I think that the least one can admit, if the facts of the case are true, is that the brain is hard-wired to recognize homosexual and heterosexual states, since the state of being attracted to the same sex causes you to react to “pheromones” in a sexual way.
That cop-out the choice-apologists can take is not the most intuitive explanation to me, however. While there probably is some environmental element to orientation, it would be highly unlikely that the brain has involved this biological mechanism to induce sexual stimulation without the primary cause of the orientation being biological.
To me personally, this news article hit me with a flash of revelation that it is intuitively correct. I mean, I’ve known aesthetically appealing men, young girls, and transexual women, but wasn’t sexually attracted to them. I’ve often wondered why this is the case, (and even moreso for women, who are as a rule even more aesthetically sensitive to the same gender than men*,) and it makes sense that there is some unseen biological interaction to explain my lack of interest in those not emitting the unproven “pheromone”.
Note that I am not relieved in particular, as while part of me doesn’t want to be attracted to those other categories of people, intellectually I would love to want to have sex with them (well other than young girls that is,) as it would be more opportunities for me.
*It’s actually been shown biologically. As an average of course: there are exceptions.
I couldn’t open your link, but the article in today’s paper quoted the researcher as specifically saying it didn’t. Thus, I think we can assume thte answer to your question is “no”. It’s possible that the physical changes in the brain were the result of homosexual experiences, rather than inborn.
I said that in the OP. But it isn’t the most intuitive answer to me. At the very least it would seem to show that the brain recognizes homosexuality biologically.
But as a tangent and additional comment to my OP, even if the changes were due to behahior rather than the other way around (and what’s to say it’s not both?), the combination of lack of ethical implications of same-sex intercourse with a biologically-recognized basis for homosexuality means that it’s pretty hard to take a firm moral stance against homosexuality. About the only way out for the fag-haters if this is true is to claim that god wired us with the possibility for homosexuality as a temptation (!) or Satan changed our genetic makeup, which doesn’t make for a very powerful God.
But not the part about what the researcher herself said, and that’s the critical part.
I’m not arguing that homosexuality isn’t rooted in biology-- in fact, a biological basis is the most parsimonious explanation. Note that I said biology, and not “our genes”. The latter is only a subset of the former.
At any rate, I doubt any amount of scientific evidence is going to change the minds of those who think homosexuality is a sin. Look how many people still think evolution is “just a theory”. And how long has that been an established scientific fact?
I think the article says a lot more about the mysterious thing everyone calls “chemistry” than sexual orientation. Why do some people make us quiver while others barely register? I’ve always found the Freudian explanations completely lacking, and am inclined to suspect they’re all rubbish. That there are, in addition to the visual and aural cues we take for granted, potent olfactory signals that elicit desire is really quite fascinating, to me, largely because we seem to be so unaware of it. That there are distinctly male and phemale pheromones that humans are sensitive to is not a new idea, and this is just one example of confirmatory evidence of the sort that has been mounting for years. Pheromone signaling, along with the other sensory input we rely on to guage femininity and masculinity, and our receptivity to individuals of either persuasion, would appear to have little to do with what makes us attracted to members of a sex in the first place, but is rather one of the triggers of attraction to whatever we’re inclined toward.