if homosexuality isnt a choice, is pedophilia a choice?
483967
We are born who we are.I see your point of view however, i disagree somewhat. Based on your  premise isn't being straight also a psychological disorder?Gays,Lesbians etc. are born from straight persons.These variations exist throughout nature.Take  a look at some of our other animal brethren to see it.Former anything can change by choosing to. Once this country was populated by child brides.It was considered a good thing to give your daughter to a well established male.Over time,we have come  to understand that such unions placed the girls at an unfair advantage. We have now enacted laws to protect our young from this.To allow pedophilia breaks said laws. Thanks for sharing your opinion.Respectfully,Will
129626
Absolutely not!  If God didn't want people to be gay he wouldn't have made them that way.  No where in the bible does it say that homosexuality is wrong.  And even if they did, the bible was written by people.  It's just been interpreted that why by a bunch of homophoblic individuals (i.e. closet gays) who can't bear to see other people actually be happy.  God made you gay, and trying to change that has got to be worse than sleeping with men!  I mean, if you try to change you you are isn't that basically saying that God screwed up?  Don't try to change who you are.  If there is a heaven, you'll get in.\n\nIt's not unnatural or unhealthy to be gay.  People have been engaging in sexual relations with others of the same gender for all of recorded history.  Many primates engage in homosexual relations.  There's even a species of fruit-fly that does it.  At some point someone decided it was wrong, but it's not.  It's perfectly natural.  Do whatever feels right and don't worry about what other people think, or what other people tell you God will think.\n\nEdit: I was just reading mckenziecalhoun's post, and it made me think.  This isn't entirely relevent (or really at all relevent), but when I think about it, it seems to me that people who think they're going to Hell generally actually won't.  I'm basing that on the idea that if you repent for your sins you won't go to Hell.  My understand of repent is that you have to sincerely feel bad.  If you believe you're going to Hell, you believe you did something bad.  It's one thing if you lightheartedly reason it out and determine you're going to Hell, but if you actually believe it, I think that constitutes remorse.
99871
I think others are misunderstanding your question.  Your point is an interesting one: that gays currently have to pretend to be straight, and therefore they have heterosexual sex and reproduce, against their natural inclination.  If they did not have to hide their sexuality, they would be much less likely to reproduce.\n\nThe only weakness in your argument is the assumption that homosexuality is entirely genetic - this has never been proven.
520185
A celibate life is more likely to be chosen by those who are innately pedophiles. They know that they will never be able to have pedophile relationships out in the open so they choose a life devoid of sex. Then they realize that the urges are too strong for them.\n\nThere was a South Park episode where a bunch of priests got together to discuss the problem of pedophilia in the church. As far as they could see the main problem was that the kids were reporting it too much.\n\n\nBaradore: The Catholic church is not the largest church in the world. They have 1.1 billion. The Muslim faith has 1.3 billion adherants.
1022761
We are not born with a sexual orientation,it is a learned behavior.Although I am sure homosexuals claim they can not help it,and "I was born this way" that is simply a superficial answer designed to avoid dealing with the actual root cause of their choice.I am also certain there may be a variety of reasons from plain old lust,to traumatic experiences with forced homosexual occurrence,self esteem,whatever.The point is that homosexuality is against creationism and those that adhere to God's law or position on the matter.In addition it goes against theories of evolution ,because you can not have evolution, without,procreation.My point being even apart from religious convictions,homosexuality is obviously abnormal behavior and violates creationism and evolution on the same point,inability to procreate or continue the species,whether created by God or evolved from single cell protozoan.(I personally think that evolution is the biggest bunch of nonsense ever purported by man on himself)It appears to be more evidence of mans ability to use his freedom of choice to satisfy whatever whim he or she has,and the general populations moral conviction to support that choice ,even when it is antithetical to our very existence,soley based on growing trend to manifest life as a free for all party,ever extending the boundaries in order to accommodate moral and sociological devaluation.This is the reason man is God's greatest creation and his ugliest,and in the end the most intelligent species on the planet will destroy itself.It is not a liberals movement as conservative judges of the highest courts in history as well as the liberals in all major governments have upheld mans right to defy both his creator and for those that believe the evolutionary theory.In fact it a great argument against evolution because if we are mimicking in our societies the behaviorism's of man since his evolutionary conversion,we never would have made it this far.Deprivation,debauchery,and greed would have brought our species to extinction long ago.Irregardless of your beliefs system homosexuality is wrong as it contributes only to the termination of our species.
1075348
i wish all these people who claim it is a choice would tell me how to chose the kind of person i want to love or be attracted to. i thought it was widely known by now that you just can't decide to like or dislike something. you do or you don't.\nif love/attraction was a choice, there never would have been a romeo and juliet, a phantom of the opera, a hunchback of notre-damme, an affair to remember. if anyone could chose the person they want to love, there would be no great love songs, no big intensity of feeling, not much worth living for. so to those who say homosexuality is a choice, i ask... did you never have a crush for the wrong person? did you never feel attracted to someone you couldn't have? doesn't that tell you that you feel what you feel and there isn't much you can do about it?\n\nat this point homophobes usually jump in and say - sure, i was attracted to someone i couldn't have, but i CHOSE to not pursue it. that's great. homosexuals are certainly endowed with that choice. they can chose not to have a relationship with someone they love and who loves them back. they can chose to be good friends with someone they'd rather be married to. they can sit back and chose to deny themselves forever the right to love and be loved in every way. but why should they? it is one thing to tell yourself that you shouldn't indulge your puppy love for your best friend's girl, but it's quite another to tell yourself, if you can't love a girl, you can't love at all.\n\nand you know what else? even if they did make that choice, even if they did settle into that kind of existence (because it sure as heck wouldn't be a life), they'd still be gay. not acting on it doesn't change the fact that they are who they are. they can't chose to be straight any more than i can chose to be blonde. i can die or discolor my hair, but those roots are gonna keep coming up brown. i can move into the hairdresser's and have my color touched up every other hour, but i'll still be a brunette under all the chemicals.\n\nexpecting homosexuals to live a whole life deprived of love and yes, sex too, is petty, it's evil, and it's cruel. homosexuality is not a choice. anyone who thinks it is has never known one second of true love in their lives.
162644
it wont change true christian minds. Abortion is wrong...period.  It doesnt even matter to me if they are born that way or not.  We are told not to engage in homosexual activity.  They might not be able to help their desires but they can control their actions.  Some people are genetically prone to be controlled by a substance ie, drugs or alcohol. Their desire for that will be very strong but that does not mean its ok to act on that desire.
1135238
I've seen several questions like this one lately...They completely blow the theory many gays spout out that homosexuality is not a choice!  According to most gays, you're either born gay or not...no in between.
739769
Pedophiles are almost always self identified straight men, no matter who the victim happens to be.\nIt's about power and control.  Not so much about sex.
847388
Homosexuality isn't a race, it's a sexual preference.
608868
Gay is not a choice, it's a fact.  I'm willing to bet that every gay soul out there did NOT want to be gay and had to come to terms with it.  \n\nI wish people would open their minds, their eyes and their hearts to accept rather than question.  The world would be a better place indeed.
100773
Being gay isn't a sin. Acting on it is. I am a heteralsexual and I can't just say, God made me a sexual being, so I can have sex any time and with anybody I want." Sexual sin is sexual sin, no matter who it's performed with. Why do you think God gave guidelines for living? was it to "spoil all our fun"? When you discipline your children, is it because you want to be mean to them, or because you know better than they do what is good for them?\nWe have done things our own way for awhile now and what has it gotten us? AIDS, STD's, teen pregnancies, abortion, sky high crime rates, kids killing kids... I could go on and on, but that is enough to get you thinking.\nOne more thought. As humans, we have more intelligance and reasoning power than our pets. If we saw our pet doing something potentially harmful, would we stop him or, so he won't think we are mean, allow that behavior? And if we stop him, will he understand why? No, but we know. When God says no, we won't always understand why, but we can be sure that He knows and it's for our own good.
958379
I'm not sure where it is "in God's word" that states homosexuality is a choice.  I laugh when people want to stand on the Bible as their grounds for spouting nonsense or uneducated "answers" which we are supposed to then accept as factual.  Some of the answers to your question thus far seem to fit into the "nonsense and uneducated" category.  I was born gay, and I've had to re-evaluate my own beliefs about God.  I had a sister to die suddenly, and I've had to re-visit and re-structure my relationship with God.  I lost a job because I'm gay (don't know how they found that out), and I then had to re-examine my trust in God.
1054883
I believe it is a choice.  Here is my reasoning.  Right here on the Answers site I have asked both of these questions: "Straight women, do you ever fantasize about sex with girls?" and "Straight men, do you ever fantasize about sex with men"  For the first question I literally got about 40 answers saying yes (and one no), but the secon question all answers were no, exept for answers from guys stating that they were gay, but were SURE that straight men MUST think about guys.\n\nSo... 99% of straight women will openly admit fantasies about women, but no straight men will admit fantasies about men.  This of course leads me to believe that ALL THE STRAIGHT MEN ARE LYING, and ALL straight people THINK about sex with the same sex, that then leaves ALL PEOPLE with the choice of who they WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH.\n\nThank you for listening!
385270
I personally believe that it is a combination of genetics and environment.  It is never a "choice"...  Some people are predisposed to being attracted to the same sex by genetics, and other people are predisposed only under certain conditions.  There are also people that no matter what happens to them in their life they will never ever be gay.  Being gay is what arouses a person.  For me personally, a man does nothing for me... but a woman I find very arousing.  Its just the way I am, and no matter how I try to imagine myself with a man, it just does not work.  It feels very wrong and uncomfortable.  It does not feel natural.  A woman feels very natural, as Im sure it feels to a straight man.  I am a follower of God, and I believe that as long as we love, we are good.  Hate is what opposes the Lord, not love, no matter what form... whether I love my dog, my child, or my girlfriend, its still love, and only good can come from love.  Hate, ignorance, deception and misunderstanding are not good, therefore they are not following the Lord's path.  \n\nThere are gay animals by the way.. have you ever heard of the Bonobo Chimpanzees?  Look them up and their sexual behavior... you will find they are the most sexually free of any species on the planet, it doesnt matter if you are male or female.
141630
No, depends who you ask, and no.\n\nMental illness: As has already been answered, the APA ruled that homosexuality was not a mental illness in 1973. I have linked to the APA site for their current take on homosexuality.\n\nSickness: There is growing scientific evidence showing that sexual orientation is determined in the womb, probably due to a combination of genetic and hormonal factors. Sexual orientation is more akin to handedness: sure a left-handed person can be trained to write with their right hand, but that doesn't make them a right-handed person. I have provided a link to some of the current research.\n\nAdditionally, biologists have reported homosexual activity in the animal kingdom, including pair bonding of males. Such things are unlikely to occur if homosexuality was a human choice or the result of an overbearing mother as is often theorized.\n\nSin: Depends who you ask. Sin is subjective and varies from religion to religion. Ask a Hindu if its a sin to eat a cow and they'll say yes. Ask a Catholic and they'll say no. Ask a Jew if its a sin to eat pork and they'll say yes. Ask a Christian and they'll say no.\n\nYet the odd thing about Jews and Christians is that much of their faiths are based on the same book: the Old Testament. The same chapter that denounces pork as a sin also denounces homosexuality. Yet Christians think pork is OK and homosexuality a sin. In fact, homosexuality is about the only item denounced in that chapter that Christians still believe. It may also interest you to note that the word "homosexual" didn't exist until the 1850's, so any Biblical translation that includes that word could be a mistranslation.\n\nSo it really becomes a question of belief. If you believe homosexuality is a sin, then it is. If you don't, then it isn't. The whole concept of sin is foreign to anyone who doesn't believe in God. Native Americans considered homosexuals as special beings who embodied both the masculine and the feminine, and often looked to them as shamans.\n\nYou'll just have to make up your own mind.
597895
You will probably get a lot of comments about how homosexuality is not a choice.  However, the question is not at all hypothetical.  The ancient Greeks faced this problem.\n\nIn the ancient Greek system boys were taken from their families at the age of seven and put in a boarding school.  Homosexual love was a recognized custom.  Each boy had an adult male lover who wooed the boy with gifts, poetry, protection, and training.  They played together naked.  Because it was considered the accepted thing to do, virtually all the men practiced homosexual behavior, and thought it normal and expected.  They choose to be gay, if you will, but it was more peer pressure than free choice.\n\nSo, what happened to reproduction?  That was indeed a problem.  Men did not want to take upon themselves the responsibility of having a wife.  They did not want to do their duty to their nation state by getting her pregnant.  So the government was forced to give special tax breaks and status to those who had children.  A man was not thought ill of if he allowed another man to give him children through his wife.  It was still hard to keep up the birth rate, and this may have had a lot to do with the eventual collapse of the Greek culture.\n\nThere are many more corrupting influences of homosexual behavior than merely the threat to the continuation of the human race.