Yes and no. To start with, the far greater number of congenital defects, physical and psychological, found in homosexuals, tends to indicate that there are at least some “proclivities” towards homosexuality. But that is only part of the equation.
This has been demonstrated repeatedly with mammals in laboratory conditions since the 1960s. About halfway through gestation, the testes of a male fetus will secrete a squirt of testosterone that will travel to its brain and tell it that it is a “male” brain. If this testosterone does not arrive, the brain is, by default, female.
Scientists were able to block this testosterone in male fetuses, or add some artificially to female fetuses. The end result being an animal that thinks it is of the other gender, to include its mating behavior. They were even able to block it to half the brain, so the animal would exhibit both male and female behavior.
However, and a big however, while this is enough to determine animal sexuality, it is *not* enough to determine human sexuality.
That is, a male human fetus whose testosterone is blocked naturally, or by an artificial chemical, will indeed exhibit female behavior in many ways, but it will *not* influence who they are sexually attracted to. Most likely, they will be more feminine heterosexuals.
Likewise, a female human fetus that gets a squirt of testosterone via some means, will indeed be masculine in character, but still the odds strongly favor her being heterosexual.
This indicates that gender identification in the brain is not enough to “make a homosexual”. It also dispels the idea that animal models can be used to determine human sexuality.
In turn, this supports the idea that environmental factors and upbringing do hold some key elements to determining human sexuality, strong enough to overcome gender identification.
“However, and a big however, while this is enough to determine animal sexuality, it is *not* enough to determine human sexuality.”
How do we know?
Little children who play gender-different (their interests, etc) may grow up to be straight, but a significNt amount of these little kids ( the sporty girl with the desire to wear boys clothes and short hair, the boy who loves pink and nail polish) DO find themselves attracted to their own sex at puberty.
Great post. The problem is so many don’t understand what it means and trying to make it more simple usually results in further misunderstandings. Many just can’t move past their bias.