I'm not insinuating anything. I was asking a question. A great majority of the folks that I have communicated with that are in support of gay marriage say that the studies indicate that people are born gay, when in fact there is no study that says that. every study I have read on homosexuality concludes that homosexuality MAY be caused by some combination of genetics or environmental factors but also usually state no proof exists. My point is that people who say the studies say this, that or the other thing should read and understand them first.
In psychology, there is no such thing as proof of causation, so the language used is always the "may be caused," "research supports the hypothesis," etc. kind. It's not concrete what the exact cause of different sexual orientations is, but that's the way it looks so far. So if it is a combination of genetics, pre-natal and post-natal environment, brain structure, or whatever, it's fair to say that research supports the generalization that people are "born gay."
Regardless, I really don't understand what your point in debating the cause of homosexuality is. Let's pretend it has nothing to do with any kind of predisposition (even though research indicates otherwise), what is your alternative hypothesis? What do you think causes it? And why does that have any bearing on this discussion? Something has to cause it, since people blatantly don't choose their sexuality.
Asking me when I decided I was heterosexual as a point that there is no choice to being homosexual usually holds no validity with heterosexuals. Heterosexuals consider heterosexual intercourse to be natural while homosexual intercourse is unnatural. Therefore, there is no need to legitimize heterosexuality to refute the validity of homosexuality.
I'm talking about sexual orientation in general. People don't choose it. People don't choose to be gay just like people don't choose to be straight. Your avoidance of my question makes me think that you didn't choose your sexual orientation.
The argument that environmental factors may cause homosexuality is very valid in my view. However it doesn't in and of itself validate homosexuality, for me personally, since there are a great many mental disorders which are said to be caused by environmental factors. Don't take that to mean I think homosexuality is a mental disorder, I don't necessarily. I'm sure if I were homosexual I would have a different view on that. My personal religious views are not a strong enough factor for me to rely on in opposition to gay marriage so I've tried to find away to convince myself that it is valid through reading studies on the issue.
Difference between homosexuality and any mental disorder is that homosexuality itself hasn't been found to have any inherently negative effects on any aspect of humans. Whereas obsessive-compulsive disorder, for example, has serious negative consequences for the individual and antisocial personality disorder, for example, can lead to negative effects for both the individual others in society, there are no analogous negative effects associated with homosexuality itself for the individual or for other members of society.
Personally, I do not feel that homosexuality or gay marriage will affect me personally in anyway, however I do believe it will have some pretty serious affects on our society. Maybe good effects, maybe bad. Time will tell. That is more my concern than anything, and is the only reason I oppose it.
I mean, what makes you believe there will be serious effects on our society? As others have pointed out, there are now 9 nations around the world that have legalized same-sex marriage, as well as 5 states and the District of Columbia here in the U.S. I haven't heard of any kind of societal collapse as a result, and it's been legal for years in some places. If you have heard about these negative effects, please point me to the article or report. On top of that, research indicates that same-sex marriage improves the lives of LGBT people and their families. And all I've heard about the negative effects are empty assertions about societal collapse without even an ounce of concrete evidence to support such radical assertions. So what ON EARTH makes you believe that there will be serious "bad" effects on society? Just a hunch?
Since homosexuals can live "marriage-like" lifestyles now, and are as protected by hate laws and discrimination laws as are anyone else, I don't see that legalizing marriage would provide any benefit worthy of the potential risks involved with changing the societal definition of marriage.
Again, I'd love an example of a "potential risk" and your reason for believing that it is a risk. If you don't see any benefit that is worth the "potential risks," then you should read about the 1,138 rights and responsibilities of marriage provided by federal law.
Rights and responsibilities of marriages in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It's worth it to plenty of people, especially when the only argument against it are these phantom "risks" to society that don't seem to be evidenced anywhere.