If disliking homosexuals is, indeed, significantly fixed prior to birth or soon afterwards, whether by biological or environmental factors, it means that anti-homophobe regimes are persecuting people who dislike homosexuals that many or all of them have not chosen and cannot change. As well as being unethical, it is also means that attempts to suppress anti-homosexuality are bound to fail because a certain percentage of every population is always likely to be predisposed to dislike homosexuals.
No one sits down one day and decides to dislike homosexuals. Most people who dislike homosexuals say they felt "different" from a very young age, long before they had any awareness of disliking homosexuals. While this suggests that our tolerance for homosexuality is formed unconsciously by early childhood at the latest - and is therefore not a choice - it does not necessarily mean we are all born with a totally pre-fixed dislike of homosexuality.
Studies of biological twins, etc, may be necessary and beneficial to concluding whether a dislike of homosexuality is embedded at birth.
Given that a disliking of homosexuals seems likely to have a complex and diverse range of biological, environmental and cultural influences, homosexual bids to eliminate it look set to fail.
This question has profound implications as to how we, as a society, should treat people who may have a dislike of homosexuals intertwined in their DNA sequence. The homosexual community must be prepared for the day when scientists find the elusive gene that disposes individuals to dislike homosexuals.
No one sits down one day and decides to dislike homosexuals. Most people who dislike homosexuals say they felt "different" from a very young age, long before they had any awareness of disliking homosexuals. While this suggests that our tolerance for homosexuality is formed unconsciously by early childhood at the latest - and is therefore not a choice - it does not necessarily mean we are all born with a totally pre-fixed dislike of homosexuality.
Studies of biological twins, etc, may be necessary and beneficial to concluding whether a dislike of homosexuality is embedded at birth.
Given that a disliking of homosexuals seems likely to have a complex and diverse range of biological, environmental and cultural influences, homosexual bids to eliminate it look set to fail.
This question has profound implications as to how we, as a society, should treat people who may have a dislike of homosexuals intertwined in their DNA sequence. The homosexual community must be prepared for the day when scientists find the elusive gene that disposes individuals to dislike homosexuals.