Gay Men's Challenges Support Group

When I go to that link, it is obvious that this "research" includes finding the "reason" one is gay. (lose the male homosexual participant thing, btw, we are beyond the clinical days of Kinsey.) I would never participate in any study that tries to discover the reason I am who I am. How about research that determines the reason straights find it necessary to research gays? I would love to read any study that researched that!!
I know your intentions are good, but understand this becomes very old stuff after awhile.

Only child no aborted fetuses...........................................

partner does not have patience for it.........................

You make very valid points. I personally believe that sexuality is on a continum and it is not dichotomous. I believe that homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality. I get tired of hearing people say that sexual orientation can be changed or you can "unlearn" it. Like you are saying it is ridiculous that research has to be done to normalize a sexual orientation. I think that several institutions, such as religion, have tainted the understanding of sexuality. Bisexuality and homosexuality are quite common and it is society that says that it is not normal. That is what I find so frustrating and I felt that the way that I could give back or help fight the injustice is through research. I hope that I did not frustrate or offend you, trust me that is the last thing that I would want. I could only imagine how old this argument can become.

I am not interested in participating in the survey, but I was quite intrigued and inspired by what ulla said. Gay men and lesbians have been labeled "different" (used to be "abnormal") than the majority, and this minority position continues to be difficult and somewhat confusing for me to take as a gay man.

Like ulla said, I don't doubt the good intentions that had gone into the survey and all other efforts in building the understanding between different people on sexuality, but I find a research trying to establish correlation "concerning the fraternal birth order effect on male homosexuality" problematic. The search for a possible "cause" for homosexuality continues to perpetuate the socially unequal positions between heterosexuality and homosexuality, in the sense that we simply accept there is no reason to find a cause as to why people are heterosexual but when people are gay, "there must be a CAUSE that makes them "different."

Amanda, I understand conceptually how a research on sexuality might help to create more understanding about differences, but I also encourage you to think more deeply about the direction your research is taking when attempting to "normalize a sexual orientation." To me, your survey cover page appears to state that you are researching the degree of correlation between fraternal birth order/miscarried fetuses and homosexuality. Regardless of the survey/research result, I don't feel that the conclusion would support normalizing a sexual orientation in society. I saw that you mentioned you were tired of people who believed homosexuality was a choice or a quality that could be "unlearned." I think I understand why it would be desirable to show these people sexual orientation is not a learned behavior, but trying to draw connections between homosexuality and biological/physiological/social causes is a continuation to separate and marginalize us. It sends the signal that we are the ones being put under the microscope for research. For instance, I don't get the impression you would send out the same survey to a group of heterosexuals to find out whether or not there is any correlation between birth orders and heterosexuality. If that's the case, how was that determined we should study this possible link for one group but not the other?

I appreciate your involvement in and fight for gay rights. I hope you will continue to think critically about your research to achieve your goal. The attempt to find a cause to homosexuality is a search for very specific correlations, and I truly don't feel that the topic at its face value speaks to normalizing sexual orientation at all.

Again you make excellant points! I think it is difficult for those who do not experience prejudice in that manner to fully understand the experience. I really did not see my research as being negative or harmful, although you made me aware of how it can be interpreted. I have done prior research on hate crimes, injustice of religion, and benefits of gay parenting. I just was wanting to build further research against the nurture hypothesis of homosexuality. I will take your comments into consideration in the future. Thank you for sharing your experience with me.

Thank you to all so far for helping me with my research!