Biological Explanations of Homosexuality
Biological Explanations for Homosexuality
Katherine Callan
Opening
This paper is aimed to address the question of whether homosexuality is biologically based. This topic is quite relevant today because homosexuality is a huge civil rights issue which is also conflicting with the church 's moral standards. While many religious bodies claim that homosexuality is a choice and a "sin", many in the homosexual community have strongly refuted that claim, instead saying they were born this way and their sexual identity is not a choice for them. Currently one of the biggest debates regarding the rights of homosexuals is same sex marriage . If scientist are indeed able to show evidence that homosexuality is result of biologic or genetic factors and thus not a choice or a morality issue then we as a society might be able to make better headway in legalizing samesex marriage. Each culture addresses the issue of homosexuality in various ways, while tolerance is slowly gaining momentum in the United States, many other cultures have long accepted and even embraced homosexual like style. Finding a biological explanation is important in helping countries who are strongly influenced by the Catholic churches 's moral code to refute the churches ' stance that homosexuality is a choice.
Literature review In America today there is a large social debate over whether sexual orientation is influenced by environmental or biological factors. If sexual orientation is determined biologically the moral issue of the debate would be be relevant. If however homosexual behavior is a choice or a preference then the stance of homosexuality being immoral may have some justification. Research suggests that left handed homosexual men have less older brothers that expected (Blanchard & Lippa, 2006). Compelling evidence has shown that homosexuality in men is associated with having more older brothers and being left handed. Interestingly however having older brothers only increases
Katherine Callan
Opening
This paper is aimed to address the question of whether homosexuality is biologically based. This topic is quite relevant today because homosexuality is a huge civil rights issue which is also conflicting with the church 's moral standards. While many religious bodies claim that homosexuality is a choice and a "sin", many in the homosexual community have strongly refuted that claim, instead saying they were born this way and their sexual identity is not a choice for them. Currently one of the biggest debates regarding the rights of homosexuals is same sex marriage . If scientist are indeed able to show evidence that homosexuality is result of biologic or genetic factors and thus not a choice or a morality issue then we as a society might be able to make better headway in legalizing samesex marriage. Each culture addresses the issue of homosexuality in various ways, while tolerance is slowly gaining momentum in the United States, many other cultures have long accepted and even embraced homosexual like style. Finding a biological explanation is important in helping countries who are strongly influenced by the Catholic churches 's moral code to refute the churches ' stance that homosexuality is a choice.
Literature review In America today there is a large social debate over whether sexual orientation is influenced by environmental or biological factors. If sexual orientation is determined biologically the moral issue of the debate would be be relevant. If however homosexual behavior is a choice or a preference then the stance of homosexuality being immoral may have some justification. Research suggests that left handed homosexual men have less older brothers that expected (Blanchard & Lippa, 2006). Compelling evidence has shown that homosexuality in men is associated with having more older brothers and being left handed. Interestingly however having older brothers only increases