Nova, could you provide a scientific link stating that homosexuality has been proven to be as much of a genetic trait as hair colour or eye colour? Environmental factors don't count. Homosexuality is in my opinion, a choice. A choice to act upon sexual urges and lust, which the bible considers a sin. Now, since I read the bible and respect it to be the inspired word of God, I obviously feel the same way. I feel that marriage between a man and a women is a God ordained union meant to help us serve Him and display Jesus Christ's love and forgiveness to one another.
Danaya, all research on this subject is in preliminary stages, but much of it is rather convincing (once one accepts that we are probably looking at multiple causes rather than a single gene in every case).
Here's a pretty good overview, though it is already out of date:
http://knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Causes_of_homosexuality/
Unfortunately, my most recent info comes from a BBC documentary I watched a couple of weeks ago and I can't cite to that. But parts of it are available online, here for example:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/7521689.stm
DISCLAIMER, however, the doc does NOT conclude that homosexuality has one single cause, as in the case of eye color.
AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS CERTAINLY DO COUNT, if the issue is whether sexual orientation is a "choice." And in fact, the science of genetics is increasingly inclined to believe that many genetic factors are "brought into play" by later environmental elements.
In the case of homosexuality, a number of new studies suggest that male homosexuals may be "created" in the womb by the amount of testosterone or other hormones secreted by the mother. This seems to be increasingly true as any one woman has additional boy children, since later sons are far, far likelier to be gay.
But whether the cause is a gene or the environment in the womb -- or even the way one is raised by one's parents -- there is no "choice" in the outcome for the overwhelming majority of gay people. Why so many religious people cling to a piece of abstract theology (something not even explicitly stated in the Bible) over the testimony of milliions upon millions of homosexuals and the obvious illogic of so many people "choosing" to become social pariahs, is beyond me.
When did I decide I was heterosexual? I didn't have to "decide", God decided for me. I was born with a vagina. I was born with a womb. It's not a matter of choice it's a matter of how God created me....
(Excerpted only for length. Danaya's discussion of her own body as a gift from God is beautifully written and should be read above.)
You are describing your sex (female), not your sexual orientation. If the two were the same, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
But I can't help noting that in discussing your own sexuality, you make no mention of sex acts. However, in mentioning homosexuality, you speak only in terms of "lust" and acting on "sexual urges."
This is why the issue of gay marriage is so important! Because without it, it is too easy for people like you to reduce gay sexuality to f**king, while thinking of heterosexuality as something that is as much spiritual and emotional, as sexual.
No offense intended, I know, and no harm done, but you'd find it highly presumptuous if I reduced you as a human being and your marriage the way you just reduced me and mine to mere sex acts.
The reason gay marriage matters to gay people -- beyond the immediate legal protections, which are crucial if one is to protect one's home and family -- is that we have spent decades trying to explain that our relationships are also more than the mere bumping of uglies. We also love, nurture, and support, and dream, fear and hope for one another. We also labor long and hard to keep our marriages healthy and to build lives together. Just like straight couples. And as the CA Supremes wrote at length, our relationships also deserve legal respect.
