The obligatory furry sexuality poll!

[Fenris]

There has been a lot of sexual confusion in my life. Enough for me to consider surgery. xP But even if I did get surgery... I'd probably still dress in somewhat girly clothes and maintain my girlish figure. Besides, when I have my hair cut in a certain way... especially short... I do look like a young boy. Enough so that my Auntie mistook me for her son once. 

[Randolf R Wolf]

I call my self bi. I persons gender is not a factor for me. It's their mind set, not what's between their legs.

[Rainbow Wally]

SAY WHAT NOW? Furries made you gay?? whoa hold the phone! back that truck up! Okay first and formost you choose your sexual orientation nothing makes you do anything... For instance i was dating girls before i ventured forth from the closet, ya i dated girls didn't mean i found them attractive sexually its all in what you choose, nothing makes you gay/bi/lesbian/transgender. Like I apologize if i came on a bit strong but it kinda urks me when people blame something for their sexual choices in life. remember its your choice to be gay/bi/lesbian/transgender. if your uncomfortable with your choice then change it...
Again very sorry for venting...

[Wotan]

...Okay first and formost you choose your sexual orientation nothing makes you do anything...

Sexual orientation is a "choice"?!?  Oh, please.  Don't even go there.  Quite obviously you haven't been keeping up with much of the newest research, which trends towards suggesting that sexual preference is actually something that is pre-programmed in the womb.  These days, you only really see the 'sexuality is something chosen' argument spewed by people with agendas, be those agendas religious or social engineering in nature.  Like the whole idea that gays can be 'cured'  (rolls eyes)

 

Like I apologize if i came on a bit strong...

Yes, yes you did.  And especially when it is something that you may not be quite as knowledgeable about as you seem to think.

 

but it kinda urks me when people blame something for their sexual choices in life.

Are you a born-again christian or something?

remember its your choice to be gay/bi/lesbian/transgender. if your uncomfortable with your choice then change it...
Again very sorry for venting...

  I forgive you for venting, but not for being ignorant.

[Senri]

I hope things boil down a bit... 

[Rainbow Wally]

Okay i don't want to start an arguement over a persons point of view... I just withdraw my comment and be done. Oh and Wula I apologize for my comment earlier about your statement being a fur made me gay... again I'm sorry

[Senri]

there we go.. all done ^^

[Fenris]

Furries made me gay D: I should have listened to the warnings when I first joined the fandom xP

Anyways yea I am in a gay relationship but I picked bi because I am always up for trying something new if the time ever presented itself.

I seriously lawled. I'm not sure if furries made you gay... you were probably curious when you entered the fandom... maybe why you didn't heed the warnings. xD

I agree with Wotan. I think sexuality may be pre-programmed into us before we're born BUT it is the enviroment we live in, how we are raised (and whatnot) that makes us follow the pre-programmed sexuality or another one that is deemed more "acceptable".

[Benjamin]

I'm pretty sure that Wula was just kidding... but eh, you never know.
In his defense, it can at times seem to be a peer pressure thing to be gay in this fandom. It depends on who you end up hanging out with and how susceptible you feel to such suggestion. One could argue that it's something that you've considered on your own, as it is. It's under your control, after all. But... it's quite possibly something that has both social and biological influences. 
As for it being "pre-programmed while in the womb"... Yeah, I can see that. Especially if your mother listened to a lot of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland...
 
Benjamin

[Fenris]

As for it being "pre-programmed while in the womb"... Yeah, I can see that. Especially if your mother listened to a lot of Barbara Streisand and Judy Garland...

Bwahahaha! You never know...

[Tamaska]

I agree with Wotan. I think sexuality may be pre-programmed into us before we're born BUT it is the enviroment we live in, how we are raised (and whatnot) that makes us follow the pre-programmed sexuality or another one that is deemed more "acceptable".

I'm gay... it surely wasn't the "acceptable" choice as for who i grew up around, but that didn't change anything.. i agree that this was something 'pre-programmed' into me that i had no choice over... after all... how many guy would really WANT to be gay unless they were born that way?

[Rainbow Wally]

LOL Ben very funny I guess its all a matter of views i guess... yeah there are times that peer pressure does play an active role in it... again sorry for my rudeness earlier.. I needs to learn when its time to speak and time to button it...

[Fenris]

I agree with Wotan. I think sexuality may be pre-programmed into us before we're born BUT it is the enviroment we live in, how we are raised (and whatnot) that makes us follow the pre-programmed sexuality or another one that is deemed more "acceptable".

I'm gay... it surely wasn't the "acceptable" choice as for who i grew up around, but that didn't change anything.. i agree that this was something 'pre-programmed' into me that i had no choice over... after all... how many guy would really WANT to be gay unless they were born that way?

Well sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes this "pre-programming" is dormant until something triggers it. It could be anything from a really good-looking guy/girl to being denied that right of choosing your own sexuality.

[Harle]

It's not all black and white.. sexuality is a very fluid thing. In nature there is no concept of straight or gay; there are lots and lots of cases of male animals mating other male animals, it doesn't mean they're 'gay' or even 'bisexual.'

We came up with those words to describe something otherwise very hard to pin down.

Some people are genetically more predisposed to being a certain way, such as liking the same gender. Some people are predisposed to not caring as much about gender, and most people are predisposed to being attracted to the opposite gender. Predisposed, but not totally incapable of change. Just for the vast majority, there's no reason to change something that makes them feel happy and whole. Sometimes there is. And that change isn't good or bad, it's just a change.

There's nothing stopping a person from changing their preference. The mind is a very malleable thing. If a person wants to explore something like attraction to the same gender, they are perfectly capable of it. The only people who can't are the people who refuse to. And when you're surrounded by people who are gay, it can definitely be easier to end up exploring that path than it might be otherwise.

Coming from someone who went from the mindset of a straight male to straight female(with a bit of male lesbian in the middle) over the course of some seven years, I can attest to the fact that sexuality and attraction are things that can be altered and adjusted and conceived in different ways, given the right circumstances. I pretty much have no interest in girls now, and unlike many gay men, I really didn't 'start off' that way. It was the result of seeing males and myself in a new way.

So much that we think is just 'natural' is just a lot of social conditioning and stigma. Strip all of that away, and you find that the bare bones of humanity are really very simple and capable of so much change.

Some of the GLBT community hates that argument, I should note, because they feel it undermines our standing point against conservative anti-gay legislators and activist groups and the like. But their whole argument is morality. We shouldn't have to counter that with reality. Ours is the superior morality; people should be allowed pursue whatever makes them happy and whole, no matter how they were born. Anyone trying to take away that right is the immoral one.

What gender people are attracted to should be a non-issue. Trying to justify the opposing side's argument by trying to prove that being gay is solely an unalterable, genetic thing, begins to leave behind those of us who did actually choose or change on some level, and feel that we have every right to happiness as anyone else. And I think there's actually a fair bit more of this in the fandom than in most other subcultures, so it seems important to distinguish.

Ahem, sorry. That went on a bit longer than I'd intended. I can really get talkin' about this subject. - . -

[Fenris]

You didn't cause any problems Wula. You've created a really good discussion!

[Aurifer]

My turn!

Gay male, since birth. I really didn't have any word for the concept, so it really didn't occur to me for a long while. Once I learned what gay 'meant', I knew I was.
I swear, I was in a doctor's office or somewhere where we had to wait in reception, back when I was 4 or 5 or 6, and I was reading a magazine while waiting. There was one of those paper inserts in there telling me to suscribe to this or that (you know the type), and it had 'sample' pictures of naked men and women with semi-transparent black censors on the naughty bits. I remember straining to see the guys. I've never once in my life noticed an attraction to women, and I've always tried to sneak glances at men when the proper things came into sight (like those guys who'd inevitably be showering naked at swimming pools).

Some people can choose, I'm sure, and others have it deeply coded into them. Think in percentages. Those that are 100% gay can't really choose, because they have no feelings for girls.

[happy.knot]

This is a surprisingly personal topic and...it's so surprising to see people responding honestly. Is...all of the fur community this open? If it is, it's wonderful!

I feel that life circumstances and events can definately influence a person's sexuality. In my case, prolonged trauma has kind of scared me into being somewhat asexual. (I am getting help though - because who wants to be scared all the time?) I figure though that if I am ever ready for an intimate relationship it would be a hetero one.

[Fenris]

*smacks Wu across the back of the head* No cutting...

[Tamaska]

*Goodbye*

[Aurifer]

I've been open to strange things far longer than I've been a furry. Or maybe they go hand-in-hand?

No secrets here! 'Secrets' are fuel for a horrible parasite called the DRAMA LLAMA.
Which seems to go around enough, even with all the openness. I'd say the best idea is to be open, but keep aware that you don't put that openness in such a tone that people would think you're talking about something else and become offended.