Openly gay actor John Barrowman has undergone a series of tests to determine the cause of his homosexuality, as part of a new documentary. The Dr Who star is fronting new series The Making Of Me, in which he undergoes experiments to determine if he was born gay or whether his sexuality was affected by his environment.
And he is now urging the parents of gay teens to watch the programme to better understand their children. He says, “When I first started in my career, I thought I’m here to entertain people, nothing more.
“But as I’ve got older, my career has gone in a different direction… Now I get a lot of letters from young people who are either in the position of being shunned by their families or are fearful of coming out.
“I thought I could help those people and help everyone understand. It’s a question: Is it nature or is it nurture? If you’re a parent with a gay child, watch it.”
The Making Of Me airs on the U.K.‘s BBC One on 24 July.
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Nick, please watch this for us, and let us know once and for all, how gay John is.
Although I’ve never been convinced that the argument of ‘nature vs nurture’ isn’t looking for a solid 100% answer where none exists. Quite frankly, I’ve seen men who I’m pretty sure are gay because of their upbringing, and others who were obviously born that way. Then there are some who are probably gay because of some of both.
I know, I’m taking the unpopular ‘it all depends’ answer. But blast it, I LIKE thinking of people as individuals.
I know for my own case that it was pretty much ingrained in my DNA. I remember having crushes on the boys when I was very young. There was probably some kind of nuture aspect involved, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have turned out this way without the genetics.
I was out the night it was on visiting friends, but we managed to watch it.
Its interesting that John has a Barbie collection (?!)
And it seems we are indeed born this way from the reseach carried out, which made John VERY happy.
I should have recorded it on my V+ box (UK tv tivo type thing) so I will dub it off onto DVD if anyone is very keen to see it and if it isn’t already on Youtube
I’d love to have a copy of it. YouTube doesn’t seem to have anything, other than a 4 minute+ interview with John about the documentary. He mentioned something about them looking at his brain as he was looking at erotic pictures. hehe
He mentioned something about them looking at his brain as he was looking at erotic pictures. hehe
A good bit was when he went into fits of giggles on the phone in a lobby when they described how they were going to test his reaction to showing him pictures of erotica to see what stimulates him
Ok, that should be quote of the month. Is that a British saying? I’m really interested in watching this myself. Me and my boy have a different take on our sexuality. I believe I was born this way cause I can remember having crushes on dudes when I was about 6 years old. I remember my uncle had an adult magazine in his room when I was visiting my grandparents and I saw lots of women and one naked man, and I totally ignored the women and focused on that one guy. My bf said that he was coerced into doing some acts as a kid with his best friend and that it changed his life. Nothing that he feels like he was forced into, he just didn’t know what he was doing. So he thinks it’s environment. Of course it could be both, just from my standpoint, it seems like I was born into. Of course I remember reading a few years ago that gay people are gay because a mutation in our brains and that we produce extra hormones and crap like that. They produced all this scientific crap that I can’t remember, but I do remember thinking that this would totally be my luck. I’m a mutant and my mutant power is to like guys. That totally blows.
I do remember thinking that this would totally be my luck. I’m a mutant and my mutant power is to like guys. That totally blows.
No man, THAT should be quote of the week
I think it’s all individual cases aswell.
There is a part in the documentary where John asks is it a coincidence that he played with dolls as a kid, and is gay. I have two neices who are my age, so they have always felt more like sisters. My parents used to have them on weekends to help out my sister, so we had LOADS of girls toys for them at my place. I admit I usedto like the care bears and rainbow brite. heck if a Rainbow Brite action figure line came out I’d probably be all over it even now
But another factor is like your guy, I had a friend down the road who was a year older than me and we used to fool around a bit. And Ive always wondered if that was the cause, but theres so many factors that make up a person, I honestly don’t really care.
Anyway Paul, if you want a copy of this documentary, let me know!
I believe I was born this way cause I can remember having crushes on dudes when I was about 6 years old.
I too am of the mind that I was born this way. Like you, I started having crushes on guys VERY early on as well.—Lots of older men too. And while I had some guy friends during my childhood, I never really felt like I connected with them like I did with the gals. haha Dudes fascinated me though. My first cousin who grew up in Europe is also gay, so this just adds to my belief that there’s some kind of genetic component involved in my particular situation…which would mean it’s something probably coming from my dad’s side.
I think in most studies, they’ve determined that the genetic predisposition for being gay comes from the mother’s genes. Although the only other gay member of my family that I know about is a great uncle on my father’s side. So maybe I’m wrong. I do remember having crushes on the boys when I was very young.
My mother told me that she actually knew I was gay when I was three years old. She took me to visit m aunt, who’s run a dairy farm for years. She took me into the barn to see the cows, and I immediately threw up my hands and screamed “Oh, Mom! It’s so dirty!” My aunt looked at my mother: “He’s gay, you know.” My mother: “I know.”
Tall- You know I had crushes on older guys too. I thought guys with body hair and muscles were so hot, I couldn’t understand it. I was like a 10 year old kid who liked adult men. It wasn’t until I was about 16 that I realized that guys my own age were developing body hair and muscle curves. But at that point I was so in the closet that I was dating a girl. I remember my granddad even walked in one time when I was in some pretty incriminating positions with her. My whole family was more afraid of me getting a girl pregnant than me turning out to be gay.
I just saw this on BBC America. It was interesting, but not particularly ground-breaking. I’m glad so much research is going into the genetic origins of homosexuality. My heart went out to the kid who collects Bratz dolls and Build-a-Bears. You know he was just about to scream because John Barrowman was in his bedroom. I examined my fingers, and according to their instructions, I have gay hands. I had no doubts, though.
