As Salaam Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

What most people fail to understand is this. Homosexuality can be and should be understood under the heading of pyschological disorders. i do not mean to be disrespectful when i say this so please read on. Like a paedophile... who cannot control his urges to have sex with children, like a serial rapist who feels an overwhelming need to satisfy his sexual desires by raping woman/men... One step further like a murderer who you ask why did you do it, and they say they do not know, they just had this urge. This urge i am referring to is not just a homosexual problem, many individuals suffer the need to do something haram. In soem cases an overwhelming need. Allah Ta'ala DID NOT make you this way, do not even consider this excuse. A murderer makes the same excuse, so does a pedophile, and a rapist, these are all classified as mental disorders, because you are allowing yourself to Do major Haram by thinking you have no control. Heterosexuals have the same desires. For some the urges are less destructive and less sinful when acted upon, for others like same sax attracted individuals the urges maybe stronger but this is your personal fight. A fight the Allah Ta'ala will Insha'Allah reward you for many times as he knows your struggle. Do not give up, you have to fight your urges because that is all homosexuality is, an Urge....

You can't compare homosexuality to paedophilia or rape. A homosexual relationship consists of two consenting adults who love each other, want to be with each other etc, whereas rape is not a relationship at all.

I understand homosexual acts are a sin and if anyone wants to be a good muslim they are free to abstain from it. On the other hand, if they don't want to be a good muslim or believe homosexuality is ok in Islam, they should be allowed to have sex with whomever they will.

well said, homosexuality between to adults is nothing like rape or pedophilia.
Also you got wonder about a god thats so concerned about our sexlife but doesnt care to show up in reality.

What about bestiality/zoophilia? Can that be compared to homosexuality? It's a psychological disorder.

There is no genetic basis for pedophilia, murder, rape, incest, bestiality or necrophilia. Not that I am aware of anyway. Such perversions are caused almost always by social and psychological conditions. Rape is a social stigma too, I agree, unfortunately your argument’s coherence to the subject matter ends here (yet again). The prelude to the homosexuality I write in defense of is consensual.

Please refer to the following link:


http://www.skeptictank.org/gaygene.htm

I agree and disagree. Rape for example although it is enabled trough a distorted morality which is indeed often nurtured and nature, it is driven by one of the most basic sexual hetero urges. A gay person wouldn't be that much inclined to rape a women now would he? this is what I have been saying all along with the nature vs nurture. The debate on wheter it is strictly genetically or it is a matter of how one has been raised has been going on for decades. And right now it looks like both sides are loosing and in reality the cause is a combination of both! Not only genetic nature, and not only environmental nurture, but both. So yes, people definitely have a choice.
They can choose to indulge and nurture the feelings or they can choose not to do so. Often it won't be a cognative choice, but it's still nevertheless a choice.

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Interesting article, but as I suspect, all they have show is that there is a correlation between DNA and behavior. That is something obvious that has been expected all along. The problem is, how do you interpret that correlation? Is it a strict IF=>THEN relation, or rather an IF=>THEN_POSSIBLY. In other words this research doesn't prove that there is no choice in the matter.

Gays sexuality is not nurtured by their parents nor their school friends. Parents and school friends do not want the gays to be gay!

The only nurturing that happens is when a few gays get together and discuss their experiences – such as when they were shunned by their parents and by school friends.

K

nurture can be several things. One could be the rejection or percieved rejection of the individual by society or particular members and the individual looking at othersources of acceptance. (nothing wrong with that).

To me, a more interesting question than whether homosexuality is right or wrong, is how we approach homosexuals in our daily lives.

Biblically speaking, I agree that homosexuality is wrong. I understand the arguments of Christians who disagree with this, but personally speaking I think the Bible is quite clear on the issue ...

But that aside, speaking as a heterosexual woman, I cannot even begin to grasp the suffering homosexuals must go through - even in the 21st century.
The ridicule, the discrimination, the exclusion, the false beliefs about their sexuality ... and in some parts of the world the consequences are much worse!

Nerd put it well in his OP:
Gays and lesbians share the same humanity as we do!
Do they not deserve the same rights? And respect as human beings?

Peace

The idea that nurturing only happens in the way that people want it to happen is false. I'll give an example. A father is a racist and biggot. His daughter is often discrimination because boys are better. Hence the daughter start hating the father and hates his ideas. The daughter would aslo appose strongly to his racism and feel she can relate to etnic minorities since she herself has been discriminated against. It wouldn't be uncommon for the daughter to drawn to people of other race. So in other words her father nurtured her the exact opposite way as he intended. Off course this example cannot be extrapolated to nurturing homosexuality as easily. My point simply is that nurturnig is more then a question of the things you "learn" on school or from your parents. Nurture can also happen trough experience and feelings, trough trauma, trough circumstances. Your argument that homosexuality cannot be nurtured from society since society is mostly against it is thus very narrow minded.

also well said abdul,
nature. (DNA)
nurture (enviroment)

This brings us to the question... if indeed homosexual attractions are natural = GENETIC...

Check these out:

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1925
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3735668.stm
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6519

What is/would be the Islamic ruling for homosexual individuals?

I can not find anything that would relate to the person. The rulings I can find have to do with behaviors and actions, not with any personal labels.

Sorry can I just make a comment here? Homosexuality sex is not proper sex anyway coz two people of the same gender - it doesn't work out. Yes there might be other acts of sex, but not sex as what it means originally.

Ok i think I've said enough *runs away*

If a person is homosexual, and he/she is supposed to refrain from any sort of homosexual actions... is that their test on earth? and what are the Islamic rulings or punishments to homosexual acts?