“I believe God created the systems that create who we are. I don’t think he painted an end result, I think he created a machine of constant change and we all live in it.” Only I see that system more as a living thing, something organic — not simply a machine.

I believe system created both order and variety. I believe that my gayness is part of that God-created “system that creates who we are.” How marvelous is that? Variety, overwhelming variety everywhere! Not broken — anymore than a blue bird is”broken” becasue she is not red.

No. Just another amazaing difference, neither good nor bad. It exists, It has power, Like fire, I can use my sexuality to warm and give light — or to destroy. But isnt that that’s true of heterosexuality as well?

Anything that breaks 1in 10,000 gets a lot of scientific attention.

Except that if it’s too rare, there’s no money for research.

As for the rest, the “Founder Effect” is exactly right. We even know the name of the originator. The same thing happened in a village in Italy, in a region of New Guinea, and on several Pacific Islands.

You’re also right about genetics.

Ya know 99% of genetics can be explained in a few simple pages. The remaining 1% that focuses on the exceptions might take 100 Encyclopedias.

Exactly.

These things happen but nobody ever expects it to happen to them.

You got that right!

BTW one of the first symptoms, one that really caused me a lot of disorientation, was that my eye colour changed. I’ve since found out it happens to a number of girls at puberty, caused by soaring hormonal levels. But at the time it was inexplicable.

I still haven’t received a (pardon the pun) straight answer from any religious authority on what my sexual orientation should be under these circumstances. They have enough trouble with the standard-model hermaphrodite.

If we’re lucky, they ignore people like us as beneath consideration; if we’re unlucky, they erase us.

I see it as just another variation in a universe filled with amazing variety. I don’t think genes or pathogens “caused” it . You do. I think it is part of my soul — created by God — not an indication that something is broken, disordered or wrong.

Now I see our disconnect. I believe in God, no doubt about it. But I believe God created the systems that create who we are. I don’t think he painted an end result, I think he created a machine of constant change and we all live in it.

So that’s why I try to understand gayness, or blue eyes, or anything else in terms of how the machine works. To me it’s all a huge numerical system that we can understand if we study it long enough.

I don’t believe God painted an end result, that we see. When I see gayness (or anything) I try to understand how it exists and survived in the system. And that’s why I have come to the conclusion that it couldn’t survive through the spread of genes. It must be something else.

But as always… my mind is open. Whatever scientists ultimately figure out, I’ll go along with it.

You see it as a disease. I don’t. Nothing’s “busted”. It isn’t evidence of “nature’s gutter system.” Those are value judgements, baggage, personal prejudices that you bring to the discussion. I don’t have those negative value judgements about it. You obviously do.

It’s not that I am not “afraid to discuss this topic in accurate terms from all sides”. I just object to your language, not the idea that homosexuality is an interesting subject worhty of discussion and study. The terms you use are offensive because they are loaded with negative emotional connotations and preconceptions — and not just for old gay guys like me.

Your bias sticks out like a sore thumb. I don’t think you see it — just like you can’t see your nose. I wonder, are you at all curious about what “causes” heterosexuality? Or do you know what “causes” that?

I hear what you are saying and I’m sensitive to your point of view. In the strongest possible terms I don’t condemn anyone for SSA.

I think what we’ve got here is a generational difference. I’m a reasonably young guy who grew up in a time when being gay wasn’t a dirty word. You might have grown up in an era when the exact opposite was true. So I think your natural defenses are WAY up.

If SSA is due to a gene it needs to be discussed as an inborn trait, much like blue eyes.

If SSA is due to an outside pathogen it needs to be discussed as some strange type of environmental damage. In this case it merely represents that some cells or a gene were zapped. This is no reflection on the person in any way. People are about 99% more than sexual orientation.

Until we know what is going on people shouldn’t be afraid to discuss this topic in accurate terms from all sides.

My opinion from looking at all the data is that SSA is the result of a very subtle and common type of environmental damage. Even so I know full well that I could be 100% wrong. But even if I turn out to be right I won’t criticize any person for SSA. I disagree with lots of things that I read but I don’t condemn anyone, least of all gay people. We’re all trying to make our own way.