Position Paper by The Council for Responsible Genetics (also
available in .pdf format) This question has been stirring
considerable controversy among lesbians, gays, and their
supporters and friends, as well as among opponents of gay civil
rights. In the debate about the origins of sexual orientation,
people have presented a variety of arguments for possible
causes, ranging from genetic predisposition to individual
choices about lifestyle to environmental factors. People’s views
regarding gay civil rights do not necessarily indicate which of
these possible causes they believe is the "right" one. The
fundamental question remains, however: why are we having this
debate in the first place? Questions about the biological basis
of sexual orientation were first raised about a century ago when
the British sexual liberators Havelock Ellis and Edward
Carpenter argued that laws against same-sex sexual activities
should be dropped because people engaging in such activities
were biologically different from those with opp