LGBTQ: Choice or Chemistry – Clarity Medicine

While at the make-up counter one day, the man applying my make-up ever so adeptly, kept up an easy conversational patter during which he enlightened me regarding his gay-dom. “IF YOU THINK THAT I WANTED TO GROW UP GAY IN TEXAS, THEN YOU’RE CRAZY!”

I was shocked and just a little uncomfortable for as a ‘child of the sixties’ the prevailing thought was homosexuality was a choice. While my generation rarely discussed homosexuality, and your generation may be more accepting, there still seems to be considerable confusion about the origins of sexual orientation.

To say those who exist outside the norms of society are ostracized and ridiculed is stating the obvious. There is, however, greater tolerance when the biological or pathological origins of an anomaly are identifiable. The point is: that lack of knowledge can breed behavior that hurts those already hurting.

Journal

In The Red Queen, Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (1993), Matt Ridley discusses possible causes for sexual variations in society:

“A man develops a preference for women because his brain develops a certain way. It develops in a certain way because testosterone produced by his genetically determined testicles alter the brain inside his mother’s womb in such a way that later, at puberty, it will react to testosterone again. Miss out on the genes for testicles, the testosterone burst in the womb, or the testosterone burst at puberty – any one of the three – and you will not be a typical man…Research in Britain, America and Germany has all confirmed that a prenatal exposure to a deficiency of testosterone increases the likelihood of a man becoming homosexual. Men with an extra X chromosome and men exposed in the womb to female hormones are likely to be gay…” (p. 264).”

“Research in Britain, America, and Germany has all confirmed that a prenatal exposure to deficiency of testosterone increases the likelihood of a man becoming homosexual. Men with an extra chromosome and men exposed in the womb to female hormones are more likely to be gay or effeminate…”

“Intriguingly, men who were conceived and born in periods of great stress, such as toward the end of World War II, are more often gay then men born at other times. (The stress hormone cortisol is made from the same progenitor as testosterone; perhaps, it uses up the raw material, leaving less to be made into testosterone.)”

“It is clear, however, that the cause of homosexuality lies in some unusual balance of hormonal influence in the womb, but not later on, a fact that supports the idea that the mentality of sexual preference is affected by prenatal sex hormones.”

Blitzkreigs over London during WWII were devastating in terms of life, death and survival – and while we are not typically faced with life threatening situations – surviving our current world may have an equally devastating impact. I think, in particular, of women who are raising children with no safety-net and having sole financial responsibility. That may not seem like WWII but the body may perceive the long term stress as commensurate to war related stress.

And we now know that stress does act on the adrenals diverting DHEA to the stress hormone CORTISOL thus compromising normal hormone function and balance (see Cortisol / Stress Model above).

While scientists have been searching for a “gay gene,” there is more information pointing to the impact of hormones during pregnancy as a factor in determining sexual outcome. In my humble opinion, the fact that we have a spectrum of sexual expressions would support the Cortisol / Stress Model.

This blog is meant to open the conversation of “WHY AM I” and support those who feel they don’t fit what has been determined “the norm.” Understanding conundums through research and education can provide answers that remove fear. Education is mandatory. Fear is optional. Hate is unconscionable.

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