Why are there so many homosexuals?

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Reading this thread has been somewhat amusing as well as me getting offended a few times. Really need to do something else with my life. Hard not to feel lonely, hard to meet people these days with covid. Roommate currently drinking and playing video games. Anyways, I’m in my 20s, I experience SSA. I can share some of my thoughts on subject. Which will start with a “short” backstory.

Growing up I was socially isolated as a child, kept to myself during school, didn’t really speak with other kids, usually had head in book. This continued until sometime in Middle School where I started to slowly talk to certain people more. I was never into sports, guess father wasn’t much either and he didn’t push me. I was overweight since 3rd grade probably, got worse after that. So bullied for being fat, not into sports, saw other guys who were and they had the type of bodies I wanted. 13 comes along, stumbled upon porn, gravitated towards gay porn, that’s been an addiction I’ve struggled with ever since. Also was treated like I wasn’t a person by some women who thought I was into them. So… I feel like a lot of this contributed to my attraction towards guys.

While we’re on that, I think “Same Sex Attraction” isn’t best way to describe it. Like… Doesn’t everyone find members of the same sex attractive?? Now I’m not talking about sexual attraction, just attraction in general. Look at body builders who seem to admire each other, friends who admire someone’s personality, etc. I feel like a lot of times things get warped and sexualized.

I don’t know, was I born this way? Don’t think so, I think mostly anything can be faulted to trauma growing up. Some of this could be difficult to perceive, no one has had perfect parents (if they had a parent at all). Everyone is wounded in some way in their identity as a brother/sister, son/daughter, husband/wife, father/mother. Feel especially wounded when it comes to male peers and also some father stuff. Now can’t say this is case with everyone. I have some attraction towards women but it’s a bit fickle. I feel disgusted by other guys who are just constantly after women and just use them to get off… It’s weird, desperately want to fit in with other guys, idolize this “macho men” guy in my head, yet disgusted by it at same time.

(continuing post because went slightly over character limit)
 
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Oh, I don’t know. We all have our own struggles. Christ came to set us free. Whose voice do we listen to? The one of love or one of shame? 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Is a good one, shows that it’s everything. I feel like people single homosexuality out too much. It’s hard dealing with this, but also hard being married, raising kids, especially if you’re trying to stay faithful and not use contraceptives. I don’t think anyone has an easy life. We need a lot more love and forgiveness in this world. You can recite church teaching and follow the rules, but without love, what’s the point? If not done in a loving matter, it can come across as harsh. Jesus knows our hearts and he welcomes us to come as we are. Though he loves us too much to want us to stay that way. We need more of that nowadays, instead of this judgmental vibe I feel like a lot get. Evil is the absence or distortion of a good. Underneath those “bad” desires is a desire for something good. I need to keep telling myself that.
 

Watch from 34:35 - 38:15. Fr Ripperger explains it perfectly from a spiritual warfare standpoint.
 
Our current culture is very obsessed with sex in general. I never had sex and don’t particularly miss it. I always found the act itself, and the importance it has for our current culture, something ridiculous.
 
commenter said:
It may be somewhat comparable to alcoholism.
  • It could involve both genetic and/or environment factors.
  • The causes of the condition may vary from one person to another. Perhaps we are really lumping together different conditions.
  • Both have varying degrees.
  • Some alcoholics and some homosexuals appear to have gotten out of that behavior. Fortunately helping alcoholics who seek change is still legal.
  • Objective unbiased research on alcoholism is still possible. Not for homosexuality.
So, why are there so many alcoholics?
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False equivalence. Alcoholism is a disease; not a source of pride.
 
meltzerboy2 said:
Maybe G-d isn’t so hung up about homosexual attraction and behavior as we are. Maybe we have interpreted the Bible all wrong with regard to homosexuality.
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Genesis gives us two commands, “Be fruitful and multiply” and “Tend the Garden”.

All human inclinations ordered toward those ends are good.

The prophets God sent to the Israelites had two generic messages; one for times of consolation and the other for times of desolation.

In times of consolation, the bounty of the land moved the children to abandon the two commands and deviate from the law to seek pleasures for the sake of pleasure alone. The prophets of doom proclaimed God’s justice, “Repent and reform!”. The children ignored, ostracized or stoned these kill-joy messengers.

In times of desolation, when the outcomes of abandoning the commands fell upon the children, when they were under the yoke of bondage, the prophets proclaimed God’s mercy, “Keep the faith, He has not abandoned you, His covenant is everlasting. He will restore you to the promised land.”

Are we coming to the end of our period of consolation?
 
i think gay men and gay women are two different things. Today young girls are pressured to be sexual so young their mothers often put them on the pill so young just in case which sends a message loud and clear of hopelessness and that many girls are not comfortable with this message and settle for fittting in somehow by lesbianism activity. As far as gay men ive read psychiatrists say its a narcisstic mother phenomena effect on the small sons identity . All things can be straightened out by Catholic spiritual guidance.
 
Irishmom2 said:
That doesn’t change the fact that singles cannot. Some people never find anyone. They never marry. Just to say “well they can” doesn’t make it happen.
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Sure but there is hope. It isn’t a dead end.
 
mary77 said:
Today young girls are pressured to be sexual so young their mothers often put them on the pill so young just in case which sends a message loud and clear of hopelessness and that many girls are not comfortable with this message and settle for fittting in somehow by lesbianism activity. As far as gay men ive read psychiatrists say its a narcisstic mother phenomena effect on the small sons identity
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All of this is just speculation. I’m sure it’s been mentioned at the top, but homosexual activity was very common pre Christianity. Women consistently showed more same sex attraction (or ‘fluidity’) than men, although I don’t think there’s solid evidence why that’s the case.
Irishmom2 said:
Gay people are not the only people that cannot act on it. Single heterosexuals cannot. People that have serious illness sometimes cannot. Clergy and nuns cannot. Widows and widowers cannot
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While the lgbt community aren’t the only ones who have to be chaste, it’s simply not the same cross.

Gay people usually live in an area where their attractions are not seen as the norm, so gay Catholics often feel a heavy sense of shame and disgust towards their attractions. While single people have the option to pursue someone, gay people have to ‘suppress’ their love for another and be single forever. Someone on the Catholic forum on Reddit recently announced that he’s going to kill himself because of this. He has a history of posting about his depression and struggles with Christianity (so let’s pray that he’s safe right now).

There’s a difference between not being able to have sex, and knowing that your desires are disordered and acting on any of them would be ‘sinful’ tbh. Especially given that same sex attraction isn’t simply lust, but can include genuine affection and crushes on people. What it does to one psyche (knowing that the Church is against these relationships) is different from the things you mentioned above.
 
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Lea101 said:
Women consistently showed more same sex attraction (or ‘fluidity’) than men, although I don’t think there’s solid evidence why that’s the case.
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I think there’s recent research that suggests that a degree of bisexuality is actually more common in women than men (not, like, 50% common, but slightly more so than men.)
 
Blimp said:
Just a reminder that the results of the studies were insufficient to prove anything.
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Very little science can “prove” anything. Science provides evidence, not proof.

There is evidence of a genetic component to male homosexuality, see Camperio-Ciani et al(2004) for one example.

Twin studies also confirm that there is a genetic component in both male and female homosexuality.

There is also an environmental component: the more older brothers a male has the more likely he is to be homosexual for example.
 
Lea101 said:
While single people have the option to pursue someone, gay people have to ‘suppress’ their love for another and be single forever.
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Romantic friendships (not erotic) were more common before the 20th century, but then became increasingly suspect as homosexuality entered mainstream culture as a concept. Ironically, the contemporary movement to normalize homosexuality has proportionally removed once acceptable social manners of expressing non-sexual love. So it may actually be significantly more challenging today to be a chaste person (committed to chastity) with homosexual feelings than it used to be historically.

Nothing about sodomy seems loving, by the way. That is physically abusive as a matter of fact, whether it’s between same-sex partners or in a married couple. Our culture is trying to normalize lust.
 
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Why are there so many alcoholics? People are naturally tempted by all sorts of activity the Church considers sinful. Really, the answer to your question is the answer to a much broader question… why are we tempted to sin? The answer to that is Original Sin.
 
Are you saying that alcoholism is a choice and that choice is sinful? Who would CHOOSE to be alcoholic? Who would CHOOSE to be gay? Neither is a choice. That much researchers on the topic know.
 
Neither alcoholism nor homosexuality are sins. Drunkenness and sodomy are.
 
No I’m not saying that either is a choice. But both are the result of Original Sin…even if no personal sin / culpability is involved. I myself have many disordered inclinations that are the result of original sin.
 
OK, but doesn’t the Church say that acting on homosexuality is a PERSONAL sin, the sin of lust and sodomy? Does the Church also say that acting on alcoholism is a personal sin, the sin of drunkenness? If not, why is alcoholism different from sodomy?
 
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Why is the compulsion of alcoholism which results in drunkenness but is beyond the alcoholic’s control, considered a sin? Does the Church not recognize that the person who is alcoholic is COMPELLED to drink?
 
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I think when it comes down to individual acts, that’s ultimately between a penitent and his or her confessor. Addiction and other mental factors can mitigate or negate personal culpability. That could be true for getting drunk and that could be true for sexual sin in some cases. But yes, to freely choose homosexual sex, knowing it’s wrong, is sinful.

As an aside, hasn’t Judaism traditionally had a pretty negative view of homosexuality?
 
Yes, Judaism, especially Orthodox Judaism, has a negative view of homosexuality. The topic doesn’t even come up very often among the Orthodox, perhaps because it is so taboo. However, the less “religious,” more liberal forms of Judaism–Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist–are much more tolerant toward the issue of homosexuality.
 
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