You should read up on the Kinsey Reports. An important work on the serious research into human sexuality, he came up with the Kinsey Scale, with 0 being totally heterosexual, 6 being totally homosexual, 3 being attracted to each equally, etc.

Long & short is that we don't know for sure. What I can say is that I didn't make a concious effort to find women attractive. Shit just happened. I don't imagine it being much different for anyone else either. Shit is all in the sub-concious, you don't choose. Can't imagine it being as simple as "a gay gene" though, who knows how that shit happens.

I believe you are born gay. Most people i know who are gay,say they knew they were "different" from very early ages.way before puberty set in.the same with transgender people.they are born as one sex,but know they are another.again,also from their early years.

I think I might make another thread relating to this one called "What Does It Mean To Be A Certain Gender?"

This what I think. I think everyone is born bi and then you kinda progress to either being a homosexual or a heterosexual or a you stay as a Bi-Sexual. I mean not everyone has to agree with me but thats just what I think.

Yeah, I kind of don't get what you are talking about actually. Like Bikz says, playing with dolls has no real reflection on sexual orientation. Plenty of manly men who play sports & lift weights & all that cliched idea of masculinity who fancy men, & plenty of men who like to wear womens clothing & yet still dream of inserting their penis into a vagina.

Now I think back to my own childhood & I don't remember being particularly attracted to either gender until maybe I was 10. Boys were more interesting before that because they liked playing football & videogames & girls were more "ewwwwwwwwwww girls", but none of that thought process was sexualised. And then one day, see a pretty girl, rush of blood to penis, feel awkward & moderately uncomfortable. So I'm not really sure I can accept the idea that people are born straight or gay. I basically subscribe to the same line of thought as bikz, asexuality for the first few years of our lives.

I think everyone's a little bit 'gay' or a little bit 'straight', no ones 100% gay or 100% straight some people are just embarressed to admit to any different. But at the end of the day there's no such as being gay or being straight anyway people just like to stick labels on things they don't really understand or are different to themselves. I wouldn't say there's any difference between a gay person and straight persons physical brain, but I can imagine it could be something to do with hormones and chemicals, shit like that. I think it's pretty similar to music taste though really, it's just what does it for you and nothing can change that.

If your an american football player who gets paid ridiculous amounts of money to be a mans man, but really you know your gay, there are plenty of people who can pretend to be that person for a long time but in the end most people do just come out. Which is why I think sometimes you hear stories of old football players or widowers that have no reason to maintain their 'straight' image, and then just come out. But whilst your in an environment where you're better off keeping it in, then it is possible.

It's kind of like a kid who listens to metal when he's on his own, but acts like he hates it when he's with his friends. It suits him to listen to rnb and all that because it's just easier. But as soon as he doesn't have to like it anymore, and he CAN be himself, he'll probably be a bit more open about it.

So I don't really think anyone's born anything, you either like something, or you don't, but just as there are loads of genres of music just because you don't like rnb doesn't mean you won't like one Usher song. Same with being straight you might be straight apart from the fact you'd leap on Johnny Depp given the chance. I know I would. So no you're not born gay, and your not born straight. You're born, and that's it. You as a person can get turned on by men and women, or both or neither or whatever, but you don't have to be 'gay' to be turned on by one man, or a million men. I think if someone CAN be gay, and they would rather be with a man than a woman, then they will. But if someone can't be gay(like in a strict Christian community) then they will be able to keep it in because just as no ones 100% straight, nobodies 100% gay either. But I'm not nessasarily talking about a concious choice here, it could be totally subconcious. You could be so brought up with your beliefs that if you get turned on by a man you'd instantly dismiss it, despite the fact you might kinda like it!! Again, parralels run with music taste. So I think basically everyone should be able to be gay, and not have reprocutions, and people should just appreciate people for who they are. Too many people try to supress other peoples personalities so that they can stick everyone in groups and labels. If there were no groups and there were no labels, everyone would have their own personality but because people try to stick say black people in the group of listening to rap and wearing baggy jeans, a lot of black people feel compelled to do that simply because they don't want to break the sterotype.

Bit of a rant eh?????

I agree with Charlie here.
Sometimes people ask me if I'm a lesbian or bi, and the answer I give them is always 'if I want to be with a girl, I will, if I want to be with a guy, I will, if I want to be with a tree, I will...'. I hate labels, it'd be easier if we just did what we want and don't care about what we're called.