Sexual Orientation: What Cause People to become a Gay

“Sexual orientation” is a term frequently used to describe a person’s romantic,

emotional or sexual attraction to another person. A person attracted to another
person of the same sex is said to have a homosexual orientation and may be called
gay (both men and women) or lesbian (HealthyMinds, 2010). It is normal for human
being to have sexual orientation, and one can be considered as abnormal if one
does not have sexual orientation.

It has been strongly debated by general publics, elected officials, religious leaders
and scientists whether sexual orientation especially gay, is an attribute or
characteristic that we are born with (nature) or is caused by the environment we are
grown up in (nurture). Until today, there is still no any specific and accurate reason
for why people are becoming gay. Anyhow, many believe that there are two biggest
factors and reasons of why people become gay which is our natural biological make-
up or the environment we are grown up.

Some people strongly believe that gay people is a product of biology. They say that
biological factors provide the biggest influence in ‘producing’ gay people. I do not
totally disagree with this view but, at this point, I cannot agree more if they take it as
the main factor of gay orientation. Kenneth M. Cohen, PhD, Lecturer in Human
Development at Cornell University, wrote in the 2002 Archives of Sexual
Behavior article "Relationships Among Childhood Sex-Atypical Behavior, Spatial
Ability, Handedness, and Sexual Orientation in Men":

"Recent scans of the human genome reveal that some gay males share a genetic
marker for homosexuality on the X chromosome. One avenue through which genes
regulate homoeroticism is by instructing the brain to develop in a sex-atypical
manner."

Based on the research done above, it is true and undeniable that genetics plays an
important role in influencing gay orientation factors. But, in my opinion, I strongly
believe that genetics only does not make a person gay. Instead, it needs other
factors accompanying it to influence a person to become gay such as the
environmental influence where they are grown up.
I would love to argue with people who believe that biological factors are the only
factors or the main factors influencing the gay orientation. To the extent that sexual
orientation is based on biology, homosexuals have no more choice about their
sexual orientation than they do about their skin colour. If this is so, shouldn’t gay
men expect the same legal protection from discrimination as African Americans?
(Herek, 1991) Now answer me that. I am sure that most of them have the same
perception like me that they do not like gay people to expect the same legal
protection from discrimination in the society. But, that is the truth when they say gay
orientation is solely caused by biological factors. That would mean gay people is
biologically gay from the beginning and of course, when they are biologically gay
from the beginning, they cannot change their gay orientation forever. Is it like that?
Of course not! Even though someone is gay, if he wants to change, and have the
willingness and strength to change, he surely can.

“Some people believe homosexuality is an illness and believe it can and should be
cured. Many of these 'cures' revolve around psychological therapies (often called
reparative therapy) which endeavour to re-orient a homosexual sexuality to
heterosexual.” (Avert.org, 2010)

The above quotation shows that gay orientation can really be cured. It all depends
on the person whether he or she wants to change or not.

Therefore, from my critical point of view, I would say that the main factor influencing
the ‘production’ of gay people is the environment where they are grown up. Why did I
say that? It is because of the influence from the surroundings of the person
especially from peer pressure. Peer pressure or influences from friends are very
dangerous. This is because people tend to get easily influenced by their friends
especially for teenagers. At their age, they are still looking for their identities,
meaning that they love to try anything new and love to see and copy what others are
doing which they find interesting. This is where the dangers come as teenagers are
still not matured and cannot think rationally as they love and tend to follow their
emotions in everything they do.
But, this does not mean that I totally reject the idea that gay people is a product of
biology. I do agree with the idea, but I am not taking it as the main factor for the
‘production’ of gay people. From biological sight, they say this people are born with
‘gay genes or chromosomes’ and they have different or unique genes compared to
normal people. This is based on some researches conducted such as, "Research
suggests that the homosexual orientation is in place very early in the life cycle,
possibly even before birth. It is found in about ten percent of the population, a figure
which is surprisingly constant across cultures, irrespective of the different moral
values and standards of a particular culture." Statement on
Homosexuality, American Psychological Association, 1994-JUL.

This statement shows that homosexual orientation or gay orientation is already there
when we are a baby. This means that if a person is born as a gay, he already has
the trait when he is a baby. He will then be more developed as a true gay when he is
influenced by the environment.

In other research conducted by Kenneth S. Kendler (2000), he stated, "In accord

with findings from prior twin studies, resemblance for sexual orientation was greater
in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins or nontwin sibling pairs. These results
suggest that genetic factors may provide an important influence on sexual
orientation." From this research, we learn that genetic or biological factors also give
some influences in the gay orientation of a person.

As a conclusion, I would like to clarify my stand again that gay orientation or gay
people is a product of society mainly and is also caused by biological factors such as
distinctive chromosomes and genes. But, the most important factor is it is a product
of society where a person is influenced by the environment where he/she is grown
up while biological factors are just a minor factor that helps with the development of
the gay orientation.

(1057 words)