Homosexuality, and other Identifications.

Animals, I had thought, do not have homosexuals, and I believed that is because they are creatures of instinct; but a friend corrected me informing that 1500 species (such as fruit flies, lions and primates) exhibit homosexuality. He also wrote to me that most large animals that exhibit homosexuality live in groups and sex is used as a form of bonding mechanism and conflict resolution tool.

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 I am including here the facts (shared by my friend) that requires to be noted before forming any definite opinions on the subject of homosexuality.

'Homosexuality was considered as a pathological mental illness in 19th and first part of 20th century, but empirical and scientific studies failed to produce a basis for regarding homosexuality as a disorder or abnormality. So American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 and American Psychological Association soon followed suit in 1975.

So it is not an abnormality similar to Down’s Syndrome but more of a rare physico-genetic trait such as left-handedness. It is estimated that 2-3% of human population is homosexual and they have minor genetic, prenatal/ embryological and neurological differences from others; though the biological basis of homosexuality is not foolproof. So sexual instincts may not be as inherent as we assume because 10% of all humans may be bisexual (capable of sexual relations with both gender) and 1% is asexual (incapable of sexual relations with any gender) without having any physical or mental abnormalities.'

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While I agree that instincts are innate, I also suspect that in some cases, it could be a malady of the mind. For example, narcissistic love may lead to disinterest in the opposite and magnification of interest in the self and the 'same'.  This is just speculation on my part. The Bible does not explicitly explain whether sexual immorality includes masturbation, but, in any case, I no longer subscribe to interpretations of certain Biblical verses as implicitly speaking against masturbation. I personally feel masturbation has to be more acceptable than abusing another for ones needs! 

Nevertheless, becoming a slave of the body is not good. Those who feel their mind taking control of their will should consider the warnings in the Bible in order to avoid being led by the waywardness of the mind. This line of thought makes me feel that instilling fear of punishment in those earlier times must have been considered better than explaining, probably because explanations can also become seeds to waywardness to weak and susceptible minds. It must have been seen as better than leaving everything to trial, error and self-correction because some mistakes are too costly and difficult to correct.

I would pursue the point that man with the superior mind sometimes follows more the mind than the instinct. In today's world, where too much media  information, excessive freedom and exposure prevail in society with hardly any effort at training minds to sift through information with discretion, chaos can be expected. With repeated attention to the wayward thoughts created by the idle mind, its dictates may be misread as instinct, sexual orientation or identifications. Here I would like to stress that man being oriented towards living in civilised society, sometimes requires its people to prioritise the purpose of keeping society civil and healthy, and avoiding unrest within society, such as by discouraging abnormal situations like peer group indulgences for mere fun and for killing boredom.