Gay Men Article (For Those Who Just Can't Stand Science)
 

I've always thought that gay people were wired differently (sexually and not a learned behavior) and have had arguments with people that can't believe that there could ever be a section or group in society that don't like the opposite sex for...sex. I'm positive it's a genetic trait and not some deviant curse the devil is using to destroy the world like a lot of religious conservatives like to believe.

Gay Men Respond Differently to Pheromones

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Gay men's brains respond differently from those of heterosexual males when exposed to a sexual stimulus, researchers have found. The homosexual men's brains responded more like those of women when the men sniffed a chemical from the male hormone testosterone.

"It is one more piece of evidence ... that is showing that sexual orientation is not all learned," said Sandra Witelson, an expert on brain anatomy and sexual orientation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Witelson, who was not part of the research team, said the findings clearly show a biological involvement in sexual orientation.

The study, published in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, was done by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

They exposed heterosexual men and women and homosexual men to chemicals derived from male and female sex hormones.

These chemicals are thought to be pheromones — molecules known to trigger responses such as defense and sex in many animals.

Whether humans respond to pheromones has been debated, although in 2000 American researchers reported finding a gene that they believe directs a human pheromone receptor in the nose.

The Swedish study was one of a series looking at whether parts of the brain involved in reproduction differ in response to odors and pheromones, lead researcher Ivanka Savic said.

The brains of different groups responded similarly to ordinary odors such as lavender, but differed in their response to the chemicals thought to be pheromones, Savic said.

The Swedish researchers divided 36 subjects into three groups — heterosexual men, heterosexual women and homosexual men. They studied the brain response to sniffing the chemicals, using PET scans. All the subjects were healthy, unmedicated, right-handed and
HIV negative.

When they sniffed smells like cedar or lavender, all of the subjects' brains reacted only in the olfactory region that handles smells.

But when confronted by a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains active in sexual activity were activated in straight women and in gay men, but not in straight men, the researchers found.

The response in gay men and straight women was concentrated in the hypothalamus with a maximum in the preoptic area that is active in hormonal and sensory responses necessary for sexual behavior, the researchers said.

And when estrogen, the female hormone was used, there was only a response in the olfactory portion of the brains of straight women. Homosexual men had their primary response also in the olfactory area, with a very small reaction in the hypothalamus, while heterosexual men responded strongly in the reproductive region of the brain.

Savic said the group is also doing a study involving homosexual women but those results are not yet complete.

In a separate study looking at people's response to the body odors of others, researchers in Philadelphia found sharp differences between gay and straight men and women.

"Our findings support the contention that gender preference has a biological component that is reflected in both the production of different body odors and in the perception of and response to body odors," said neuroscientist Charles Wysocki, who led the study.

In particular, he said, finding differences in body odors between gay and straight individuals indicates a physical difference.

It's hard to see how a simple choice to be gay or lesbian would influence the production of body odor, he said.

Wysocki's team at the Monell Chemical Senses Center studied the response of 82 heterosexual and homosexual men and heterosexual and homosexual women to the odors of underarm sweat collected from 24 donors of varied gender and sexual orientation.

They found that gay men differed from heterosexual men and women and from lesbian women, both in terms of which body odors gay men preferred and how their own body odors were regarded by the other groups.

Gay men preferred odors from gay men, while odors from gay men were the least preferred by heterosexual men and women and by lesbian women in the study. Their findings, released Monday, are to be published in the journal Psychological Science in September.

The Swedish research was funded by the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Karolinska Institute and the Magnus Bergvall Foundation. Wysocki's research was supported by the Monell Center.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...osexual_brains

Picking protection, not perfection
Gay Oregonians need civil unions, as well as safeguards from discrimination in housing and employment
Thursday, April 28, 2005

Last week, a remarkable thing happened in Connecticut. The Legislature approved civil unions for gays and lesbians without any judicial nudging -- simply because it was the right thing to do.

The Oregon Legislature can show the same courageous leadership in this session by approving Senate Bill 1000. It would create Vermont-style civil unions, offering gay Oregonians legal protections for their families, mirroring the rights and responsibilities married couples possess under state law.

Senate Bill 1000 would also ban discrimination against gays and lesbians when they seek housing, jobs or service in public places. Although it's hard to believe, circa 2005, gays and lesbians do face discrimination in all of these arenas. It's ugly, it's immoral -- but it's perfectly legal. The Oregon Legislature can make history by outlawing it.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski, speaking Wednesday at a Basic Rights Oregon luncheon, renewed his call for the legislature to do just that. Kulongoski reminded the crowd that the fight for equal rights for gays and lesbians in this state did not begin with last year's imbroglio over gay marriage. In 1975, Kulongoski and Vera Katz co-sponsored a bill in the Oregon House to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. "We lost in the House by one vote," Kulongoski said.

Other bills followed in other legislative sessions but they failed as well. As a result, we may imagine we're living in an Oregon where discrimination is only a bad memory, but we're not. Oregonians can be denied service in a bank or restaurant because they're gay, rejected for housing because they're gay and turned down for a job interview -- or even fired -- because they're gay.

In the long run, this kind of discrimination, which is no longer legal against religious and racial minorities, is legally unsustainable against gays and lesbians, too, Kulongoski said. It's also economically shortsighted and morally wrong, he added. It's a shameful blotch on our state.

Opponents to Senate Bill 1000 will argue that this bill gives gays and lesbians preferential treatment, but it's hard to fathom their reasoning. This bill wouldn't send gays and lesbians to the front of any line; it keeps them from being spat on and yanked from the line. That's not preferential treatment. It's simple decency.

As for civil unions, Kulongoski acknowledged Wednesday that they don't offer "perfect equality" to gay couples. They don't. Yet, since Oregonians have ruled out marriage for gay couples, civil unions do offer them protections roughly equivalent to what married couples have under state law. That's light-years ahead of not offering such protections. Sadly, the fact that the name is different may be enough to keep some people from supporting Senate Bill 1000.

They should reconsider. In Vermont, which invented civil unions, gay-rights supporters were also torn about whether to hold out for marriage or create a parallel system under a different name. They chose the latter.

Over the past five years, Vermont's pioneering compromise has shown many Americans they have nothing to fear from treating gays equally. What a setback it would have been had Vermonters held out for perfection.

Oregonians shouldn't hold out for it, either. Those who endorse the perfect option this year are, in effect, endorsing the do-nothing option.

Instead, the Oregon Legislature should follow Kulongoski's lead and make history by approving Senate Bill 1000. It will give gays and lesbians the strongest possible protections.

In Oregon, it will create something more workable and wonderful than a far-off perfection:

An imperfect equality.
http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials...130.xml&coll=7

Nature v. Nurture. Of course that's always the argument when it comes to behavior. This points to nature, which is good. That means we can theoretically test for it and treat it like any other biological malfunction. As soon as we classify this as a disorder people will be considered sick and in need of help. Victims of some twisted biological design, they will earn sympathy and respect for "overcoming" their malady. Onward science.

Try to tell us something BB?

I think he is coming out of the closet and this is his cute little way of saying so

"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"

If he's coming out of the closet somebody better get him a flashlight. He's in there pretty deep and it gets dark back there.

I have a feeling he’s used to being in really deep in dark places :)

http://www.eisema.com/images/1108.jpg
Hiiiidy Ho!

Found this article to maybe help MHS and rascal explain their feelings for each other (and to get the typical conservative replies from the religious right).
Hope this helps boys! :thumbsup:

Off to play golf. Shot a 84 last week. Practice is paying off!

Hey now, don’t deflect, I hear you’ll be more happy if you just accept who you are :), I won’t condemn you, but my old boss might think your cute

seriously, wrestling in HS made me puke. trying to make a weight was of course a factor, but damn the SMELL of the guys I wrestled was .... gross. Nasty. repellent.

And some of those guys who put me in a headlock next to their testicles were undoubedly queer. aHHHHHHHHHHH

I still think it's a combination of genetics and environment...

I don't know for sure but one of my girlfriends awhile back has a brother and a son who are gay. They both are intelligent, good people just gay. And both told me they were sure they didn't have a choice about sexual orientation, that it was just the way it was.

Having had a few gay friends over the years i have heard both sides of that story. Something to keep in mind, when I say choice too many people think of it as a concious decision made at a particular moment in time. Scenarios that i have heard before invole relationships with their parents (especially the dads) and simply greater acceptance within a particular group that led them to be emersed in that life style. These aren't single points in time where they made a choice but rather life long influences that steered a person one way or another...

Having said that i also feel you would have to be wired somewhat differently to accept such a life style.

I figured as much.

Both ratscal and MH Sack 'o' Shyte are obviously on the pink team.

~Not that there's anything wrong with that.~

Yes it most likely is. What you've pointed out is the "Diathesis/Stress Model" which is a fairly solid psychological theory on the development of adult behaviors and the impact of genetics v. environment on them.

The analogy that is widely used is in reference to alcoholism. Understanding that there is a genetic predisposition for alcoholism doesn't necessarily mean an individual with a history of alcoholism in the family is going to be an alcoholic if they begin drinking. Consider, for simplicity's sake, a glass half full. The glass represents the disease and the it's being half full represents the pre-existing genetic predispostion to alcoholism. The behaviors of an individual will begin to fill, or empty the glass. If the glass overflows then the behaviors, in combination with the genetid pre-disposition, have created an alcoholic. However, if the drinking can be kept in check the individual can lead a normal life while being able to enjoy a beer or two. I think the same can be said of most behaviors.

I think with Women though it is a different .....

alcoholism is more of a chemical imbalance in the brain , Ther is a chemical ( I cant remember what it is called ) that your brain releases when you get injured , that is a natural Pain Killer , well when you drink , your brain releases this chemical ...... Many had me pegged for an alcoholic I used to drink like a fish , hell even got busted went to Rehab , When me and my wife decided to get married , I just up and quit , I may have a drink every now and then , but nothing worth mentioning , a case will last me over 7 months ......
I never was an alcoholic , Just a hard party kinda guy

yeah, those sluts will do anything to get off.

;D gotta love em ........

The chemical imbalance relates directly to the genetics involved.

There's only 3 things to do in Wyoming...or Montana for that matter. Drink, Fight, and F!ck...I gave up fighting. :D

;D somthing like that

I noticed a severe shortage of women.

dont be making fun of Hater and his sheep ;D

Evanston was so bad, they had to import hookers from salt lake city.

Univ of Wyo in Laramie wasn't bad though.