sexual behavior differentiation in male fetuses by decreasing functional testosterone and elevating androstenedione levels during prenatal development. During stress conditions plasma testosterone emanating from the gonads decreases while adrenal androstenedione rises. The molecular structure of the two androgens, being very similar, it is postulated that the two hormones compete for the same receptor sites. Since androstenedione is a less potent androgen than testosterone, the decrease in male copulatory ability and increased lordotic potential seen in the prenatally stressed animals of the present study would be expected. The relative difference in potency between testosterone and androstendione has been repeatedly demonstrated. [Ibid.]
There is much, much more at this site. Also, it gives a great explanation as to the evolutionary role of homosexuality, as it has clearly been with mankind for eons.
The point here, is that this condition has been more widely studied than the mysterious condition of ADHD, or even Autism, which both have prevalence in the DSM.
What is the purpose of Homosexuality? If it has a biological component, then it must have an evolutionary meaning, it didn't arise by chance. Sure, it is an abnormality, but one would assume that all abnormalities would be selected out by environmental and social pressures.
Likewise, what is the chemical and biological reason for the seeming rise in rate of homosexuality in the industrialized world? One possibly hypothesis is chemical pollution. (Others of course, have mentioned childhood sexual trauma and abuse.)
Chemical Pollution Linked to Upsurge in Homosexuality Transgenderism
http://www.worldissues360.com/index.php/chemical-pollution-linked-to-upsurge-in-homosexuality-transgenderism-3906/
Another study, published by the International Journal of Andrology, zeroes in on an environmental pollutant and shows how it can mutate key areas of the brain affecting the tendency towards sexual preference.
In conjunction with other studies revealing links between environmental toxins that affect the development of the amygdala in fetuses and infants, questions raising about the possibility that certain pollutants are impacting sexuality during early childhood.
It is important that we study science objectively and understand that people may have no choice in who they are and how they feel, when making policy decisions.
On the other hand, we should also listen to other interested parties in society who have, for centuries instinctively known when a condition that has been exhibited in humanity is a sign of illness and societal decay above a certain percentage of the population.
Like all things, balance should be sought.
