For minors anyway. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/S...#ixzz27w50U7P6

I assume they'll soon be banning homeopathy for minors as well.

One can but hope...

Good. For all those that think homosexuality is a choice, ask yourself, "When did I choose to be heterosexual?"

When I was about 12, when I decided that girls weren't icky after all.

Personally, I can't see why sexual orientation is fixed, nor why it should be. Why shouldn't people go from being gay to straight and back again, if that's what they want to do. The whole nature/nurture argument is entirely based on the wrong premise.

The right premise being "be tolerant and kind" rather than seeking justifications or reasons.

That's a very Christian attitude - suggesting that people chose their sexual orientation (and so can change it).

You're implying that having a choice predicates morality. So your argument is that people have no choice, therefore it's not wrong. A corollary of that is that if they did have a choice, then they would be doing something wrong.

Which is why I think the argument of nature/nurture is the wrong basis. If it could be conclusively proved that sexual orientation is a choice, then you'd have to find another reason to be accepting. I think people should get into acceptance straight off.

Funny how "Christian attitude" is somehow negative. It used to be a very positive thing.

Oh - and it is a "Christian attitude" in the sense that it is held by someone who considers themselves to be a Christian. But that has nothing to do with my view of choice. I think that came about due to brainwashing by the Essex University Student Union, who had posters in their offices saying "Go on - become a homosexual".

Gene Robinson's view that it's all due to nature would also be a Christian attitude, btw.

Actually there are individuals who are either biologically or hormonally androgynous, and, for them, gender identity (and sexual orientation) MAY be a choice...

That's the way of the world.

I'm sure they weren't suggesting that literally

You never met them! They had all sorts of weird "right-on" beliefs. They were the mob who became apparatchiks of the Blair government.

Actually, thinking back on it, in those days - at least in university - being gay was viewed pretty much as a choice that should be free, without censure. It was only in the past few years that popluar opinion has solidified into "being born that way". I wonder where it will go next?

I think it's a bit of a push really for people to have to say specifically one way or the other. I'm sure there are people who ONLY are attracted to same or opposite sex, but I'm thinking there also are plenty who are simply attracted to people who attract them, but are (or feel) forced to pick one or the other.

Labels are comfortable though, mostly to others, but sometimes to ourselves as well, so it is understandable that people would say they are either gay or straight, even if they're kinda somewhere in between - a bit like some people out there who claim to be Atheist because they don't believe in religion as opposed to not believing in some force and / or being greater than ourselves. The label helps keep the questions down a bit, helps you know where you stand AND helps others put themselves someplace in relation to you.


So, I do think that some people "decide" - not that they'd otherwise be one or the other, but that they find themselves attracted to "all", and feel the need to choose, for whatever reason. Alas, this time of choice does often come at a time when our hormones are going crazy and we're receiving signals from many sources, so some make the comfortable choice to them, whichever it may be.

Of course, I'm not saying that everyone is like this, I imagine for most it isn't, but I've known one or two people who described it like this for themselves. (Yes, I've had interesting circles of friends in my life. )

Now, should homeopathy - and other woo stuff that is often promoted from California, if not created there - be banned towards minors as well?

I had a former girlfriend who went from straight, to lesbian for 12 years or so, then back to straight. And she wasn't bi either, when she was straight she was only into guys, and when lesbian only into women.

Tom

Did she become a lesbian after having to be your girlfriend?

Actually, no, I met her after she went back to being straight!

Tom

I know the type exactly. A Godwin word comes to mind.