QUOTE(Kaezion @ Apr 4 2006, 05:44 AM)
i concede to your argument about children's incapacity to make rational decisions about consent.
while gayness isn't a disease, it is obviously an abnormality. the fact that it's acquired puts it in the same league as mental disorders - it's an abnormality that can be reversed.
the big difference between orientation and race is that race is innate, whereas orientation isn't. as a friend of mine from school explained to me, if you take some time to think critically about the theory of evolution, you will realize that whatever gene that might have caused homosexuality would have died off a long time ago - so much for the genetic factor. now, there are occasionally mutations and such in DNA that might allow extinct genes to reappear, but to explain that the homosexuals that you see now are all victims of a chance mutation that must affect precisely the right gene in precisely the right way?
in this case, you are using an argument that works in one case and applying to another case that is unrelated. no, racial differences aren't wrong. in fact, homosexuality isn't "wrong" per se. it can be viewed as a persistent mental condition - i'm not trying to imply that gay people are crazy; it's just that homosexuality is analogous to mental disorders in that homosexuality can be reversed and is technically an impairment of the human condition (as it prevents sexual reproduction, which is one of the basic functions of human beings). so the question we ask is, why do we treat depression or schizophrenia, if being different isn't wrong?
Evolution is not a perfect process. There are many parts of us that are imperfect, inefficient, or completely useless. If these things can survive through evolution, I'm sure a gene like homosexuality could have done the same, especially if that gene was always in use. If we look at history (pre-chuch), we see that homosexuality was both popular and accepted. We are also forgetting bisexuals (people who go for either sex). Maybe it is through bisexuals (perhaps a mixing of the homo/hetro gene), that has kept it alive.
Honestly, I have no clue. I only got a B in biology, and I don't know much about the subject of gay genetics. I am simply arguing against your point for the sake of arguing (which I find to be fun, especially with you

). I hear about all kinds of studies, and tests, and other sorts of stuff, all going back and forth between "it's in a gene" or "it's acquired after birth," but as the former seemed to be the more popular and well-backed, I simply chose to accept it as the most likely truth for the time being. Your logic and my own personal experience leads me to believe that the acquired argument is not definitely wrong, and should not be ignored.
Either way, homosexuality can be turned into heterosexuality. We can either isolate and replace the gene, or go through someone's mind and warp it as we see fit. The problem is, though, that 'fixing' homosexuality is invariably changing the person. That's like fixing a kind person and making them mean, fixing a selfish person and making them generous, or even fixing someone with brown hair and making them grow green hair. It changes who they are. This, of course, should be left up to the idividual being changed. No one has the right to force someone to change into something they are not. It's like a father wanting a child to grow up and become a lawyer, but the kid wants to be a teacher. Is it not wrong for the father to beat the child until he promises to become a lawyer? Replace 'lawyer' with 'straight person' and 'teacher' with 'gay person'.
QUOTE
so the question we ask is, why do we treat depression or schizophrenia, if being different isn't wrong?
The reason we treat such mental disorders is because they have negative effects on the person who is inflicted. A schizophrenic is troubled with all sorts of stuff, and someone who is depressed is someone who really needs to find happiness. These things aren't wrong because they're different, they are wrong because of the symptomes of their affliction (of course, if they do not wish to recieve treatment, provided they are sane enough to make such a decision and not a threat to society, they should not have to be treated). Homosexuality is not a negative. Only because of society is there a reason that someone would not want to be gay. It's fear... fear of being an outcast, fear of homophobes, fear of death. These things scare lots of gay friends I have, and because of this fear, they wish they were straight. Some rise above and are perfectly happy, but others go as far as to kill themselves because they are so ashamed of who they are. This is society's doing, no their sexuality.
Now, I believe that methods of sexuality changes should not be made availible (at least for people under a certain age) for the same reason child labor laws exist. People should not be forced to do something just because the option is there. In the past, parents expected their 7 year old kids to go to work, mostly because they needed the money. The child itself had no say in whether or not it could work. With child labor laws, 7 year olds can't go to work, thus parents couldn't force their kids to work. The same concept is applicable for gays. If a gay is born into a highly conservative and religous household, we don't want the kid to be forced, without any say, into becomming straight against his or her will. We want the parents to be forced to accept their children for who they are, not what they want them to be. Parents will be stuck with the 'gay kid,'' just as they are stuck with 'the child who can't work.' It sounds a tad bit harsh, but that's really the best option I see.
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