Boy, that's a relief. Glad to be informed that as an open and honest gay man I'm not causing every child who comes in contact with me to turn gay. Who knew? At any rate I have to say that my family fits this study's profile pretty well but this fascination with the topic betrays our society's persistent and deep-rooted homophobia.

Yeah, I often wonder what our obsession is with whether homosexuality is a "choice" or not.

As a lesbian, my homosexuality seems to have less of a genetic explanation than yours. I don't think I chose it, at least not consciously, and I don't think I could erase my attraction to women even if I decided I'd be better off marrying a dude... but I wonder - even if I had consciously chosen it, why would that matter? Should I not be free to make that choice? And if so, why not?

I can choose to convert to Judaism tomorrow - a completely and incontrovertibly conscious choice that, as far as I know, contributes nothing to the continuation of the species - and still be protected under the constitutional provision for equal protection under the law. And yet people act as if my equal protection as a lesbian depends entirely upon whether there's a scientific rationale for my lesbianism that improves the health of the gene pool.

I don't think it should matter. I am a straight Christian woman, and I don't understand why society seems so very focused on this topic. If God created everyone in his image, doesn"t that mean everyone? And if science uncovers that homosexuality serves a biological purpose, that just proves to me, once again, God does not make mistakes and we, all of humanity, have to be reminded constantly that we are to accept one another and maybe we don't have all the answers or reasons for a lot of the way God's kingdom works and thus should not be so concerned with things that are really none of our business, like other people's sex lives.

Alas, Suzie, there are many Christian (and others) who cannot see the world from such an enlightened, accepting view as yours. As most of my experience is with the Christian side of this (growing up in a small town in Texas), I can only speak to that firsthand.

I find it amazing how heavily they cherry-pick their justification to ostracize, demonize and marginalize anyone who's appreciably different from them. It doesn't fit with my understanding of Christian teachings (I was raised in the Methodist church) and from my reading of your post, it doesn't square with yours either.

Last night John Stewart called out James Dobson on the Daily Show for his interesting ability to forget his own cherry-picking of the old testament while saying Obama shouldn't quote the old testament when he's talking about fundamentalists who want to convert the US to a theocracy.

It makes it all the more amusing when the leaders of send-me-money megachurches get caught cavorting with drug-dealing prostitutes and other such hypocrisy.

this dobson character embarasses me. i think that as far as cavorting with drug dealing prostitutes...well, what can one say...Jesus said something about the plank in one's own eye...that is what comes to mind when i see these grown men crying like children on national television because they got caught ( and make no mistake, that's why they are crying)...maybe they will come out on the other side humbled and not so hungry for attention and power that they exploit the fears and aspirations of others in the name of Christ. Having said all of that, I'm not perfect either, so i try to keep that in mind...who knows what drives people like that dobson person to say the things they say, so hateful, so mean.

suzie said: "...maybe they will come out on the other side humbled and not so hungry for attention and power that they exploit the fears and aspirations of others in the name of Christ."

Wouldn't that be nice. My brother tells me (I don't have tv) every now and then about how the Disgusting Reverend Jimmy Swaggart continues to push hatred of others to (re)build his power base (via or with his son).