Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to Joel Allen’s comments on homosexuality from last week’s edition of The Northerner.

I’m all for people having set beliefs, because I have a core belief that if you are open to everything you will fall for anything. However, I also believe that you should have supporting evidence for your beliefs because no matter how open people are to opinions, there is always room for argument.

I do believe that homosexuality is a genetic factor, not a choice, and I have some supporting evidence. In one of the DSM psychological manuals of years past, homosexuality was listed as a type of disorder but was later taken out because psychologists agreed it was genetic, but not a disorder, because it did not cause any complications in the lives of homosexuals.

Also, there is a choice in every aspect of life, I will admit. I have seen people in bad situations react badly and develop different kinds of psychological disorders, but there is a choice on whether they can accept things for what they are or try to get help to overcome them.

A lot of these problems are choices in which people choose to put up with because they either think they don’t need help or that they are justified.

We see people in the news, and on “miracle” shows all the time who rise above expectations because they refuse to let whatever ails them rule their lives. They could say, “well I have a huge anxiety over people so I can never do what I really want,” or “I have Asperger’s Syndrome and can never function in the real world so I will never measure up.”

Yes, they are choices; people usually don’t see them that way.

As for religion, those are choices as well, but generally, if your parents are Catholic, you are born into it because of their beliefs and their choice for you to be baptized into it. You can choose later to denounce the faith, of course. And yes, some people are Republican or Democrat because of their parents. And some people do like country and Sum 41.

Let’s face it, everyone is born with different characteristics, some people are born normal and “acquire” a psychological disorder later in life due to their environment, and some are born with them and both can overcome them if they chose to.

What is the difference if some people feel attracted to the opposite sex and some feel attracted to the same sex? Everyone has different morals and beliefs, and we don’t always agree, but what evidence is there that homosexuality is a life choice?

And to those who disagree, who’s to say that heterosexuality is not also a choice? It’s laws of attractions, and people are wired differently in what is attractive to them.

Tricia Steffen Junior, psychology