If it's biological - are people going to try to fix it? A test before birth to test the predisposition? An operation to "fix" it? Is this ethical?

If it's not biological - then is homosexuality just something that should be treated? "rehabilated"? Is this ethical?

I worry when people are too anxious to determine what "causes" homosexuality. I think that it will not help acceptance... but that it will just give these "conversion" people more to work with.

The one study that came out several years ago, about the biological propensity of homosexuality in men, correlated the size of part of the hypothalamus to homosexuality. This means that men who are homosexual, in most cases, are wired that way from birth. It is not treatable. What will probably begin to happen in the not-so-distant future is that people will use genetic tests to see if a fetus is predisposed to be homosexual, and that is indeed an ethical question.

I seriously doubt that there people who choose to be homosexual in any significant numbers. I do not believe that attempts at behaviour modification will be successful. No one taught me to look at woman's breasts, and I know that there is not a chance in hell that behaviour modification, unless it is of the Clockwork Orange variety, will ever get me to stop.

A great irony, as I see it, is that people who are so opposed to the existence of homosexuals are actually envouraging homosexuals to live a lie, get married, and pass on their homosexual genes. If they simply left these people alone, homosexuals, as a percentage of humanity, would reproduce in smaller numbers and decline.

So if it is biological can a parent change it?

Lots of things are biological that we actively change.

-Rudey
--Oh the ethical questions technology brings.

If its linked to the hypothalamus, then there is no existing technology that can change it. The hypothalamus is in a part of the brain that I believe would be considered inoperable, with current technology.

The bigger question about technology, genetics, and homosexuality, is, "how can we alter genes so that there will be twicw as many women as men, with all women bisexual?"

looks above *cough threesome fetish cough*


russell, what you are doing is changing the level of explaination. It is quite possible that the size of part of the hypocampus creates a disposition to homosexuality. However, this doesn't explain what causes homosexuality... it would be niave to think that changes in the brain do not cause changes in human behaviour. *some where in Waterloo, a psychology professor smiles knowing he got his point across to at least one student in his cog sci course*

The question then becomes - what causes the increase size of the hypocampus? If it's genetic - germ-line or even somatic therapies are in the wings. It is not as far away as we like to think. Then rudey's point becomes a very important one.

It is true that technological "solutions" brings up a lot of ethical questions. But then we need to think about the "problem" we are trying to solve. Is it really a problem that requires a technical solution? or perhaps it is our society which needs to change...

I believe that the first application of science will be genetic screening, and that in and of itself raises ethical questions.

As far as using genetic therapy, I do believe that is further away because we are talking about altering the core of the brain. The problem with genetic therapy is that only a few genes are linked solely to one trait. Most genes are linked, in a matrix, to many traits. Altering one thing will usually alter something else as well.