# Is it possible to make a gay man straight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 12, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184 "2003-01-12T20:36:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/41 "2003-01-14T22:22:01Z")
Can’t say I have any personal experience with this… but I have heard it said that men who participate in homosexual activity while in prison tend to veer back into the “heterosexual” lane once released into society. This would seem to indicate that the persons in question are not so much “gay” as they are “dying for some sort of sexual contact.” ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/42 "2003-01-14T22:34:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Debaser \* > \*\*Most would agree that people who are gay are born that way, no? It is not a choice, there is some physical or mental difference. \*\* Most research suggests sexuality is a complex interaction of biological, psychological and social factors. There’s probably not “a gay gene”; but likely a genetic influence. You might be interested in the work of Prof. [Gregory M. Herek](http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/). ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/43 "2003-01-14T22:39:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Not all sex in prison is rape. Some people choose to be someone’s ‘bitch’ for protection… Choosing to be a bitch or getting beaten to a pulp doesn’t seem like there is a choice in there to me. Granted, not all prison sex is rape, just the majority of it because it uses coercive techniques for the end result. ---
**Author:** ![ffabris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a87d85/32.png) [@ffabris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ffabris)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/44 "2003-01-15T00:09:31Z")
[Disclaimer: this post is not directed at anyone specific.] I can’t help but ask myself why so many straight people seem to want to “convert” us gays to being straight? I mean, no gay person that I know of wants to turn all straight people into gays! (OK, so maybe I’ve found a few straight guys attractive and wished they were gay, but that’s as far as it went. ;)) Let us be… allow us to live and love like everyone else. Gay people have a lot to give - and history shows that gay people have already contributed a lot to human culture and society. Ultimately, it is all about love. Sex (for me anyway) is a physical expression of love and caring. If I have sex with another man, it is because I want us to be as one - or as close as is humanly possible. It is about giving - myself to him, and he to me - the only tangible thing of _true_ value a person can give: oneself. I find it tragic that anyone could want to deny me this, or deny it to any gay man or woman. I do not believe in god, but I fully understand those who say “God is love”, for through love, I am convinced that we humans glimpse paradise. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/45 "2003-01-15T02:19:13Z")
**ffabris** , let me reassure you that none of us here really want to convert you to straight. ---
**Author:** ![Siberman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Siberman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siberman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/46 "2003-01-15T03:31:49Z")
Is it possible to make a hardcore (meaning permanent in this case)gay person straight, through religious conversion or otherwise? You bet! 30 minutes alone with Ru Paul works every time.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/47 "2003-01-15T04:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\ ***ffabris** , let me reassure you that none of us here really want to convert you to straight. \*\* Except for His4Ever and the dynamic duo. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/48 "2003-01-15T04:32:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dorkusmalorkusmafia \* > \*\*Choosing to be a bitch or getting beaten to a pulp doesn’t seem like there is a choice in there to me. Granted, not all prison sex is rape, just the majority of it because it uses coercive techniques for the end result. \*\* I was talking about people who seek someone out, not people who agree to be someone’s bitch after they threaten them. I’ve read guides to surviving in prison that strongly suggest finding someone who is tough, influential in a major gang, and offering to be their bitch. I don’t think I would do it, but I would probably end up raped too. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/49 "2003-01-15T04:45:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \* > \*\*Can’t say I have any personal experience with this… but I have heard it said that men who participate in homosexual activity while in prison tend to veer back into the “heterosexual” lane once released into society. > > This would seem to indicate that the persons in question are not so much “gay” as they are “dying for some sort of sexual contact.” \*\* Which would be bisexual. I don’t really think that a straight man would prefer a man over a hole in the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Teebone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teebone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teebone)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/50 "2003-01-17T09:27:00Z")
I really don’t believe anyone is born any sort way…gay, straight, bi, atleast in the permanent sense. I think evolution or whatever hormones you get during puberty influences your likes or dislikes, but outside influences from society, family, enviroment can change your preferences over time. I mean, no one is born liking cheeseburgers or liking the opposite sex, but most people like cheeseburgers and the opposite sex, but for whatever reasons, you start hating cheeseburgers or liking the same sex. Of course, I don’t think of sexuality in only straight, bi, or gay. I think its better represented in the Kinsey scale with its varying levels. A lot of people get offended about the talk of chaging people sexual preferences, but I think it can and does happen. Sure, I think its wrong for any religion or organization to try to change someone but I don’t buy the “born gay” or whatever saying you can’t be changed. That said, I am straight, but I wouldn’t say I’m “born straight” and rule out ever being gay or having gay tendencies. I think it’s really close minded. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184/51 "2003-01-17T17:11:57Z")
**Teebone** , you certainly have a right to your opinion, and the idea of “sexual orientation” is a slippery one – because every human being has his own particular tastes and attractions. However, when one advances a theory or an opinion, one is honorbound to consider the data that may validate or refute it, ideally in advancing it and at minimum in discussing it. And the unanimous testimony of gay men and most Lesbians is that they did not choose to be gay, and cannot choose not to be gay. It is not a matter of taking up at puberty what one is going to feel horny about, but something quite a bit deeper that one _recognizes_ in oneself. In many cases, kids are honest enough with themselves to recognize their attraction to other kids of the same sex _before_ puberty, and adults who had been those kids have reported this to be the case for them. For others, it’s a discovery that comes at puberty or, after a long period of denial, a long time later. (It’s worth noting, for accuracy’s sake, that a few Lesbians claim that they “chose” to be Lesbians – how I read this statement is that they are bisexual and choose to _identify_ as Lesbians thanks to unsatisfactory heterosexual relationships.) And yes, the sexual spectrum represented by the Kinsey scale is quite accurate – what people are saying in claiming to be “gay” or “straight” is usually not that they are exclusively attracted to a given sex but that their principal attraction, and the one that they choose to act on (for a complex of reasons that may include moral ones) is the one or the other. I think true Kinsey-3 bisexuals are as rare as Kinsey-0 total hets. and Kinsey-6 total gays – that most people are _mostly_ one or the other, with an occasional smidgen of temptation to the alternative. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-make-a-gay-man-straight/148184.md?page=2)