I want to point out here, because I'm sure that there's some evangelical Christian lurking around here or who will at some point that will believe or say "being gay is a choice." Really? You know something, not even Exodus International teaches that. Go read their own website. Here's a choice quote for you:It is also important to understand that people do not choose to be homosexuals. No one wakes up one day when they are 15 or 20 or 50 years old and says, "I have been heterosexual all my life. Today I choose to be homosexual.” In fact, the experience of most people is that they felt different from their earliest memories. Further they did not want these feelings and resisted them for years.
Every so often you read or hear somebody in the pew say that, or, more importantly folks in the American Family Association. Now, let's think about that for a moment. Nobody ever stops to think how monumentally schizophrenic the "traditional family/anit-gay marriage" movement is. On the one hand they say "homosexuality is a choice" and on the other they promote Exodus International and its affiliates who say "homosexuality is not a choice." Isn't it well past time that these people all get on board with their own propaganda. If they don't believe it themselves, then why should anybody else believe it?
I want to comment on the debate of "is it a choice" cause I think a lot of people misunderstand what Christians mean when we say it's a choice.
I do not deny that you can be born with homosexual tendencies. I do fully believe you can be born with homosexual tendencies, just as you can be born with heterosexual tendencies. So flat out, I understand people are born certain ways, with certain tendencies. In that vein, it is not a choice.
What I mean by choice, is if the individual chooses to follow that path and commit the acts associated with the tendencies. For example, it is a choice to kiss someone of the same sex, it is a choice to have sex with someone of the same sex, it is a choice to marry someone of the same sex. All of these things are choices we make, I don't see how that can be disputed.
Therefore, while you may feel homosexual tendencies, all the actions you perform are choices you clearly make. Just as you can make the choice to kiss someone of the same sex, have sex with them, or get married, you can also make the opposite choice. You can chose not to kiss someone of the same sex, and chose not to have sex with them, and chose not to marry them. All of your actions are choices you make. Most people are in control of their actions and purposeful make choices.
How you live your life is all about choice, and you can chose to follow that path, or you can chose not to.
That is what we mean by choice.
That's nice, but the article from which I quoted is specifically addressing the statement that "homosexuality" is a choice. You don't get to speak for Exodus International, Exodus gets to speak for Exodus International. When they have to write an article to state that homosexuality is not a choice, they are addressing Christians using the "homosexuality is a choice" argument. I'll trust them on what they believe their own audience means. You should as well.