Now, Tom, you really don't want me to post the pictures, do you?

OMG, John... I'd completely FORGOTTEN about that day!

Far too few Broadway songs here to make that claim!

Er... um... spent a few too many years making my living this way...

Okay, Geoff, gonna go out on a bit of limb here:  I believe there IS a choice.

That choice is honesty.  Some people choose to be honest about who they are, and some decide to hide and live in the closet.  I could've easily married my college girlfriend, had a bunch of kids and f***ed around with guys on the side (like so many men around the world do, especially men who live in societies much less tolerant than ours, or Hollywood, or government), but to me, that's the lowest form of dishonesty.  You're hurting everyone around you that way. 

Yeah, I get that and admire it.  I think there are those out there who believe being gay is a choice like smoking or drinking.  Who view it as a vice.  But if its hard wired (to use your term) and can be proven then I think the choice argument fails.  You are as nature (or God if your prefer) made you. 

You are as nature (or God if your prefer) made you. 

My buddy Mike -- pictures WAY upthread -- uses that line all the time.  "I'm made in the image of God, the same way you are."

But coming from a cognitive neuroscience background, I tend to think all behavior is a mix of environment with biological or genetic predispositions

I come from a musical theatre background, but I see your point.  However, the kid from Kansas who shows up in the big city after college and then, a year or so later, has a completely different behavioral demeanor... that's learned, baby.

However, the kid from Kansas who shows up in the big city after college and then, a year or so later, has a completely different behavioral demeanor

Or he saved a space plane and has to adopt a secret identity!