In the prior discussion I did not even say anything about whether being gay was genetic,. My point was that people can choose their sexual behavior but not their sexual feelings.
But now that you mention it, I do not think that a poll of your particular gay friends is a good way to determine the truth concerning the origin of sexual preference. Apparently many gay people did not have traumatic childhoods and many do believe that being gay has a genetic component as they have relatives who are gay or bisexual. Even if being gay is not genetic, it is still possible that exposure to incorrect levels of hormones during gestation influences eventual sexual preference before birth. For instance, 37 percent of female infants born with a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) eventually become lesbian. link
You're also right that a poll of a couple of dozen queers doesn't count as an official scientific study, but it is suggestive that (at the time) none of them even KNEW a gay person who hadn't been through the wringer as a kid or early teen. I'm not saying that they made a choice to be gay, but they were using sexual deviancy as a coping mechanism for their personal pain just as a drug abuser would turn to coke to mask the symptoms of a deeper problem. (And they didn't try to lie to themselves about it.) I don't find it a leap to believe that an entire generation of fatherless, latch-key kids would breed a higher rate of dysfunctional adults. Especially when they're told that their lonely childhood was normal.
It's also hard when I see, as a mother, entire classrooms of boys drugged and punished for normal male behavior. I see fatherless teenage boys treated as potential rapists and murders for liking guns, wrestling and fast cars. Boys are given the message, more and more these days, that being male is evil. Is it any wonder that they would embrace a female nature? On top of that, let's give them the message that something is wrong with THEM for 18 years and they might actually believe it. So they look for the answers and the media tells them that they might be gay. Hey! That answers a lot of questions! Catch them at an ambiguous age before they've had the chance to establish a healthy relationship with a member of the opposite sex, show them good feelings, give them acceptance and watch them settle down into the role.
In the case of females, lets take away every decent male role model or relationship that a young girl could ever have, give them the message the men are stupid, abusive pigs over and over again and tell them that they can only be understood and accepted by other women. As females (primarily) need to have trust to enjoy a sexual relationship, why would they not have a better time with another women than with an evil man?
Feelings can be twisted up a lot more by psychology than biology and, the majority of the time, being gay is a coping mechanism.