When I was younger a couple lived down the street from me. This man and this woman both had mild forms of downs syndrome. They gave birth to a baby boy that would not only be free of downs, but went on to college to become a marine biologist.
Do I think you're wrong? No, not at all. I think you're very much so correct and that when I typed this thread I should have made it more clear that I believe hereditary traits are strong influences in the way a person would be. But, how do you explain this couple giving birth to a non-mentally handicapped marine biologist? o_o Would you consider this an anomaly?
Down syndrome is well understood error of genetic expression. To me, your example further indicates that genetics play a big part in overall intellectual capacity. (bad genes causing decreased intelligence) It would seem counter intuitive that two bad expressions of genetic information could combine to make a superior one, but it just means that genetics are very complicated and subject to many factors. There is not a clear dichotomy between nurture and nature when it comes to intelligence.
When it comes to sexual orientation, you have your own experiences to refer to. Think back to a time when you had no sexual preference, can you remember that? Do you remember entering puberty and developing sexual desires? At what point did you make a clear decision between the sexes? Sexual orientation is a huge part of who you are and heavily influences how you live your life, shouldn't you remember such an important event as when you decided yours? Was there certain events that took place that influenced your fundamental desire between the sexes?
Or was more like you just seemed to be drawn to one sex over the other without having to back it up with reason and rhyme? Did your sexual preference simply solidify as you developed similar to the way you developed tastes for certain foods? Was there any point in your life when you could have, through sheer willpower, forced yourself to be attracted to the same sex? You could force yourself to try it, go through with the action, but could you force yourself to enjoy it? Could you make yourself desire it?
Do you think you are atypical in your sexual development? Doesn't it stand to reason that this is the way all humans develop a sexual preference? Consider statistics that say the majority of young boys who are molested by men grow up to develop a heterosexual preference. In fact, the number of homosexual boys we find among those abused is about the same you would expect to find in any random group of people. It's true that events can influence attitude, approach, and willingness to experiment, but it would seem that, when correctly weighing evidence, there is very little scientific support for the idea that fundamental sexual preference is influenced by life's experiences.
