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PART 2 - Page 10 of 34
Myths and Misinformation - Is Homosexuality a Choice?

Homosexuality is not a choice. How do I know that?  My personal life experience as a bisexual screams that reality to me every day of my life.  Homosexuality is like left-handedness. It is a given.  Also, it is a myth that gay or lesbian teachers (or any other gay or lesbian person for that matter) recruit their students into becoming homosexuals and suck them into the “homosexual lifestyle”. That is not possible. You are either homosexual or you are not. It is not a choice (except maybe for the bisexual like me or in living situations where the opposite sex is not present like in prisons, the military, religious monasteries or private single sex boarding schools). The evidence from scientific studies and the recorded stance from all of the medical community gives backing to the reality that almost all gay or lesbians know personally, at least by their mid 20’s but usually in their teens, that homosexuals are indeed born that way and in no way can they choose to be heterosexual as the ex-gay proponents fraudulently claim. They know that homosexuality is like being left-handed. And since being gay is not a disease it doesn’t need to be cured (1).

And anyway no human being chooses to be something that the bigots of the world dump their hatred and wrath on daily. Also there is no “homosexual lifestyle”, no more than there is a “heterosexual lifestyle”. Just because there are some bar hopping heterosexual men who use and mistreat women by going from one abusive sexual affair into another, we don’t accuse all heterosexual men of being the same.

I like the way that William E. Burleson approaches the whole idea that gays chose, ha-ha, their orientation in his book "Bi-America-Myths, Truths, and Struggles of an Invisible Community":

. . . . . this is a hot issue for lesbians and gays.  Do they choose to be gay?  Can they change their mind?  It is absurd.  There may or may not be a "gay gene," but it is clear people are not in control of their sexual attractions.  They are in control of their actions, but I argue no one is in control of their feelings.  I can't stub my toe and decide not to let it hurt: it's a feelings thing.  Look at it another way: if it were a choice, there would be very, very few non-straight people.  After all, why would anyone put up with the abuse this culture doles out for being attracted to the "wrong" gender if they had a choice?  Several ministries promising to make people straight, or at least act straight, have been wildly unsuccessful.  Can anyone really believe people who sign up for this program fail because they really don't want to change?  All of them? As a friend who attended such a program told me, "If it were possible to pray hard enough to become straight, I would be straight now.  No one can pray harder or want to be straight more than I did."  (2) 
 

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Footnotes:
(1) You can read the groundbreaking exposé of the ex-gay movement and the lies and misinformation it promotes and the deep hurt and harm it causes in “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth”, by Wayne R. Besen-See Bibliography on page 31 or click here.  
(1) Burleson, William E. "Bi America-Myths, Truths, and Struggles of an Invisible Community", New York, London, Oxford; Harrington Park Press, 2005, page 45.

Click for Page 11 - Reasons for Continued Negativity Towards Homosexuals
                          Gay Sex is Morally Wrong Because It Makes Straights Very Uncomfortable?
                          Over 5,900 Gay Friendly Christian Churches in the USA

Click for Homosexuality is neither a Choice nor a Sin - Table of contents