born that way. Logically speaking, it would be unusual for
a young child to have a "sexual orientation" because sharing
erotic behavior with another person, or consciously wishing to do so,
is primarily an adult behavior. People who relate stories of having been
"born gay" are generally looking back on other aspects of their
lives as children and interpreting differences that existed between themselves
and others and interpreting them as signs that they were gay by nature.
Dennis Altman [Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation. London:
Outerbridge and Dienstfrey 1971] excerpts from one young man's recollections:
In my case I had the sense of not belonging, of being excluded through
some perception of my peers that I was apart from them. Like many others
I had no idea why exactly that was. . . I put it down, as do others in
similar situations, to excessive intellectualism or timidity or artistic
bent, anything other than the real cause.
(p. 26)
Note the implicit reference to inherent gay identity as the "real
cause" of not belonging as a child. There have also been some controversial
biological (anatomical or biochemical) research purporting to demonstrate
inherent differences between heterosexual males and homosexual males,
a recent example being the brain-structure difference claimed by Simon
LeVay [Caroll Ezzell. "Brain feature linked to sexual orientation.
(hypothalamus and homosexuality)". Science News, v. 140,
August 31, 1991, p. 134]
(return)