Science and homosexuality

[tarekabdo12]

Unfortunately the gay people who live there aren't so happy. My heart goes out to them.

Fortunately, the society is protected from that behavior. In addition, they are not so many, they are very few so you won't need to spend so much worries. Also, I don't think they will never be that happy. I don't mean I wish they live in misery, I wish they are happy but I see that people practicing masturbation are in pain while masturbation is lighter deviation from the normal so what about that grave deviation?

 

[Drolefille]

Fortunately, the society is protected from that behavior. In addition, they are not so many, they are very few so you won't need to spend so much worries. Also, I don't think they will never be that happy. I don't mean I wish they live in misery, I wish they are happy but I see that people practicing masturbation are in pain while masturbation is lighter deviation from the normal so what about that grave deviation?

There are many more than you think. And as a bi woman here believe me, the only pain I feel is from discrimination from people like you. And that counts less and less every day.

 

[tarekabdo12]

There are many more than you think. And as a bi woman here believe me, the only pain I feel is from discrimination from people like you. And that counts less and less every day.

I am not discriminating against you, I m just not accepting your behavior and this is my right. Science is not against religion since religion says that monogamous heterosexual sex is the one accepted and no doubt it's really scientifically the best and safest type of sex. The rule in Egypt doesn't only prevent homosexual sex it is also against any kind of sex outside marriage even heterosexual sex. The Islamic law even assures that there must be 4 witnesses for a sexual act for a punishment to be given. This seems impossible except if sb is having sex publicly. So, it aims at making any sex outside marriage not rife and secret not at punishing people. This aids people not to try or think about any kind of deviation and keep in the straight way they are born to live with and adhere to. Moreover, I can't take your personal opinion as an evidence because I expect you to say so.

 

[tarekabdo12]

Gonsiorek (1982) in a review argued there were no data showing mental health differences between gays and straights (or if there were it was society’s fault). Similarly Ross (1988) in a cross-cultural study found most gays were in the normal psychological range.
However some papers gave hints of inherent psychiatric differences between homosexual and heterosexual. One study (Riess, 1980) used the MMPI, that venerable and well-validated psychological measurement, and found that homosexuals showed definite “personal and emotional oversensitivity”.
Similarly (Kalichman et al. 1992) another study showed that when using the MMPI, one cluster of results was typical of homosexuals – it included a “psychopathological deviate”. In 1991 the complete normality of homosexuality was still being defended (Gonsiorek, 1991) in a paper called “The empirical basis for the demise of the mental illness model”. Apparently it was not completely dead even 18 years after the APA decision. Only in 1992 was homosexuality dropped from the International Classification of Diseases (King and Bartlett, 1999) so, either inertia, or doubt held the decision up for nearly two decades for the rest of the world.
Are homosexuals mentally normal? Clinicians and researchers approached the problem of normality from opposite ends. In the words of Bailey (1999) "Gay people undergoing therapy seemed dysfunctional while volunteers [for surveys] from homophile organizations seemed well". Strong self-selection occurred in both cases.
Good random samples of homosexual people and studies of their mental health were needed, and such surveys are now increasingly available.
One earlier important and carefully conducted study found suicide attempts among homosexuals were about 6x normal (Remafedi et al. 1998). New studies show increased psychopathology. Recently in the Archives of General Psychiatry, an old and well-respected journal, three papers appeared with extensive accompanying commentary (Fergusson et al. 1999, Herrell et al. 1999, Sandfort et al. 2001, and e.g. Bailey 1999). Bailey’s conclusion in that commentary was "These studies contain arguably the best published data on the association between homosexuality and psychopathology, and both converge on the same unhappy conclusion: homosexual people are at substantially higher risk for some forms of emotional problems, including suicidality, major depression, and anxiety disorder, conduct disorder, and nicotine dependence…" "The strength of the new studies is their degree of control".
The first study was on male twins who had served in Vietnam (Herrell et al. 1999). It concluded that on average, male homosexuals were 5.1 times as likely to show suicide-related behavior or thoughts than their heterosexual counterparts. Bearing in mind the rule of thumb for surveys that a factor of 2 higher is probably not significant, but a factor of 3 probably is, we see that a factor of 5.1 is highly significant. However some of this factor of 5.1 was associated with depression and substance abuse, thought to be independent of homosexuality. When these were allowed for, the factor of 5 decreased to 2.5; still probably significant, but less so. The authors therefore believed there was an independent suicide factor probably closely associated with some features of homosexuality itself.
The second study (Fergusson et al. 1999) followed a large New Zealand group from birth to their early twenties (hence almost certainly freeing it from most biases which bedevil surveys). It showed significantly increased occurrence of depression, anxiety disorder, conduct disorder, substance abuse and thoughts about suicide, amongst those homosexually active. A new point was that their parents had often been convicted of criminal offenses.
The third paper was a Netherlands study (Sandfort et al. 2001) again showing increased mental health problems, but remarkably HIV status was not a factor. People who are HIV positive should at least have anxiety as a diagnosable mental problem! The paper suggested without being dogmatic that pressure from society causes mental health problems (even in the Netherlands) and HIV status does not. That seems very unlikely in Holland's the liberal climate, and suggests pressure from society must be a very minor factor. At least three issues arising from the studies were mentioned in the commentaries.


mental health homosexuals


It may point to the presence of certain abnormality. It doesn't cope with what is designed for us. Homosexuals feel mush more sensitivity because of the natural sense inside every person about what's right or wrong. I think the APA negated it from the list of disorders because they were afraid the rate of suicide would remain rising but this is not the only problem. The problem is what people really feel inside themselves when they are controverting their psychological built. Sexual matters really hurt, it reaches the human core directly.

 

[tarekabdo12]

Association of mental health problems with homosexuality
First, there is now clear evidence that mental health problems are associated with homosexuality and this supports those who opposed the APA actions in 1973. However the present papers do not answer the question; is homosexuality itself pathological? That must be argued another way. The papers do give evidence that since only a minority of a non-clinical sample of homosexuals have any diagnosable mental problems (at least by present diagnostic criteria) not all homosexuals are "mentally ill". In New Zealand conditions for example, lesbians are about twice as likely to have sought help for mental problems as heterosexual women, but only about 35% of them over their lifespan, never more than 50% (Anon 1995, Saphira and Glover, 2000, Welch et al. 2000). There are similar US results.
The suicide connection
Second, do the papers show that the lifestyle itself or pressures from society lead to suicide? They showed that neither inevitably led to suicide. The homosexual Vietnam veterans showed a greater rate of suicide attempts associated with homosexuality itself, but obviously not all attempted suicide. To measure the pressures from society, it is worth remembering that Saghir and Robins (1978) examined reasons for suicide attempts among homosexuals and found that when the reasons were homosexuality-related, about 2/3 were due to break ups of relationships, not outside pressures from society. Similarly, Bell and Weinberg (1981) found the major reason for suicide attempts was breakup of relationships, and, second, the inability to accept oneself. So the homosexual equivalent of Romeo and Juliet is a major factor in suicide attempts. Since homosexuals have increased numbers of partners and breakups, compared with heterosexuals it is not surprising that suicide attempts are proportionally higher. Perhaps it is coincidence but the median number of partners for homosexuals is four times higher than for heterosexuals (Whitehead and Whitehead 1999, calculated from Laumann et al 1994), and a good general rule of thumb is that suicide attempts are similarly about three times higher.
Another factor in suicide attempts is the compulsive or addictive element in homosexuality (Pincu, 1989), with addiction itself leading to feelings of depression because the lifestyle is out of control (Seligman 1975). There are some (as many as 50% of young homosexual men today), who take no precautions against HIV (Valleroy et al., 2001) who have considerable addictive problems, and this also feeds into suicide attempts.
The effect of pressures from society
Third, does pressure from society lead to mental health problems? Less than one might imagine. The Netherlands authors were surprised to find so much mental illness in homosexual people because they thought tolerance to gay people was greater in the Netherlands than almost all other countries. Another test country is New Zealand. Although suicide attempts were common in the New Zealand study and occurred at about the same rate as US results, New Zealand is much more tolerant of homosexuality than the United States, and legislation giving the movement rights is powerful, enforced throughout the country, and virtually never challenged. Ross (1988) in his cross-cultural comparison of mental health in the United States, Netherlands and Denmark - which have very different attitudes to homosexuality - found similar mental health problems and concluded these might arise from a mistaken homosexual impression of public hostility, but it could be argued that this mistaken impression is almost a mental health problem in its own right.

This again suggests societal hostility to homosexuality is not closely tied to homosexual mental health.
mental health homosexuals


73% of psychiatrists say homosexuals are less happy than the average person, and of those psychiatrists, 70% say that the unhappiness is NOT due to social stigmatization. Lief, H. Sexual Survey Number 4: Current Thinking on Homosexuality, Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, 1977, pp. 110-11

A behavior doesn't affect a person by making him depressed or commit suicide mainly but by altering his mood and self-respect. This is what I see to happen with homosexuals initially.This alteration later abound and lead to the mental illness. However, it's impossible for us to materialistically measure the fore mentioned aspects so we depend on rates of mental illness as a guiding factor. If there is an increased rate of mental illness so there is a vast dissatisfaction from that kind of behavior among those who practice it. Homosexuals exhibit higher sensitivity because they are doing sth against their own nature not because their acts are disfavored. If you are doing sth right, people feel you are right and you ignore what they see about you. However, the sense of shame comes from the one's inside.

 

[tarekabdo12]

The effect of pressures from society
Third, does pressure from society lead to mental health problems? Less than one might imagine. The Netherlands authors were surprised to find so much mental illness in homosexual people because they thought tolerance to gay people was greater in the Netherlands than almost all other countries. Another test country is New Zealand. Although suicide attempts were common in the New Zealand study and occurred at about the same rate as US results, New Zealand is much more tolerant of homosexuality than the United States, and legislation giving the movement rights is powerful, enforced throughout the country, and virtually never challenged. Ross (1988) in his cross-cultural comparison of mental health in the United States, Netherlands and Denmark - which have very different attitudes to homosexuality - found similar mental health problems and concluded these might arise from a mistaken homosexual impression of public hostility, but it could be argued that this mistaken impression is almost a mental health problem in its own right. This again suggests societal hostility to homosexuality is not closely tied to homosexual mental health.


mental health homosexuals


I think that waving with the idea of social denial is a nice escapade but is not convincing. If somebody believes in himself he doesn't care about what people think about him.

 

[tarekabdo12]

Of homosexuals questioned in one study reports that 43% admit to 500 or more partners in a lifetime, 28% admit to 1000 or more in a lifetime, and of these people, 79% say that half of those partners are total strangers, and 70% of those sexual contacts are one night stands (or, as one homosexual admits in the film "The Castro", one minute stands)
Bell, A. and Weinberg, M. Homosexualities: a Study of Diversity Among Men and Women. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978


I mean that homosexuality carries no real emotions, it's rather an addictive disturbance be uplifted to the level of the normal sexual behavior.

 

[tarekabdo12]

Violence in Lesbian and Homosexual Relationships.
· A study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined conflict and violence in lesbian relationships. The researchers found that 90 percent of the lesbians surveyed had been recipients of one or more acts of verbal aggression from their intimate partners during the year prior to this study, with 31 percent reporting one or more incidents of physical

abuse.[69]
· In a survey of 1,099 lesbians, the Journal of Social Service Research found that "slightly more than half of the [lesbians] reported that they had been abused by a female lover/partner. The most frequently indicated forms of abuse were verbal/emotional/psychological abuse and combined physical-psychological abuse."[70]
· In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence,D. Island and P. Letellier report that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population."[71]
Compare the Low Rate of Intimate Partner Violence within Marriage. Homosexual and lesbian relationships are far more violent than are traditional married households:
· The Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice) reports that married women in traditional families experience the lowest rate of violence compared with women in other types of relationships.[72]
· A report by the Medical Institute for Sexual Health concurred,
It should be noted that most studies of family violence do not differentiate between married and unmarried partner status. Studies that do make these distinctions have found that marriage relationships tend to have the least intimate partner violence when compared to cohabiting or dating relationships.[73]


The Negative Health Effects of Homosexuality


Violence is due to the low involvement of true emotions-as I see-. It seems to me a tangible evidence that there is an emotional disturbance. It seems to me rather a capricious actions and I adjure people to rethink about it.

 

[tarekabdo12]

RELATIONSHIP DURATION​

Gay activists often point to high divorce rates and claim that married couples fare little better than homosexuals with regard to the duration of their relationships. The research, however, indicates that male homosexual relationships last only a fraction of the length of most marriages.
Married Couples
· A 2001 National Center for Health Statistics study on marriage and divorce statistics reported that 66 percent of first marriages last ten years or longer, with fifty percent lasting twenty years or longer.[2]

A 2002 U.S. Census Bureau study reported similar results, with 70.7 percent of women married between 1970 and 1974 reaching their tenth anniversary and 57.7 percent staying married for twenty years or longer.[3]

​

Male Homosexual Relationships
The 2003-2004 Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census surveyed the lifestyles of 7,862 homosexuals. Of those involved in a "current relationship," only 15 percent describe their current relationship as having lasted twelve years or longer, with five percent lasting more than twenty years.[4] While this "snapshot in time" is not an absolute predictor of the length of homosexual relationships, it does indicate that few homosexual relationships achieve the longevity common in marriages.
· In The Sexual Organization of the City, University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann argues that "typical gay city inhabitants spend most of their adult lives in 'transactional' relationships, or short-term commitments of less than six months."[5]
· A study of homosexual men in the Netherlands published in the journal AIDS found that the "duration of steady partnerships" was 1.5 years.[6]
· In his study of male homosexuality in Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times, Pollak found that "few homosexual relationships last longer than two years, with many men reporting hundreds of lifetime partners."[7]
· In Male and Female Homosexuality, Saghir and Robins found that the average male homosexual live-in relationship lasts between two and three years.[8]

"Commitment" in Male Homosexual Couples
Even in those homosexual relationships in which the partners consider themselves to be in a committed relationship, the meaning of "committed" or "monogamous" typically means something radically different than in heterosexual marriage.
· A Canadian study of homosexual men who had been in committed relationships lasting longer than one year found that only 25 percent of those interviewed reported being monogamous." According to study author Barry Adam, "Gay culture allows men to explore different...forms of relationships besides the monogamy coveted by heterosexuals."[16]
· The Handbook of Family Diversity reported a study in which "many self-described 'monogamous' couples reported an average of three to five partners in the past year. Blasband and Peplau (1985) observed a similar pattern."[17]
· In The Male Couple, authors David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison reported that, in a study of 156 males in homosexual relationships lasting from one to thirty-seven years:
Only seven couples have a totally exclusive sexual relationship, and these men all have been together for less than five years. Stated another way, all couples with a relationship lasting more than five years have incorporated some provision for outside sexual activity in their relationships.[18]


Conclusion: Level of Relationship Commitment Among Homosexuals
Data from Vermont, Sweden, and the Netherlands reveal that only a small percentage of homosexuals and lesbians identify themselves as being in a committed relationship, with even fewer taking advantage of civil unions or, in the case of the Netherlands, of same-sex "marriage." This indicates that even in the most "gay friendly" localities, the vast majority of homosexuals and lesbians display little inclination for the kind of lifelong, committed relationships that they purport to desire to enter.

Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples

This also points to the deviance of the homosexual behavior and that the normal emotional bond is lacked. I've pointed before that the brain of both males and females are different and are designed to be complementary to each others.

 

[Agnostic75]

Message to tarekadbo12: I will number my arguments for easy reference.

Argument #1

If homosexuality is always, or mostly caused by environment, the vast majority of children who are raised by homosexuals would turn out to be homosexuals, but it is well-known that the vast majority of them turn out to be heterosexuals. That conclusively proves that genetics is involved at least to a good extent.

Argument #2

Even your source Dr. Trayce Hansen admits that there is not definitive evidence that homosexuality is mostly caused by environment.

Argument #3

You still have not provided viable options for homosexuals. The desire to have sex is strong in most humans, and normal. The choice to practice abstinence or celibacy for life is unpopular, abnormal, can cause moderate or serious physical and emotional problems, and is seldom practiced by non-religious people, whether homosexual or heterosexual. Even some experts who oppose homosexuality have admitted that the majority of homosexuals who give up homosexuality are religiously motivated. Most non-religious homosexuals who wanted to give up homosexuality have not been successful.

Argument #3

It is well-known that the vast majority of homosexuals are not pedophiles, are not alcoholics, and do not abuse drugs. How do you explain that?

Argument #4

Statistics can be misleading, and can be misinterpreted. For example, if a research study correctly concludes that in a test group, 25% of homosexuals were alcoholics, and 10% of heterosexuals were alcoholics, that says nothing about the percentage of all homosexuals who are alcoholics. It is quite obvious that a good deal less than 10% of all homosexuals are alcoholics.

In addition, it is important to note that only 15% of the homosexuals in that example were alcoholics "because" they were homosexuals since if they had been heterosexauls, 10% of them would be alcoholics.

Argument #5

Many homosexuals are healthy and happy. Why should those homosexuals try to give up homosexuality?

Argument #6

Most of your research comes from a relative handful of experts who strongly oppose homosexuality for religious reasons.

 

[tarekabdo12]

I've already discussed them separately.

 

[tarekabdo12]

I'd like to point that humans have different variation in their lives, some are violent while others are extremely calm and some eat much where others are so slim. The difference is present ad most of them fid it hard to negate what they do but what's abnormal is known by all of us. Anything that's immoral or inflicts more harm.

 

[Agnostic75]

I've already discussed them separately.

Discussing and reasonably proving are obviously two different issues. You have not successfully refuted anything in my most recent post, and you did not discuss some of it at all. Let's discuss that post again in detail. A mere hand wave will not do. If you refuse to discuss my previous post in detail, that will show that you are not confident of your arguments.

If enrivonment was the main cause of homosexuality, it would be expected that the majority of children who are raised by homosexuals turn out to be homosexuals, but the majority turn out to be heterosexuals. I assume that that would also be the case even in very gay friendly cities, such as San Francisco, and Key West, where many homosexuals hold hands, and kiss, in public. Research in those cities would completely demolish your claim that homosexuality is primarily caused by environment, but such research is not needed if it has not already been done since other research has already shown that the majority of children who are raised by homosexuals turn out to be heterosexuals. As far as I know, you did not have any explanation for that fact. Dr. Trayce Hansen is one of your sources. Please contact him at [email protected] and ask him to explain to you why the majority of children who are raised by homosexuals turn out to be heterosexuals, probably even in the most gay friendly cities in the world. You cannot get the results that you want to get even in the most gay friendly familes and cities. Thus, your environment argument is ridiculous. This issue is just plain old common sense. There is not anything complicated about it.

You have not provided any reasonable alternatives for homosexuals. The desire to have sex is typically a strong, normal desire. The desire to practice abstinence or celibacy for life is very unpopular for obvious reasons, and it is not normal.

Homosexuals generally have higher elevated levels of distress than heterosexuals do, but you cannot provide any documented evidence that even 10% of all homosexuals are pedophiles, alcoholics, or abuse drugs, let alone the majority of homosexuals. All that you can accurately claim is that "among people who have elevated levels of stress, homosexuals frequently have higher elevated levels of distress than heterosexuals do," not that "the majority of homosexuals have elevated levels of distress."

Lots of homosexuals are monogamous. In addition, in Denmark, heterosexuals have a much higher divorce rate than homosexuals.

All humans should be judged individually, not collectively. Many homosexuals are nice people, are educated, earn good incomes, and have good physical and mental health.

 

[Agnostic75]

I'd like to point that humans have different variation in their lives, some are violent while others are extremely calm and some eat much where others are so slim. The difference is present and most of them find it hard to negate what they do but what's abnormal is known by all of us.

Please define the word "normal."

Anything that's immoral or inflicts more harm.

This thread is about science and homosexuality, not immorality, but if you wish to discuss immorality, I consider it to be immoral to physically harm, imprison, or kill homosexuals, a good deal of which goes on in Egypt where you live, certainly more than happens in most Western countries.

You have not provided any documented evidence that homosexuality is generally harmful to the majoity of homosexuals, and to society. Former Vice President Cheney's daugther is a lesbian, and she had a baby via in vitro fertilization. Cheney and his daughter have a very close, loving relationship, and you can bet that he does not criticize her because she is a lesbian.

By the way, the murder rate among lesbians is much lower than the murder rate among heterosexual men.

 

[Agnostic75]

mental health homosexuals

You must be kidding. In the very same article, Dr. Whitehead, who wrote the article, said:

"In spite of substantial protest (see for example Socarides, 1995) the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its diagnostic list of mental disorders in 1973. The APA , reasonably enough, wanted to reduce the damaging rejection suffered by homosexuals, but one effect of their action has been to add the authority of the APA to the activist claim that homosexuals are mentally healthy.
Gonsiorek (1982) in a review argued there were no data showing mental health differences between gays and straights (or if there were it was society’s fault). Similarly Ross (1988) in a cross-cultural study found most gays were in the normal psychological range.

"However some papers gave hints of inherent psychiatric differences between homosexual and heterosexual. One study (Riess, 1980) used the MMPI, that venerable and well-validated psychological measurement, and found that homosexuals showed definite “personal and emotional oversensitivity”.[/quote]

Please note "however some papers gave hints of inherent psychiatric differences between homosexual and heterosexual." Here you are making a case that enviroment is the main cause of homosexuality, and Dr. Whitehead mentioned partial "inherent" causes, which are genetic causes, not environmental causes.

 

[Agnostic75]

Message to tarekabdo12:

If enrivonment was the main cause of homosexuality, it would be expected that the majority of children who are raised by homosexuals turn out to be homosexuals, but the majority turn out to be heterosexuals. I assume that that would also be the case even in very gay friendly cities, such as San Francisco, and Key West, where many homosexuals hold hands, and kiss, in public. Research in those cities would completely demolish your claim that homosexuality is primarily caused by environment, but such research is not needed if it has not already been done since other research has already shown that the majority of children who are raised by homosexuals turn out to be heterosexuals. As far as I know, you did not have any explanation for that fact. Dr. Trayce Hansen is one of your sources. Please contact him at [email protected] and ask him to explain to you why the majority of children who are raised by homosexuals turn out to be heterosexuals, probably even in the most gay friendly cities in the world.

It is interesting that you brought up the issue of identical twins. Consider the following from one of your sources:

The Importance of Twin Studies

Twin studies in their modern form investigate both identical and fraternal twins, but this article emphasizes studies of identical twins, which are sufficient for our purposes. Studies of non-identical twins are detailed elsewhere.

Earlier studies mostly used informal or "snowball" samples of twins recruited from gay and lesbian associations, and by advertisements (e.g. 2,3). Such studies are possibly biased by the nature of twins who volunteer, but even so, if one identical twin was homosexual, only about half the time was the co-twin concordant (i.e. also homosexual).

Better research, however, was based on twins who were recruited for other reasons, and only subsequently asked about their sexual orientation. These are known as "registry" studies, and they similarly gave a concordance rate between identical twins of less than 50%. There have been two major published registry studies, one based on the Minnesota Registry, the other on the Australian Registry. The larger of the two registry studies is the Australian one, done by Bailey, Martin and others at the University of Queensland. Using the 14,000+ Australian twin collection, they found that if one twin was homosexual, 38% of the time his identical brother was too. For lesbianism the concordance was 30%. Whether 30% or 50% concordance (snowball samples), all the studies agree it is clearly not 100%.

The critical factor is that if one identical twin is homosexual, only sometimes is the co-twin homosexual. There is no argument about this in the scientific community.

Identical twins have identical genes. If homosexuality was a biological condition produced inescapably by the genes (e.g. eye color), then if one identical twin was homosexual, in 100% of the cases his brother would be too. But we know that only about 38% of the time is the identical twin brother homosexual. Genes are responsible for an indirect influence, but on average, they do not force people into homosexuality. This conclusion has been well known in the scientific community for a few decades (e.g. 6) but has not reached the general public. Indeed, the public increasingly believes the opposite.

Identical twins had essentially the same upbringing. Suppose homosexuality resulted from some interaction with parents that infallibly made children homosexual. Then if one twin was homosexual, the other would also always be homosexual. But as we saw above, if one is homosexual, the other is usually not. Family factors may be an influence, but on average do not compel people to be homosexual.

Twin studies suggest that as a class, events unique to each twin--neither genetic nor family influences--are more frequent than genetic influences or family influences. But many individual family factors (such as the distant father) are commoner than the individual unique factors. Unique events would include seduction, sexual abuse, chance sexual encounters, or particular reactions to sensitive events, when young. Everyone has their own unique path which only partly follows that of the theoreticians!
A fascinating sidelight on all this comes from the work of Bailey. His team asked non-concordant identical twins (one was homosexual, one not) about their early family environment, and found that the same family environment was experienced or perceived by the twins in quite different ways. These differences led later to homosexuality in one twin, but not in the other.

I am particularly interested in the following that Dr. Whitehead said:

"Using the 14,000+ Australian twin collection, they found that if one twin was homosexual, 38% of the time his identical brother was too. For lesbianism the concordance was 30%. Whether 30% or 50% concordance (snowball samples), all the studies agree it is clearly not 100%. The critical factor is that if one identical twin is homosexual, only sometimes is the co-twin homosexual. There is no argument about this in the scientific community."

When one male twin was a homosexual, 62% of the time the other twin was not a homosexual in spite of the fact that identical twins generally have much more similar environments than fraternal twins do, and than non-twin siblings do. The results of the study are exactly what would be expected if homosexuality is caused by a combination of genetics and environment, not primarily by environment.

You have not provided any reasonable alternatives for homosexuals. The desire to have sex is typically a strong, normal desire. The desire to practice abstinence or celibacy for life is very unpopular for obvious reasons, and it is not normal.

Homosexuals generally have higher elevated levels of distress than heterosexuals do, but you cannot provide any documented evidence that even 10% of all homosexuals are pedophiles, alcoholics, or abuse drugs, let alone the majority of homosexuals. All that you can accurately claim is that "among people who have elevated levels of stress, homosexuals frequently have higher elevated levels of distress than heterosexuals do," not that "the majority of homosexuals have elevated levels of distress."

Lots of homosexuals are monogamous. In addition, in Denmark, heterosexuals have a much higher divorce rate than homosexuals do.

All humans should be judged individually, not collectively. Many homosexuals are nice people, are educated, earn good incomes, and have good physical and mental health.