Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture? - Part 1 of 5 - Proof that Homosexuality is not a Choice

PART 2 (page 22 of 34)
Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture? (Part 1 of 5)
Coming Out In Middle School - The New York Times Magazine
8 Awesome Videos!
Realizing That You're Different From Others, What a Gay or Lesbian Teen Goes Through
The Case Against Gay Marriage - Cartoon by Danziger
We Don't Have Homosexuals in Iran. . . . anymore - Cartoon by Cox and Forkum
I Think My Grandpop Saved My Life
And How Do Americans Feel About New York's New Marriage Equality Bill
And Here's More Evidence in the Form of a Chart That Shows Why Gay Folks WILL Have Equal Rights In The Future

An Overview of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate

The Proof that Homosexuality is not a Choice - Test Yourself!! - by Gary Lynn

Look, generally speaking it’s really so simple and not rocket science. This test usually works if you’re a 15 year old male or older. If you get really sexually aroused by only images in your mind of age appropriate teenage girls or women you’re a heterosexual. If you get really sexually aroused by only images in your mind of age appropriate teenage boys or men you’re a homosexual. If you get really sexually aroused by either of the above then you’re a bisexual. If you’re from 10 - 14 years old then I understand that there’s a small chance that if the above test shows that you are either a homosexual or a bisexual then this could just be a stage or a time of questioning that you are going through towards heterosexuality. And remember that when it comes to our sexuality, we're all unique and very special, so apply this test only on yourself and not others. Trying to label someone else can be very harmful to that person. But the whole point here is that sexual arousal or who we are sexually attracted to is not a decision, it’s just part of who we are and God-given and natural. Duh . . .

And for those of you who are thinking, "just because you are sexually attracted to someone of the same sex (age appropriate of course) doesn't justify or make it right to try to have a lifelong loving relationship with that person, especially with someone of the same sex, horrors!", please click here and read My Response.

Nobody, least of all me, wakes up one morning and thinks, "I have a great idea, I think I'd like to become a member of a detested minority." Hello! Nobody chooses to be Gay! But once we know for sure, we say, I’m gay, I’m proud to be who I am, who God made me to be, but there’s much more to me than that.

I was 14 years old and in the 10th grade at Van Nuys High School in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California, in September, 1955 when this photo was taken for the Identification Card. I was obviously a late-bloomer. Well, the girls (boys?) thought I was cute anyway, ha-ha. Shortly after this picture was taken my family moved to La Mirada, California. So Excelsior High School located in nearby Norwalk was the high school from which I graduated in 1958. Gary Lynn

Click Here to watch this 47 second YouTube Drama, where against all odds, this boy did the most courageous thing that a really young gay boy can do at a co-ed dance. The whole intimidating process of trying to meet other guys like himself is every gay boy's worst nightmare. So you will be transfixed by this boy's steely determination to have his plan succeed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Click Here to watch "The Closet" Starring budding child actor, Andy Scott Harris. An old man recalls the moment that defined his life, when his innocent friendship with a neighboring boy is crushed by the boy's homophobic father. This is an amazing and well-made short film of only 3 minutes and 27 seconds on YouTube.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click Here to watch the award-winning music video "Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa" - [English Subtitles] by Sugar Ros (2001) 12-year-old Boys, Dolls and Kisses. You are a 12-year-old boy and Catholic. What would your homophobic father do if he saw you playing with dolls and kissing another boy? 7 minutes and 3 seconds on YouTube.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click Here to see Ellen DeGeneres Talk To Really Inspiring 14-Year-Old Graeme Taylor. In October, 2010 Jay McDowell, a teacher at Howell High School in Livingston County, Michigan, was suspended for asking one of his students to leave the classroom for making crude anti-gay remarks. At a recent school board meeting, a student, openly gay 14 year-old Graeme Taylor, came to McDowell’s defense with this well articulated speech. First listen to Graeme's speech which was shown as part of his appearance on Ellen. 7:57 minutes on YouTube.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click Here to see and hear the amazing YouTube Video of William's Song as performed in Santa Cruz by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC). William's Song is based on the true story of William Wagner and his mother, Carolyn Wagner, who sued an Arkansas school for allowing five fag-bashers to jump her gay son with no official redress. She won. 3:36.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click Here to see an Irish anti homophobic bullying advertisement, "Stand Up! – Don’t Stand for Homophobic Bullying", created as part of BeLonG To Youth Services annual Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Weeks. The campaign promotes friendship amongst young people as a way to combat homophobic bullying. 4:24

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click Here to see this very powerful It Gets Better video produced by Apple employees. I wish I had something like this to watch when I was a teen. Very powerful and moving. Take a look and spread it around! 6:04

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Click Here to see this impressive anti-bullying ad. Do you get it? How many times did you have to watch it before you saw the light, er. . . red? I must be slow since it took me 3 times-ha-ha. 50 seconds.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

♂♂
The Story That Grabbed My Heart - "Beyond The Rain" by Grasshopper - A Gay Teen Love Story - Overcoming The Barriers . Or Click Here
This is the story of Billy Carmedy and Aaron Sorensen. It’s tough enough to be a straight boy in a small town high school looking for the love of your life. But at least your possible loves are all out in the open. It’s much, much tougher when you’re a 17 year-old gay boy, part of only 10% or less of the population and your possible loves are all in hiding, just as you are, due to fear of being socially ostracized, laughed at and condemned by your peers. Add to this mix the complete rejection of Aaron by his parents due to religious bigotry when he trustingly came out to them and you have the challenging but beautiful story of how two personable and intelligent gay boys circuitously find each other and somehow survive. This is a 9 chapter plus story by Grasshopper, a highly respected writer of gay teen fiction.

Click Here for Gary Lynn's Favorite Sites for Really Good Gay Teen Fictional Stories, Forums, Chat Rooms & Message Boards

Realizing That You're Different From Others

What a Gay or Lesbian Teen Goes Through

by Ronyx

I [think] of how gay boys and girls at some stage in their lives begin to realize they are different from others. We hear the crude comments beginning at a young age about queers, fags and lezzies. We sit in churches and listen to preachers talk about the sins of those who do ‘unseemly things.’

Then one day we go to gym and look at a guy or girl taking a shower, and we realize that the feelings we have are different. Lying in bed at night at ten years old with our best friend playing a game of ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ becomes more than just a game.

Then at thirteen it becomes, ‘I’ll suck yours if you suck mine.’ However, the next time you suggest doing it, your friend refuses because it’s just ‘too gay.’ But you still want to play the game.

At some point a young boy or girl realizes that they are what everyone jokes about. They are the fag, cock sucker, lesbian. They are the sinner that the preacher warns about at church on Sunday. Gay becomes the word that now defines them.

It doesn’t matter what they do, what they become or how they live their life; being gay becomes an overwhelming fear. What if my friends find out? Will Mom and Dad be disappointed? Will I be teased, or even hurt? Will everything I do until the day I die be defined by that one word?

Some people accept who they are. They won’t let the word consume them. They take control of it and build a life around it. It becomes a part of who they are, but their entire being isn’t determined by it. I’m gay. I’m proud, but there’s more to me than that.

Then there are those who meet it half way. I’m gay, I’m me, but I’ll only let those who I trust share that part of me. They will accept me because they love me. So they go about their lives with an awareness of who they are, but careful that those around them don’t know. They go to school or work during the day hiding behind a facade, but step away when they return home.

Then there are the Genes [*] of the world, those who deny who they are. And they decide they will live a lie to those around them, and most importantly, to themselves. They try to live as the preacher says is moral, or as others say is right.

But who determines what is moral and what is right? Doesn’t each person have that right to decide what is right for them? Isn’t it more wrong to deny being gay, than it is to accept what one knows way down deep inside is right for them?
. . . . . . . . .
*Gene is a character in the really good gay teen fiction story Brittle As A Bird by Ronyx. All of the above is taken from Chapter 19. Permission has been given by the author to republish the above. Send comments to the author at ronyx@themustardjar.com

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

Sadly, This political cartoon of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which adds one word to what he actually said in a 2007 speech at Columbia University in New York speaks for itself. Maybe this image can help us understand that as bad as things are for gays in the USA and other counties in the West, things are nowhere near as bad as they are in homophobic Africa and countries where Islam is the dominant religion like Iran.

A man told me [Don Clark] how he had dropped out of school, quit his job and been close to suicide when he received a one-page note from his grandparents that changed everything. He had disclosed his gay identity to his mother and father and their reaction had been to enlist all of their friends to pray for him. They did not want him to be gay, and he did not want to be gay because it was making everyone so miserable.

His grandparents' note invited him to come and help them with their cherry harvest. "It sounds dumb but all I could think about was the taste of my grandmother's cherry pie still warm from the oven. It filled my whole mind. It was my whole focus. So I went. The second day I was there, my grandfather sat me down on the ground next to him in the orchard and asked me what was bothering me, so I told him. He bowled me over. He said he didn't see the use in talking about it with anyone else in the family because they were obviously too easily upset right now. But he wanted me to know that he had had the same feelings when he was my age and he envied me, living at a time when it was possible to do something good with those feelings. He said, 'You go find yourself a good man to love, love him good, and bring him back here to meet your Grandma and me and we'll help you celebrate.' I think my Grandpop saved my life." (1)

The Marriage Equality Train Finally Seems to Have Left The Station and is Picking Up Speed

This political cartoon to the left by Jim Morin was the very appropriate cartoon that appeared in the Miami Herald a couple of days after Governor Cuomo of the State of New York signed the same-sex marriage bill into law late Friday night, June 24, 2011 in his office at the State Capitol. This makes New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and gives the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born with the riots at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. Click on the below image to read more from the article in the New York Times.

Same-sex couples wait in line to receive marriage licenses in New York City. | AP Photo

By ELIAS GROLL | 7/29/2011 - from Politico.com. Americans are sharply divided over New York’s recent legalization of gay marriage, according to a new poll on Friday that revealed a huge generation gap in how same sex nuptials are viewed.

The Washington Post-ABC News national survey found that voters are divided 50-46 on whether the new law is a positive or negative development.

Among those under 30, supporters outnumber those who view the law unfavorably by a 2-1 margin. But among seniors, 6 in 10 say the law is bad news. Click here or on the image to read more.

"The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.” ~ Oscar Wilde ...

Let's close out this page with a good laugh. Let's see if the symbolism is as obvious to you as it is to me. If the little boy represents, for example, the Roman Catholic Church or the Family Research Council then I guess you can figure out who represents God and the gay or lesbian couple, LOL. I don't remember where I found the picture:

. . . . . . . . . . . .
Footnotes:
(1) Clark, Don, Ph.D., "Loving Someone Gay" (Fourth Edition), Berkeley, Celestial Arts, 2005, page 226.

If you would like to communicate with me, my e-mail address is: guery1940-arrowhead@yahoo.com

And Here's More Evidence in the Form of a Chart That Shows Why Gay Folks Will Have Equal Rights In The Future: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” This chart proves his wisdom. (Posted MoveOn.org on September 28, 2011 by Angie)

And Here's More Evidence in the Form of a Chart That Shows Why Gay Folks Will Have Equal Rights In The Future:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” This chart proves his wisdom. (Posted MoveOn.org on September 28, 2011 by Angie)