I wonder why they can't see that?

My guess is that everyone who thinks being gay is a choice regularly feels homosexual attraction, that they have to choose to repress. They think that's normal, they feel that way therefore everyone else must too.

I don't think Garfield or anyone is going to change an adult's well-established sexual orientation, but the idea that children growing up in a society that normalizes homosexual attraction will be more likely to develop inclinations that otherwise would have been suppressed seems reasonable to me. It's supported both by the prevalence of what we would call bisexuality in certain cultures and by my own personal experience - I distinctly recall being young and trying to decide whether an attractive character in a picture was a flat-chested woman (and therefore OK) or a long-haired man (and therefore not OK). I had internalized social expectations before I even knew what the differences between men and women were and so from that point my sexuality developed to be strictly heterosexual, but I think that I might have become bisexual if those social expectations had not been taught to me before that formative time.

What if people are naturally bi/pan and either learned or chosen aversion to one sex or another makes them either gay or straight? In a hypothetical world free of antigay bigotry couldn't a person be dared to kiss or otherwise get close to someone of the same gender and realize it turned them on?

I dont know but isn't "born gay" or "born straight" kind of similar to gender essentialism?

I'm all for a world where people have as much opportunity to choose as possible, but I also realize people put a lot of stock in what they've already chosen. Perhaps it's like a long term relationship where someone feels their partner is the "only one" for them, following a breakup they often find there are other partners they'd be happy with too.

Just my thoughts, no offense intended. Not really looking to share my own experiences here but they sort of make more sense in the theory I'm explaining here.

Always said the belief in sexual choice says everything about homophobia and transphobia. If you think those things are bad, and it's a choice, then the chooser is evil. And if it's a choice, then your kids can be influenced on the matter.

Craziest thing to me is how easy the notion of choice is to disprove with a simple thought experiment. I turned my best friend around instantly.

"OK, homosexuality is a choice. Remember when you were a horny teenager? Can you tell me how you choose which team to bat for? Could have gone either way, right? I choose hetero because it sure seems a lot easier."