Sexual identitiy and sexual orientation are two different things.

The case of the boy with the botched circumcision (yikes!) raised as a girl deals with sexual identitiy --- how a person identifies themselves as male or female.

And whether a preson is gay straight or bi, deals with sexual orientation --- whether a person is attracted to the opposite or same sex.

I tend to think that people are born with both their sexual identity and their sexual orientation. I don't know if it is genetic, or something to do with the environment in the womb, or exposure to hormones or chemicals, but I don't think it is something that a person chooses. I don't think a person can be trained to have a different sexual identity or sexual orientation.

The case of the boy raised as a girl is a good example. He knew he was a boy, even thought he did not have a penis.

There are also people who are born with an opposite sexual identitiy to their physical characteristics. These are the poeple who dress and act like the opposite sex and may be interseted in sex change surgery. They are not gay. They truly believe on the inside that they are the opposite sex. Gay people are not like that. A gay man, knows he is a man and does not want to be a woman --- he is a man attracted to other men.

I think that people with an oppostite sexual identity and homosexual sexual orientation occur "naturally" and that there is nothing they or anyone else could have done to change it. People who try to live differently from their sexual identity and sexual orientation are very unhappy.

I always think it's hilarious when people try to claim that sexual orintation is something you choose. I think it was maybe Pat Roberston who was saying something like this when someone asked hiim if he chose to be straight, and he said yes. So was he saying that he is actually equally attracted to men and women, but he chooses women? If that is the case, then I think he is probably actually bi, and he's missing out on half of his sexuality.

For myself, I always knew I was attracted to girls from the time I developed an attraction to anything, and that was probably before I really even had a concept of gay or straight. It's not something I chose, it was just the way I was. I'm sure the same is true for gay people --- it's not something they choose, it's just the way they are.