# If we could "cure" (or create!) homosexuality, would it be wrong? & if it went away? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 31, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190 "2006-12-31T04:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190/61 "2007-01-04T23:29:43Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Fundamentalism is a style of religion, not a specific religion. If fact, while I can’t find a cite, I recall reading about a medical treatment that _does_ tend to induce religious fundamentalism. IIRC it’s for a genetic disorder that causes the brain to outgrow the skull, leading to the brain being crushed and death. The treatment stops the brain from growing, but stunts it’s development in some ways. [/QUOTE] If it’s a style of religion it’s even more of a choice. I choose a religion and then the strain of it that I will adhere to. Your original point is sheer nonsense. So let’s see this mighty cite you recall and evaluate it. Sans cite, do you care to defend your ridiculous assertion? Or should we just chalk it up to your deep misunderstanding of all things religious? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190/62 "2007-01-05T00:10:18Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] If it’s a style of religion it’s even more of a choice. I choose a religion and then the strain of it that I will adhere to. Your original point is sheer nonsense. So let’s see this mighty cite you recall and evaluate it. Sans cite, do you care to defend your ridiculous assertion? Or should we just chalk it up to your deep misunderstanding of all things religious? [/QUOTE] No, I can’t find a cite, as I _said_. Do _you_ have a cite for fundamentalism being a choice, and not hardwired ? I on the other hand, _do_ have a cite for genetics playing a part in religiousity. [Link](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7147) > [@](#): > > Genes may help determine how religious a person is, suggests a new study of US twins. And the effects of a religious upbringing may fade with time. > > Until about 25 years ago, scientists assumed that religious behaviour was simply the product of a person’s socialisation - or “nurture”. But more recent studies, including those on adult twins who were raised apart, suggest genes contribute about 40% of the variability in a person’s religiousness. > > But it is not clear how that contribution changes with age. A few studies on children and teenagers - with biological or adoptive parents - show the children tend to mirror the religious beliefs and behaviours of the parents with whom they live. That suggests genes play a small role in religiousness at that age. > > Now, researchers led by Laura Koenig, a psychology graduate student at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, US, have tried to tease apart how the effects of nature and nurture vary with time. Their study suggests that as adolescents grow into adults, genetic factors become more important in determining how religious a person is, while environmental factors wane. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190/63 "2007-01-05T00:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] We could imagine horrible coercion to force gays straight, but this sort of thing is probably unlikely in the US at least, and we shouldn’t easily confuse it with more voluntary changes)? [/quote] I’m surprised this comment has been overlooked. “Horrible coercion” in the sense of jailing or government torture is unlikely here - although in most of the world it’d be very probable - but in terms of pressure from family members or social groups (churches) I don’t think it’s unlikely at all. There are already reeducation camps and programs to straighten out gay people, and I’m sure some are extremely successful even though the whole thing is absurd. If there was a treatment that really worked a lot of the time, I think _more_ people would be tempted to adopt coercive methods to use it. A parent today might think “I wish Junior wasn’t gay, but I’d never send him to one of those places- they’re expensive and cruel and don’t work.” With a pill, the parent might think, “He’d only have to take a pill, and it’d really work. It’s not because I wish he wasn’t gay- I’d be saving him a lot of trouble and there aren’t any side effects, so aren’t I almost required to get him to take it?” > [@](#): > > And of course the final interesting issue would be: if we could medically change someone’s sexuality, would you try it? No. There are men I consider handsome, but (no offense intended to anybody), I find the idea of sex or sexual contact with another man really gross - and I’d have to live with myself after the pill wore off. ---
**Author:** ![Don26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Don26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don26)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190/64 "2007-01-06T18:10:27Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] We are skirting an issue, that people are born gay. Some boneheads do not even accept that and think they are recruited or it is a choice. This is fundamental argument for the fundamentalists. [/QUOTE] [People are born Conjoined](http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=17223&cK=1) and are seperated [or with Cleft Palates and recieve reconstructive surgery](http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/4439_1210.asp) What makes homosexuality different? That it is trendy? Isn’t that kind of absurd? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190/65 "2007-01-06T18:24:18Z")
[QUOTE=Don26] [People are born Conjoined](http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=17223&cK=1) and are seperated [or with Cleft Palates and recieve reconstructive surgery](http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/4439_1210.asp) What makes homosexuality different? That it is trendy? Isn’t that kind of absurd? [/QUOTE] Uh, what? The fact that it isn’t a disability, among other things. Cleft palates, for example, can make it difficult for the person to eat, speak, and respire. Homosexuality has no impact whatever on a person’s ability to have a complete life, except to the extent that social pressure prevents that person from living honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190/66 "2007-02-03T21:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] Uh, what? The fact that it isn’t a disability, among other things. Cleft palates, for example, can make it difficult for the person to eat, speak, and respire. Homosexuality has no impact whatever on a person’s ability to have a complete life, except to the extent that social pressure prevents that person from living honestly. [/QUOTE] But it _does_ make a big dent in your wallet having to shop all the time to look so fabulous, and those “Graces” are very high maintenance. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-could-cure-or-create-homosexuality-would-it-be-wrong-if-it-went-away/386190.md?page=3)