Homosexuality: Nature vs Nurture

For years now people have continuously discussed the idea of nature and nurture. The concept of whether we are born with certain behaviour traits, or whether we develop these while growing up from our environment. Some for instance believe that nurture is the cause of obesity, as it something caused by a poor and unhealthy choice of lifestyle.  

A debate that has continuously been sparked is whether being a homosexual, is nature or nurture? Now despite this being a sensitive area to discuss, I stand by nature. I believe that being a homosexual is out of a person’s control, whereas the nurture belief is that being homosexual is caused by behavioural changes due to different environmental aspects. To me being a homosexual individual is nothing more of a choice than a person’s body shape or hair colour. 

Think about it, if being homosexual was caused by your surroundings, why would firm Catholic families raise homosexual children? No family with homophobic beliefs would ever attempt to impact their child in such a way to reform them into something that they somewhat despise. In 74 countries, sexual contact with a person of the same sex is deemed illegal. All over the world men and women hide their true identities, even from their own families in order to avoid facing hatred and ridicule. Even in England, those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender face discrimination every day, and are considered a minority, yet despite this there is a total of over 1.3 million people in England alone who identify as homosexual. I’m certain that none of those people woke up one day and decided to change their sexual orientation, knowing the treatment that they could face. 

Dwayne Jones, a 16 year-old homosexual boy living in Montego Bay, Jamaica was killed in 2013 by a mob, simply for his sexuality. Even before his death, at the age of 14, Dwayne was evicted from his family home by his own father, who then proceeded onto asking the local neighbours to force his own son out of the neighbourhood. Dwayne was born and raised in Jamaica, a country known for its strong homophobic beliefs, so if homosexuality is caused by nurture, what aspect of Dwayne’s environment would have motivated him to become gay? 

In Nigeria 2014, the same sex marriage prohibition bill was signed since then police have gained the authority to treat homosexuals as they please. Men and women are very often forced to confess, after which they are tortured. If that isn’t bad enough, the potential punishment for being a homosexual is very drastic, ranging from 10 to 14 years imprisonment.  

Being attracted to someone of the same sex is no different to being attracted to blondes rather than brunettes. It is solely the preference in a person’s physical appearance, as well as their personality. It is not a form of disability or phase, which has been triggered by a person’s upbringing or their environment as they were growing up. 

Our sexuality is in our nature, whether people like that idea or not. I personally think that this whole idea of homosexuality being a cause of nurture, has been created due to homophobic beliefs. People are so afraid of anything that challenges societies norm, that they begin to look for things and people to blame, rather than merely accepting that it is a part of another person’s natural state. Therefore, to conclude this ongoing debate, I believe that homosexuality is a source of nature. As a race we must realise that homosexuality cannot be eliminated, as you can’t destroy human nature, so how about we eliminate homophobia instead.