It was Saturday Latin hip hop themed night at the Pulse club in Orlando, Florida and the atmosphere was bright as members of the LGBT community danced in “social solidarity.” This was until the fun was ended at 2:02am when a stampede of gunshots emerged into the club. At 2:09am phones dinged with facebook alerts on the Pulse club’s page warning everyone to “get out of Pulse and keep running.” Many of the people escaped, but some had already lost their chance. Forty-nine lives were lost that night, and many others were traumatized to the point where they would never be the same. There is evidence that homophobia motivated this shooter when he chose his victims for his ISIS initiation. Homophobia is an ongoing problem all over the world. People believe that sexual orientation is a choice and these homosexual individuals chose the lifestyle that is thought to be wrong. These homosexuals are constantly blamed for their sexual orientation that goes against the public’s views on what love truly is. What many people do not understand is that it’s not their fault.

 The Big Question

Is homosexualaity something you are born with, or is it a choice? This is the question many people have been asking themselves for years. The LGBT community has finally gained their marriage rights that they had been fighting for, but there is still hostility directed towards the homosexuals. Many people believe that sexual orientation is a choice, and people have the control to change who they really are. This leads to a great amount of hate crimes directed towards this party of individuals. People against the freedom to love whoever you desire have the opinion that these individuals are choosing the lifestyle. Homophobes associate these innocent people with criminals despite the fact that the only choice they are making is being true to who they are. This clarification does not only apply to people who have conservative religious beliefs, but everyone. The only way for the LGBT community to truly have equal rights as hetersosexual individuals is if people stop looking at them like they are rebels of what many religions say is right.

Scientist getting in on the debate

Scientist have made big steps in trying to answer the controversial question. There has been experiments and studies done with gay brothers or twins to try to prove the presumption. The article written by Qazi Rahmen on the subject states that scientist have concluded that there is such thing as ” genes for sexual orientation.” A recent study has also revealed that gay brothers share the same marker on their X Chromosome, which influences sexual orientation. Scientist have not yet been able to identify a specific gene that has direct correlation with one’s desire of the same sex, but they have stated that some genes combined can make homosexuality more likely.

Studies have shown that being gay, lesbian, or Bisexual can indeed run in a family. Let’s think for a second. What are some genes that run in your family? Some common genes that are passed down from generation to generation can be eye color, height, maybe even disease or a condition. These things are not something one chooses to have, they were just born with it. The same goes towards homosexuality.

During one of the largest studies on the ‘gay gene’ scientist recorded this statement said by one of the members 0f the experiment, “Yes, we have a choice in life, to be ourselves or to conform to someone else’s idea of normality, but being straight, bisexual or gay, or none of these, is a central part of who we are, thanks in part to the DNA we were born with.”

Gay couple after their wedding ceremony. Image by Dennis Bratland/Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0

 The Community Speaks Up

The LGBT community has been a victim of thousands of cruel hate crimes because of homosexual’s ” gay lifestyle.” Collected data has proven that LGBT people are “more likely to be targeted for these hate crimes compared to other minority groups.” As the world begins to accept these individuals more and more, some become more hostile towards the idea of equal rights for the homosexual individuals.

The idea that homosexuals choose to go against the “social norm” is the leading reason as to why homophobic people say they do not respect these individuals. The LGBT community has finally put their foot down to end these assumptions.

People think that since some wait till their older years to come out as gay, they turned gay over the years or they  spontaneously decided to desire the same sex. This, however, is not true at all. As said above, the only choice that these individuals make is the choice to make the brave act of announcing one’s self as a homosexual, despite the hate that they will receive from society.

Here is a video of an adult man who had struggled coming out because of the hate his father pressed on him. He later gains the strength to stick up for not only himself, but members of the LGBT community all around the world struggling with the same situation.

This idea that being gay is a choice has become an epidemic in the world we live in today. This harassment and intense questioning has hurt many gays, lesbians, transgender and bisexuals on a daily basis. It makes them feel as if there is something wrong with them. People need to look at the idea of homosexuality in a new way, a better way. Think to back when you were a child. Have you ever sat down and thought to yourself, should I be gay or straight? The answer is no. So why do people think that the homosexuals are any different? The answer is plain and simple.

Homosexuals are not different from any other human on this planet. Just as you did not chose your sexual orientation, neither did they. As  the catchy saying states, ” They did not choose the lifestyle, the lifestyle chose them.”

Featured image by naeimasgary on Pixabay CC0 Public Domain