Every human being has the ability to engage in sexual relationships with their own gender, but this does not mean every human being will engage in sexual relationships with the same gender. Some boys and girls will "experiment" sexually with their own gender before puberty, this does not mean that all humans are bisexual at some point in their lives since not all children "experiment" with their own gender.
You are correct in this, in some instances, it is cultural. For example in some southeast asian countries homosexual behavior is expected of youg men before they reach marrying age in order that they will be experienced and good in bed. HOWEVER, actual homosexuality once they reach adult age is no different than in industrialized nations. Same thing with ancient greece.
"What is truth."
Truth is what we observe and can logically infer from our observations.
Attraction is not based on genetics. Straight men are attracted to straight men for various reasons. Which part of the population can quote the stats of athletes the best? Men who are attracted to the athletic abilities of other men. Sexual attraction is a combination of factors and so far no ethical scientist has been able to establish any genetic basis for sexual attraction. Howeve, psychology has been able to demonstrate that sexual attraction can be the result of childhood trauma.
This my friend(Aineo) is when I get to rip you to pieces.
First one must prove that homosexuality is not a choice reached during adolescence.
Homosexual men and women often recall childhood play preferences like those of the opposite sex(Bailky and Zucker 1995) But most do not report same sex attraction until during or shortly after puberty sets in(Garnets and Kimmel 1990)
The interesting part is that research suggests that female sexual orientation is more fluid and changeable than that of males, which is in close accordance to males more "target specific" sexal response. (Diamond,2000 and Peplau& Garnets, 2000) This is a phenomenon across cultures. What is basically means though is that females are more or less elastic in sexual orientation. Now the foloowing sentence is poure conjecture on my part... But it may have something to do with the hoghly bonded nature of females in a hunter gatherer society like that which existed before the rise of cities. Females would have been rahter close knit and like bonobo chimps may have used sex as a form of social bonding
But of course the sucess of the ex-gay movment in longditudinal studies is less than 1 % which is not statistically significant. Here are the qu8otes and references in this regard...
Exodus International (1978): The ministry selected 30 of their 800 members as having changed from exclusively homosexual to exclusively heterosexual in orientation. Two outside psychiatrists interviewed the 30 and found that only three were actually heterosexual. Subsequent to the study, two of the male founders of Exodus fell in love and were united in a union ceremony. They claimed that the Exodus program was "ineffective...not one person was healed." The conversion rate, based on the study is 3 in 800, on the order of 0.4%
Masters and Johnson (1979): This study claimed an impressive conversion rate of 50 to 60% which was maintained for 5 years after treatment. Unfortunately, only five of the 67 participants (7%) began the study with a homosexual orientation. From the available data is quite possible that none of these five converted to heterosexuality. No estimate of the conversion rate can be obtained from this study.
NARTH (1997): They studied 860 clients whose data was sent by 200 therapists who were members of the organization. When the subjects entered therapy, 68% identified themselves as totally or almost exclusively homosexual. It is not clear whether this referred to sexual behavior or sexual orientation. The actual percentage of homosexuals was not reported; most of the subjects might have been bisexual. When they left therapy, 33% said they were exclusively or almost entirely heterosexual. Again, it is unclear whether this refers to behavior or orientation. Again, the percentage of heterosexuals is unknown. Unfortunately, 63% of the subjects were still undergoing therapy at the time of the survey. Of greater interest would be the percentage of subjects who entered with a homosexual orientation, converted to bisexuality or heterosexuality, and were able to sustain their sexual orientation for, say, two years following therapy. The NARTH report did not track the results of those clients after therapy. It is possible that none of the subjects who entered therapy with a homosexual orientation was able to change their orientation. No estimate of the conversion rate can be obtained from this study.
Schroeder & Shidlo (in progress): This study is aiming at analyzing the experience of 200 people who have undergone conversion therapy. As of late 1997, they had studied 100 subjects. They reported a conversion rate of 0%.
OCRT pilot study (2000): The sponsors of this web site surveyed each of the 36 websites of the GayChange WebRing. 3 These are mainly Internet sites created by individuals or small Christian ministries. From the sites' content, all appear to be Evangelical Christian in outlook. Of the 28 accessible web sites, only one reported what they felt were conversion success. They had two clients who entered therapy with a homosexual orientation, and decided during therapy to remain celibate. One entered therapy as a bisexual and has developed a relationship with a person of the opposite sex. Neither actually changed their sexual orientation. The conversion rate of the Christian ministries sampled was 0%.
Exodus International (2000): On 2000-JAN-21, the board of directors of the National Association of Social Workers issued a statement which condemned all therapies which attempt to change a person's sexual orientation. Exodus International (EI) offered a rebuttal to that statement. In his rebuttal, Bob Davies, North American director of EI wrote that: Over 250,000 individuals have contacted various EI offices inquiring about a sexual orientation change. This includes "gays, lesbians, family members, friends, counselors and pastors."
Thousands of men and women have stopped homosexual behavior. That is, they have decided to become celibate. These are now "in the process of seeking deeper change in their sexual feelings and attractions."
Unfortunately, he does not estimate how many of these thousands of clients have actually changed their sexual orientation. On 2001-MAY-14, we Emailed EI asking for additional information. Davies does mention that some "are now happily married and raising children." However he does not give estimates of their number, nor does he indicate how many were entered EI as bisexuals and have remained with that sexual orientation. No estimate of the conversion rate can be obtained from this study.
Spitzer (2000): Dr. Robert Spitzer conducted a study of 143 "ex-gays" and 57 "ex-lesbians" who had reported that they had become "straight." In fact, the data shows that few are now heterosexual. He reported that 89% of the men and 63% of the subjects emerged from therapy still having feelings of attraction to persons of the same-sex. 16 (11%) of the men and 21 (37%) of the women report that they now have a heterosexual orientation. Again, it is not known how many entered therapy as bisexuals or as homosexuals.
A total of 86 of the 200 subjects were referred to Dr. Spitzer by conservative Christian groups specializing in homosexual ministry; NARTH referred 46 subjects; other sources provided 68. It is apparent that the individuals that Dr. Spitzer interviewed were hand-selected from a very large group of persons who had either a homosexuals or a bisexual orientation. The 46 subjects from NARTH might have been chosen as the most successful patients from as many as 250,000 individuals who entered therapy. Unfortunately, no data has been reported about the total number of persons from whom the 200 carefully selected patients were provided. Assuming that only 100,000 subjects were involved -- a VERY conservative figure, then 37 "success stories" represents a conversion rate of 0.04%
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_exod1.htm
Now to pin down a cause.
The Kinsey institute questioned every aspect of the psychological
mdevelopment of homosexuals back in the 1980s and found that childhood
development was largly the same in homosexuals and heterosexuals So
it isnt environment. In 1991 Simon LeVay did a blind study of the brain, comparing the hypothalmus of homo and heterosexual men. What he found was that a region of the preoptic hypthalmus was larger in hetersexual men than in homosexual men and heterosexual women. It jst so happens that this area of the hypothalmus is linked to sexual behavior, and what this means is that homosexual brains are more like female brains. This was confirmed on a similar study using sheep(larkin et al 2002)
Allen and Gorski also found that the Coruus COllosum of homosexual men was one third larger than in heterosexual men, and thus think with both sides of their brains, much like females do, as their is better connectivity between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Basicaly... we are wired like females.
This is pure conjecture but I would think bisexual men have a brain anatomy that is somwhere in between.
Genetic evidence has shown an link, but not a causal one. %4% of identical twins raised apart have the same homosexual orientation9provided one is gay) and 22% of fraternal twins. This suggests not only a genetic influence(but not out and out cause) but the jump in fraternal twins(raised apart) also suggests something due to prenatal environment(but not living environment)
Sexual orientation in animals has been shown to be altered by prenatal hormone condiditons (Dorner 1976 and 1988 and Money 1987) the first being done with rats, the second using sheep. Humans wewre put through similar experiments By ellis and Ames 1987, Glaude 1990 Meyer-Bahlburg 1995. Exposure to horomones typically experienced by females during this time dramatically predisposes males to be homosexual later in life, as well as cause males to have sptial abilities more like females thanmales.
Females have been put through similar studies where the reverse is true, male hormones predispose them to lesbianism.
(BTW sorry for my sabattical, I had a lot of work to do in my various courses... and yes, I did prepare this in advance and am easily prepared to defend it. )