Changes

====Gender and homosexuality====

====Gender and homosexuality====

There has been much debate over whether [[homosexuality]] is immutable despite the existence of [[ex-homosexuals]]. Often the argument is made that it's either [[genetically determined]] (and thus immutable), or that it is entirely a matter of choice.  Given this [[dichotomy]], the premise that "I didn't choose to be gay" yields the conclusion that it must be genetically determined. However, the search for a "[[gay gene]]" has proved elusive. Many others, including most scientists, have a much less 'black and white' view.  They propose that it is determined by a complex interaction of many factors, some of which could be genetic, but probably also include psychological, environmental and cognitive factors, and is shaped at a very early age.

There has been much debate over whether [[homosexuality]] is immutable despite the existence of [[ex-homosexuals]]. Often the argument is made that it's either genetically determined (and thus immutable), or that it is entirely a matter of choice.  Given this [[dichotomy]], the premise that "I didn't choose to be gay" yields the conclusion that it must be genetically determined. However, the search for a "[[gay gene]]" has proved elusive. Many others, including most scientists, have a much less 'black and white' view.  They propose that it is determined by a complex interaction of many factors, some of which could be genetic, but probably also include psychological, environmental and cognitive factors, and is shaped at a very early age.

[[Simon LeVay]] wrote:

Simon LeVay wrote:

"It's important to stress what I didn't find. I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn't show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain. ... Since I look at adult brains, we don't know if the differences I found were there at birth or if they appeared later."<ref name="byrd">Byrd, A. Dean, Shirley E. Cox, and Jeffrey W. Robinson (May 27, 2001), [http://www.sltrib.com/2001/may/05272001/commenta/100523.htm Homosexuality: The Innate-Immutability Argument Finds No Basis in Science.] ''[[Salt Lake Tribune]]''</ref>

"It's important to stress what I didn't find. I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn't show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain. ... Since I look at adult brains, we don't know if the differences I found were there at birth or if they appeared later."<ref name="byrd">Byrd, A. Dean, Shirley E. Cox, and Jeffrey W. Robinson (May 27, 2001), [http://www.sltrib.com/2001/may/05272001/commenta/100523.htm Homosexuality: The Innate-Immutability Argument Finds No Basis in Science.] ''[[Salt Lake Tribune]]''</ref>