We're at cross purposes. You seem to be satisfied that you can tell if you have to - and I do not have a problem with that. I am looking for those characteristics that are sine qua non. For example, when a person dies, it still usually possible to tell a lot about him or her, sometimes an astonishing amount. But is there any way to determine the sexuality of a dead person?

If not, then maybe it's not physical. Apparently it's not behavioral. Maybe genetic? News to me if it is. Psychological? Psychology at that level is no science, though it may be descriptive, but that a matter of observation and statistics, things that psychologists cannot always be trusted to do well.

That leaves what I say about me and what I say about you and similarly for you and everyone else. But certainly that takes it altogether out of the arena of any sort of general knowledge.

At the same time, some gay people make it clear they've always been gay and nothing else. I conclude from that that "being gay," being homosexual, is something real. What, though, appears (to me) to be a mystery.

OK, I think I see where you are coming from now. I don't believe there would be any distinguishing physical characteristics that could be used to determine sexuality.

Why do homosexuals exist? The answer is easy.

God created them so He would have a whole section of humanity to hate. — god must be atheist

Reminds me of this:

"I don't think masturbation is obscene
It's absolutely natural and the weirdest fucking thing I've ever seen
You make my job a living hell and I sent gays to fix overpopulation
And boy did that go well"

- Bo Burnham

Just an odd thought. (for what it's worth)..

- Is homosexuality only a sexual act?
- Is heterosexuality only a sexual act?

I ask as I kind of thought that both were also expressions of love, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

Also in regard to either being 'natural'...

It seems as both can be proven to occur in nature it could be said (in that context of the term) they are both natural, but the issue might be more that one of the two is simply less common.

Meow!

G

Does being gay mean being more... "artistic", "sensitive", and so on? Based on my 74 years of experience as an exclusively gay man, the stereotypically artistic, sensitive, highly emotional homosexual is mostly baloney. Yes, there are gay men who fit that description, but most don't, and of course there are some straight men who do, though most don't.

Are gay men more promiscuous than straight men? Yes. So, AIDS definitely dropped a monkey wrench into the gears of the orgy factory. With appropriate precautions the good times continue to roll, but not quite in as inhibited a manner as before. New diseases require new responses. Is one supposed to wear a mask while getting a blow job in the park? — Bitter Crank

Since the guys I know do not fit into those stereotypes I dont care about them, they do exist, cannot say i love them.

That male gays copulate more than straight guys is to me a no-brainer since it is the women who (with good reasons) are picky and restrictive. If women could be as spontaneous as men the copulation frequency would be higher supposedly. There must be papers on this. Maybe being considered ugly is not as disadvantageous for men as for women? I doubt that gays gets more solely bcause they are gay.