Homosexuality Essay Research Paper What exactly is

Homosexuality Essay, Research Paper

What exactly is a homosexual. It is a person sexually attracted to a person of their own sex. Why do people become homosexuals. This is a question that has been asked ever since the first homosexual person “came out of the closet.” People do not choose to become homosexuals. There has never been a proven theory of why people become homosexuals. There are three theories that try to explain why people become homosexuals, they are: the Biological theory, Psychiatric theory, and the Sociological theory.(Thio, 211) The Biological theory is broken down into three different parts. The first one is the hormone theory which states that homosexual men have a low level of male sex hormones and a homosexual female have a low level of female sex hormones.(IBID, 211) the second one is the genetic theory. The genetic theory states that people are born gay and society only helps their homosexuality advance. Researchers announced that there is even a “gay gene”.(Nardo, 66) The last Biological theory is the brain theory. The brain theory states that a person who has a smaller brain is most likely going to be gay.(Thio, 211) The Psychiatric theory has evolved through many different thoughts about what is homosexuality. At first, psychiatrists thought that it was a mental illness. After it was proven not to be an illness many assumed that homosexuals were going through sexual orientation disturbance. Psychiatrists helped gays to accept themselves as being homosexuals. Another psychiatric theory was that homosexuals had a bad parent-son relationship when they were growing up.(IBID) The last theories are the Sociological theories. Sociological theories state that society affects a person’s sexual preference. The biological predisposition says that some people are more likely to become gay when they are born than other people.(IBID, 212) The socializing process states that children will decide their sexuality from contact with their parents during the sensitive stages of growth.(IBID) So depending on what kind of nurturing a child receives will determine whether they will grow up to become homosexuals.

Homosexuality is a very controversial subject. Some people do not accept it as well as do others. Things that affect a society are the 5 institutions: religion, family, education, politics, and economy. Religion is one institution that has strong influence on homosexuality. Two religions used in this research paper are Mormon and Christian. Mormons consider homosexuality very sinful. They believe that one should love the sinner hate the sin.(www1) In the Bible, read by Christians, it considers homosexual actions wrong.(Bender, 204) In the New Testament of the Bible, Paul says that homosexuality is way for people to turn their backs away from God. It also says that this is leading away from what is “natural”.(IBID) Christian parents have said that child having a homosexual relationship is a painful problem to face.(IBID, 199)

If a teen is having feelings that he might be gay and is trying to cope with those feelings, they see that they will have to deal with the society’s hostile attitudes about homosexuals. (Nardo, 65) Parents often hope and pray that their child will grow up to be “normal”. This does not always happen and causes frustration in the family.(Bender, 199) If a homosexual’s family is against homosexuality they will stay in the “closet” (keep their feelings secret) to avoid letting their family down or to avoid being mistreated or excluded. Families suffer from homophobia, or fear of homosexuals. This leads to the social disease of gay bashing.(Basso, 215)

Schools are typically hostile environments for homosexual youths. Schools are not prepared to deal with the various sexual orientations of students. Staff members often view homosexual youths negatively. Peers also share the same bias as do the school staff.(Nardo, 65) This makes teenagers feel like they need to keep their sexual identity a secret. Not being open about sexuality causes some teenagers to stay in the closet for the rest of their lives; it also causes the heterosexual teenagers to remain homophobic and not accept homosexuals. One report stated that 21 percent of teenagers who try to keep their homosexuality a secret attempt suicide by the age of twenty.(IBID, 69)

Many homosexuals have had at least one partner of the opposite sex. This is because they may have not realized that they were homosexuals yet or they knew but were trying to live the way society says you should, as heterosexuals.(Gravelle, 71) It is normal for a person to having homosexual feelings or experiences.(Madaras, 222)

Recently people have changed their beliefs about homosexuality. The church’s views of homosexuality is one area where beliefs have been changed. Religious groups who used to interpret the Bible as condemning homosexual behavior allow homosexuals to become ministers.(Bender, 199) Medical studies have proven that homosexuality is not a sickness or abnormal condition as some had thought before.(Nardo, 69) Also in society political views have changed. There are groups who are pro-homosexuality. The Gay Rights Activists put on demonstrations to fight for the rights of homosexuals.(IBID, 70) we celebrate Gay Pride day with many different parades and state legislatures are even trying to grant minority status to homosexuals so that no one can discriminate against them.(Be