[quote]SexMachine wrote:
Why do you assume that the nurture/nature argument is over and that gays are all born gay? I make no such assumptions. I don’t know and don’t pretend I do. What I do know is that children are like blank slates - to a large extent their behaviour and characters are formed prior to the age of reason. They emulate what they are taught by adults. Teaching young children about homosexual sex and having ‘two daddies’ must inevitably warp a child’s mind.[/quote]
That is not a provable “scientific” law. There are no scientifically provable conclusions on the origins of sexual orientation, be it nature or nurture. The “blank slate” tabula rasa theory dates back to John Locke, but there is also considerable evidence that genetics play a greater role in shaping personality and behavior than we once thought, whereas a nurturing environment just plays a role in shaping how those genetic factors play out.
There has been limited, yet ongoing psychological research done on identical twins who were separated a birth and reared in different environments, and some of the personality traits and life experiences are stunning similar.
When it comes to sexual orientation, there is no definite answer to this debate. However, speaking on an anecdotal basis, there exists a plethora of gay men and women who will tell you that they have always been attracted to members of the same sex, even before puberty. Does that prove it is genetic? Not at all. However, it does lend credence to the fact that most did NOT make some sort of a conscious choice to be gay or were not otherwise confused by sexual experimentation post-puberty, which then points to the fact that it may be a) genetic, b) psychological and a product of hormonal development post-conception in the womb or c) environmental, influenced by unknown events in the formative years of socialization.
Scientists simply have no firm answer on this. However, there are a lot of kids who have been reared in homes where at least one parent is living with a gay partner (either via a post-heterosexual divorce or adoption by a gay couple), and I am aware of no correlation between the sexuality of the parent and that of the child. Could it possibly have a deleterious impact on some kids? Yes, but then again there is, to my knowledge, also an absence of widespread, longitudinal research on this topic, outside of anecdotal observations, so your opinions are no more less fact than the nature vs. nurture assumptions.