In London (where I live, near enough) you can be as gay as you like. And rightly so! More totty for me that way! ;-)
No, but seriously, In my locality there isn't any generalised gay prejudice, we have gay politicians in england and gay men in the army, gay marriage is now legit etc. There is still a part of the population over here that opposes homosexuality, and some guy was murdered not so long ago in London in a homophobic attack. Most of the printed and TV media over here are pro-gay insofar as they abhor homophobic attacks when they happen.
I personally don't apply any special significance to whether someone is gay or straight. I am worryingly tolerant of other peoples wishes. Around me you can do/wear/eat/say pretty much anything you want apart from lawbreaking and such like.
that's hogwash, it is a myth that no research has ever proven. You can be predisposed by your upbringing but that doesn't mean people can't change.
Did you choose to be straight (assuming you are striaght)?jstalin, I can't tell if you are happy or unhappy about what Shining One said?
for my own part, I didn't choose to be straight in any conscious capacity, it just happened. I believe the popular (mis?)conception that there is a gay gene comes from campaigning by gay rights groups. There was some mileage in claiming that if homosexuality was genetic, then it wasn't just a lifestyle choice, but rather an inevitability. Therefore a lot of 'arguments' from anti-gay campaigners would have the wind taken out of their sails. As far as I know gay rights campaigners latched onto the gay gene idea before there was any actual proof of it.
Personally, I would like to see that wind taken of those same sails, but looking at the science behind it, there are articles published in the various scientific journals arguing both for and against a gay gene (unfortunately, I can't find any sources that stand up to scrutiny for the against right now).
This article appeared in 2005 in The Times (of London), and appears to back the for argument,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1306894,00.html
This article ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4215427.stm ) on the BBC news site discusses a genetic possibility too.
But of course, any genetic predisposition might merely cause one to be more likely to be gay rather than make it inevitable. There might still be 'nurture' influences alongside the 'nature' side of it.
But, regardless of whether it is one way or the other, I don't actually care. You can all be gay if you want. I'm cool with that.