LMAO Some of these answers are hilarious. Kudos to you all!
On Topic, I believe it to be Genetic Factors. The idea that someone would ever consciously choose to be a target of social ridicule and violence is ridiculous to me. Now subconsciously there are things that effect "Sexual Identity" yet not the preference as a whole. Let me explain that for a moment.
First off, the idea that Sexual Identity can somehow be encapsulated in such a black and white ideal, gay or straight, is cutting it short. Neither truly exist, and we are basically all on a scale somewhere on the "bi" charts. There will be aspects of either sex that appeal to one person more than the next. Also, I think we frequently confuse "behaviors" such as femininity or masculinity as forever attached to gender/sexual preference but we know that is not the case. I think Fem/Masc levels are the part that are determined by social stimuli which become the outward appearance of a person's sexual identity. There are plenty of gay people you could never tell by the way they act, and then there are plenty of metro-sexual straight men these days that prune and groom more than women.
Now these genetic factors are manipulating hormone levels in the brain. Studies have shown hormones control growth/behavior patterns of the entire body, especially in puberty. Certain parts of a gay person's brain is similar to those of the opposite sex (on average). And then we have all seen as Jane Lynch describes as "Gay face", men with overly effeminate facial features(Bowie), and we have women who grow facial hair. Yet those things are subtle knit picky appearance differences. If you need something else about Humans for reference....take the fact some of us are left or right handed. These are widely believed to be controlled by genetic factors, it has to do with which hemisphere of the brain is dominant in the individual. Now there are no outward factors of which hand we should use....only that most use their right. Can you switch hands? Technically yes, ask my grandmother who's hands were beaten horrendously in grade school until she learned to write with her right hand. Yet it always felt awkward to her and Shrinks say it can cause reprehensible brain damage.
The idea that parenting/social things could dictate which sex you tend towards just doesn't sit well with me. The stories of "An overbearing Mother, Distant Father = Gay Son" isn't based on any actual findings, just quick assumption with no firm statistics. Many people are born with one parent these days....more often than not they are still straight. And aren't ALL mothers a tad overbearing? That is just the Serotonin making them cray cray. This hypothesis was almost entirely based on the child's fem/masc outcome, originally thought to be one and the same with sexual preference. Now the genetic factors that dictated SP also alter what we take in as far as knowledge. A son that is genetically set to be "gay"(hate using these labels) might pay more attention to his mother's actions in relation to his father.....because he wants to be able to court a man like his mom.
Now of course the question is....why would our genes do this? Isn't the purpose of life "To pro create"? This is at least what my roommate asked me and I laughed in disgust. We confuse human nature's desire to SUSTAIN LIFE as simply popping out babies. Sustaining life takes more than just having future generations of offspring. We have to have enough resources to keep all of them alive. This is why humans form many different types of couplings. We have tribal/groupings, family dynamics, and romantic inclinations all geared towards sustaining us. SethNintendo might have been joking, but I think it does come down to overpopulation. I think that our genes are constantly crunching numbers of possible outcomes. The statistics say that at LEAST 1/10 men/women are more homo-sexually inclined. And that the more children a person has hightens the odds that one will be gay. I believe this to be true because what if our genes are reading the level of children our grandparents,our parents, and then we have, then it decides that under the suspicion that you all are in close proximity like a family should be that the rate of reproduction should be slowed down by general odds? Personally, my Grandmother had 7 kids, my mom had 5 and the two youngest(me and my sister) are gay and bi respectfully. Humans need to be around each other to keep odds of survival in our favor hence the reason genes opt to compel us pair up. And what if gay people's role in a social aspect is simply to enrich it and help progress it for further generations? Let me explain. The Stereotypical(stereotypes are not wrong, just not always right) gay person has a higher IQ than the average person, they somehow always become the confidante friend to tell all your problems to, have been known to propagate fashion trends of almost every generation, and generally raise housing market value in any neighborhood they move into due to their need to fix-up things. This isn't completely consistent across the board but when taking that step back to look at the bigger picture.....it seems like an important enough role to prove need.
All this is excluding the research done on animals that show some working on a exclusively gay/bisexual basis(Dolphins and Penguins are famous for being gayest animals in existence, Bonobo monkeys have sex indiscriminately) and only meeting up with the other sex to have children. Or the idea that 3 is a crowd is a human social sentiment and that most animals are polygamist such as a certain gull species that exists in a trio parental structure(1 male watches babies, 1 protects them, and female finds food).
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