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Professor: Ms. Paule White Student: Duong Ly English 102 Essay 2-Final Draft (Edited) Homosexual Orientation: Is It Natural? When Jack Price had finished dinner and left a local restaurant on College Point Boulevard in Queens in October 2009, he unexpectedly was teased and confronted by two stocky men. Later on, they robbed and then assaulted Price brutally. Consequently, Peter was brought to the hospital with a broken jaw, two cracked ribs, two collapsed lungs, and an extremely terrified condition. A local police officer reported to the press that Peter was victimized due to his open homosexual identity. Accordingly, the two men were charged with a hate crime and held without bail at least ten days for their arraignment (Robinson).Peter is just one of the homosexual hate crime victims across the nation. According to the statistics form www.fbi.gov, among the 8759 hate crimes across nation in 1996, over 11% (991 cases) were anti-homosexual. That figure increases to 17.85% (1178 cases) out of 6604 cases in 2009.Many people, just as the two men above, have a misconception about homosexuality and homosexuals social behavior. Such fallacies afterward lead people to become homophobic -- people who have a discriminatory attitude and hatred toward the gay and lesbian community --consciously or unconsciously. As said by the America Psychological Association (APA), sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes.Also, human sexuality is publicly classified into three categories: heterosexuality-- sexual attraction to the opposite gender; homosexuality --sexual attraction to the same gender, particularly, gay for homosexual men and lesbian for homosexual

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women; and bisexuality--sexual attraction to both genders. In 1869, the word homosexuality was formally coined and used by a German psychologist, Karoly Maria Benkert. Since then, many professional researchers mistakenly listed homosexuality as a mental illness or emotional disorder. Not until over a century later, after 1973, was the misinformation refuted from that category by thorough research of the APA. Homosexual orientation, just as other sexual orientationsheterosexuality and bisexuality-- is natural and should be treated properly. In many religions and peoples perceptions, homosexuality has been seen as a terrible sin and abnormal sexual practice because they think that it is against nature (qtd in Mondimore back cover). Thus, they have not accepted and recognized the homosexual for years as a part of society. However, homosexuality not only occurs in humans; in contrast, it is well documented in the animal kingdom. As stated by dictionary.com, the word nature is defined as the material world, especially as surrounding humankind and existing independently from human activities. As a matter of fact, same-sex behavior has been recently observed in almost all animals, which exist independently from human activities, across species from insects to birds, from primates to gut worms (Same-sex Behavior). Obviously, the nonprocreative sexuality in animals once demonstrates that homosexuality is natural and it occurs everywhere in living things, and humans are not an exception to Mother Nature. Homosexual relations in humans, essentially, are not a recent phenomenon. In fact, there is an extensive history about same-sex love in the ancient world even before the word homosexuality existed, especially among the Greek society before six century B.C (Mondimore 7). In 4th century B.C., same-sex relationships, mostly male-male relationships,

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were not only accepted but celebrated in literature regarding love and beauty by Plato, one of the most prominent ancient philosophers in Greece (Mondimore 9). According to Plato, in the very earliest time on Earth, humans were composed of three sexes rather than two: each was paired of two men, two women, and a man and a woman. For some reason, they were separated by Zeus to reduce their powers; later on, they were looking for other halves matching their true identity. In point of fact, Plato was well known as the first person who established the most primitive description of sexual orientation biologically. Besides, his works implicitly explained the nature and the origin of homosexuality in human. Also, sexual practices for a man were not based on his partners gender or their love but relied profoundly on the age and social reputation of his partner. Men preferred another young man with high social standing as a sexual partner even though they would seek and marry a woman for procreation. In other words, many men considered their male partner for sexual pleasure and female partner for sexual duty or sexual procreation. Aristophanes, one of the famous Greek comedy writers in the literary activities in 4th century BC period, once said that such men [homosexuals] naturally do not trouble marriage and getting a family but that law and custom compels them (Mondimore 10). The male, especially one with great social reputation, has complete freedom of choosing his sexual partner, male or female, without any criticism from society. Furthermore, Greek society was not the only place on Earth in ancient times that had the phenomenon of homosexuality. Some other ancient societies such as Roman, African, and several primitive cultures of New Guinea independently had their own histories of same-sex relations (Mondimore20). Although their philosophies about homosexuality were different from each other -- some accepted and even celebrated it while others treated it as a sin against God -- the fact is that

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homosexuality existed for thousands of years in human history and crossed many cultures. Hence, the existence of homosexuality in different cultures is like their natural development of language: inevitable and autonomous. Therefore, homosexuality and its development throughout history are proving that it is definitely natural. Additionally, further research on human biological factors and structures suggests that homosexuality is a natural element. During the 1940s and 1950s, a study on a group of mothers-- who were treated with the synthetic hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES) during pregnancy -- discovered that the sexual development of their children had a greater chance of increased homosexual and bisexual behavior (Mondimore 107). Also, people with 5-alphareductase (an enzyme to convert testosterone hormone for normal expansion of the penis and scrotum) deficiency syndrome have female genitalia at birth. Yet, their genitalia seem to change into males at puberty. Although affected individuals were raised as girls, their male identity was adapted genetically at puberty and developed sexually toward females (Mondimore 107). Obviously, these evidences verify that a persons gender and sexual preference are prenatally and independently determined by the amount of testosterone hormone, which could be stimulated into the mothers during her pregnancy by environmental factor such as amount toxic chemical in air, food, water, etc. In other words, peoples sexuality is not a choice, rather than that, it is genetically chosen and ones gender and sexuality are independently developing during his/her mother gestation. Furthermore, a brain also plays a very important role in determining a persons sexuality. Many major discoveries of human brain functionalities are profoundly based on animal experiments. One of the most critical animal experiments, specifically in rats, took place in 1970s and provided a descriptive clarification for human homosexuality: during a

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certain period of time in rat development, also in humans, a lack of testosterone hormone would likely cause males to show signs of female behaviors (Mondimore 113).Similarly, women with higher amount of testosterone have a tendency somewhat like men. It being said that although the role of hormones are not fully understood, the scientist cannot refuse the fact that the role hormones play in these mechanism is widely influenced (Boeree).As a result, no individual has a chance to opt or control whether he/she is homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual. A persons sexual attraction is chosen genetically and unconsciously. Trying to convince homosexuals to become normal is as difficult as persuading a heterosexual to turn into a homosexual because in their perspective, homosexual is already normal. We, naturally, cannot turn something from normal to normal again. Finally, Eden Atwoods case is one the best example for the nature of homosexuality. Throughout her life, Atwood was seen as a gorgeous young girl with a very healthy body. She was well known as a talented jazz singer and actress. However, there were mysterious secrets inside her body: she had never had her first period during her puberty. When she went to the hospital, doctors lied to her that she had twisted ovaries and they need to be removed. Worse, she would be infertile after the operation. The truth would have been never unveiled if her stepmother did not blurt out to her when she turned 15 that she was half-man, half-woman. Scientifically, she was diagnosed with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), one type of sexual disorders where a woman contains a mans DNA (Hanan). Figuratively, she had a mans spirit inside her body.AIS patients have a significant amount of male hormone testosterone in their bodies despite the fact that their bodies could not process any of those. Moreover, they literally have no uterus but internal testicles. More surprisingly, these women, including Atwood, are sexually attracted to men (Mondimore 105). Physically, Atwood is

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heterosexual as many other women. Nonetheless, genetically speaking, she is naturally homosexual; the realities of nature confound the categories created by science, writes Mondimore (107). The victims of AISA, specifically Atwood case, again verify that human have not created or chosen homosexuality but naturally developed into it: genetically homosexual as people with AIS or physically homosexual as gay and lesbian. Whatever reason may cause a person into a homosexual orientation; it is not something that he/she could choose to be. Non-procreative sexual orientation in almost all animals substantiates that homosexuality is inherent and is certainly not against nature. Also, an extensive history of homosexuals in different ancient civilizationssome recognized and even celebrated it authenticates the autonomous cultures of homosexuals in such civilizations. Additionally, a natural element of homosexuality is undoubtedly proved by the biological factors and structureshomosexuality is not an option and under control by any external influence. Nobody can change the identity of homosexuality including the homosexuals themselves. Ones sexual orientation is genetically determined even before one is born. With the population of 3.5% (Gates), approximately 11 million people, in the United States by 2011,the homosexuals work and contribute their labors and taxes to society as much as everybody else does, but ironically, their identities are not acknowledged owing to their sexual status; we should treat them objectively and equally as we do everybody else.

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Works Cited American Psychological Association (APA).Answers to your Questions: For a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality. Washington, DC. 2008. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. The brochure answers some basic questions regarding human sexual orientation, specifically on homosexuality. Also, the APA provides some information to help people diminish their prejudice and discrimination toward lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. I used this brochure to clarify and define human sexual orientation and some basic background about homosexuality. Boeree, George. General Psychology. Sexual Orientation.Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. Web. 2 August 2011. This article gives readers basic knowledge of sexual orientation in humans. It also discusses whether homosexuality is genetically influent by giving some facts and evidences from some reliable experiments. This source is used as part of my evidence in an effort of proving homosexuality is chosen prenatally. Gate, Gary J. How Many People Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender? Williams Institute, University of California School of Law. April 2011. Print. 2 August, 2011. Statistic used to identify a population of homosexual people.

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Hate Crime Statistic 1996, Hate Crime Statistic 2009. Federal Bureau of Investigation. www.fbi.gov. Web. 20 June, 2011. These statistical documents are used to reveal the number of hate crime cases as well as the victims, homosexual victims specifically, in my introduction. Hanan, Mary. Woman With Male DNA All Female. abcNews. August 11, 2008. Web. 20 Jun 2011. The article mentions a woman who was diagnosed with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), she had male DNA and hormone inside her body. Also, she hadno uterus but internal testicles. This particular AIS case also is used to indicate my point of view: human sexual orientation is genetically chosen and nobody, including the victims themselves, can change or control it. Mondimore, M. Francis. A Natural History of Homosexuality. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UP, 1996. Print. This book is my primary source. Mondimore descriptively explains to readers how and why human sexual development is established. Much valuable information such as the history of homosexuality, sexual biology, and sexual identity is used throughout the essay to confirm the natural environment of homosexuality. Robinson, Cheryl. Two charged with hate crimes in gay man's beating. CNN. January 14, 2010. Web. 20 Jun 2011. A gay man was assaulted repeatedly and viciously by two customers of a local restaurant because he was openly expressing his homosexual identity. As a result,

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the gay man was delivered to the hospital with severe injuries and the two were charged with a hate crime without bail. This particular homosexual hate crime is used as my introduction paragraph to catch readers attention regarding an unfair and biased treatment toward the homosexual community. "Same-sex Behavior Seen In Nearly All Animals, Review Finds." ScienceDaily. 17 Jun. 2009. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. This scientific study is based on the observations of animal sexual behaviors. It discovers that not only humans have homosexual practicesbut mostly all animals use it for sexual pleasure. This article is used as solid evidence to prove that human homosexual behavior is like animal homosexual practice; they are both natural.

Furthermore, the nature of sexual orientation has been likened to the nature of native language (qtd in Mondimore 149). Human being is the only animal in the animal kingdom acquires actual language ability. Although each individual has a capacity of learning many languages, one can have only one native language in the while life. No matter how fluently and smoothly one may speak in other language, he/she cannot speak as effortless with a native sound as his/her won native language. Similarly, one may learn to be in other sexual orientations, but he/she can express only one native sexual behavior embedded deeply in his/her brain. And neither native language nor native sexual behavior can be adjusted, it is permanently imprinted. As a matter of fact, such assurances have been conducted after implementing many investigations on animal and human brains;

Ly 10 differential performances on psychological tests indicate that the brain organization of gay men and lesbians is different from their heterosexual peers (qtd in Mondimore 155).