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Homosexuality: Born or Made? Controversy Stirs In Costa Rica

Homosexuality has been practiced for thousands of years. Simply put, homosexuality is defined as sexual relations between like genders (i.e., two males or two females). Many people now believe that homosexuality is part of who a person really is from the moment of conception.

*This article was put HERE by me, in case insidecostarica.com decides to take down their plagiarized story....this is the EXACT "article" posted by insidecostarica.com. (check the link, see if it's still GOOD). Anyway, back to the "article"

Former legislator Juan José Vargas (left), psyciatrists Larisa Escalante (right) and Ángelrafael González (second from left) discuss the homosexuality issue with Pilar Cisneros on Costa Rica's national television.
The “genetic and unchangeable” theory has been actively promoted by gay activists and the popular media.

Is homosexuality really an inborn and normal variant of human natural?

For some people yes, and for others no. Some people do not have their first homosexual feelings or experience until they are well into adulthood.

For that reason many believe that homosexuals are made, not born. To me homosexuality is a chosen, learned behavior and former legislator Juan José Vargas has raised controversy in assuring that there is a safe treatment that could end with homosexuality for those undergoing special therapy.

Against Vargas are Costa Rica's psychologists who say that homosexuality is not a disease, and therefore cannot be cured.

The Pros
In relation to homosexuality, the nature concept explores the possibility of a specific gene or combination of genes present at the time of birth that genetically predispose people to homosexuality. In other words, some people are born gay.

Gay advocates say proving there is a gay gene will provide "wider social acceptance and better protection against discrimination," as Neil Swidey writes in his Boston Globe article, "What Makes People Gay?" Proving that being gay is not a choice means that discrimination against gays becomes a matter of civil rights.

The Cons
We're all influenced by our environment, but to what extent? The nurture concept of homosexuality argues that social, parental and environmental variables influence a person's homosexuality. A nurtured gay person is one that is "made" gay.

For some time, the notion of an overbearing mother or an absent father or even sexual abuse were thought to be catalyst of future gay people. If the root of homosexuality does not lie within DNA, then the nurture concept implies people have a choice whether to be gay or not be gay. Many ex-gay reparative therapy groups believe that homosexuality can be reversed or "repaired". Some religious organizations also believe that the concept of Adam and Eve (or one man, one woman), provides an absolute explanation that homosexuality is unnatural.

Resolution
Can the origin of same gender loving feelings be absolute? Does it lay within the complexities of the beginning of man or the development of society?

If homosexuality is indeed a product of a special genome, then will that lead to predetermination by expecting parents at the time the baby's sex is revealed? One can envision some parents being excited to hear the sexual makeup of their fetus while others seek to "repair" the gay gene. Lawmakers would be obligated to protect gay people, just as any other group of individuals with a predetermined genetic makeup. The religious implications would be widespread and increase the growing list of religious organizations that welcome gay members.

The concept of a homemade gay person cannot be ignored either. Is there a consistent pattern between a person's parental or environmental influences and their sexuality? Does the explanation of homosexuality lie within Paul Ewald's theory that homosexuality is a virus or the reparative therapy model that a traumatic life situation planted the seed of choice? Some debate that homosexuality is not deserving of natural rights since it has not been proven that being gay is indeed the same as any other born characteristic.

Or, is it possible that being gay is a combination of both nature and nurture? Imagine a person that is born gay, but their same gender feelings are either perpetuated or (not perpetuated) by their environment. If this were indeed the case, homosexuality would only be an issue of if or when one comes out of the closet.

Either scenario, researchers will continue to hunt for the origin of homosexuality. Many avenues have been explored, from isolating DNA to observing gay animals, but as of yet, no one absolute explanation of homosexuality has been found. And even if it were, would society accept it?

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Costa Rica's Golden Toads Killed by El Niño & A Pathogen, Not Climate Change

This probably won't be the last word on the demise of the Monteverde golden toad, but a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that normal El Niño conditions, not climate change, lead to the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus and caused the iconic Costa Rican species to go extinct.

Science Codex sums up the report, by scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory:

The golden toad vanished after an exceptionally dry season following the 1986-1987 El Niño, probably not long after the chytrid fungus was introduced. Scientists speculate that dry conditions caused the toads to congregate in a small number of puddles to reproduce, prompting the disease to spread rapidly. Some have linked the dry spell to global warming, arguing that warmer temperatures allowed the chytrid pathogen to flourish and weakened the toad's defenses. The new study finds that Monteverde was the driest it's been in a hundred years following the 1986-1987 El Niño, but that those dry conditions were still within the range of normal climate variability. The study does not address amphibian declines elsewhere, nor do the authors suggest that global warming is not a serious threat to biodiversity.

As for that 'won't be the last word' part: The lead author of the study in Nature back in 2006, which first made the climate-golden toad extinction connection, disagrees with this study's findings. J. Alan Pounds claims the the authors of the PNAS paper missed a long-term drying trend "because they were unable to analyze moisture variations day to day or week to week."

Pound added, "Anyone paying close attention to living systems in the wild is aware that our planet is in serious trouble. It's just a matter of time before this becomes painfully obvious to everyone."

90 tickets issued Monday morning under Costa Rica's new transit law

Despite legislators' best efforts to rewrite the law and a union's refusal to implement it, the new transit law went into effect on Monday with fines some call disproportionately high.

During a five-hour period on Monday morning, police issued 90 tickets, for violations ranging from driving without a valid license ($536) to talking on a cell phone ($300).

“Our obligation is to apply the law,” said Juan Carlos González, spokesman for the Public Works and Transport Ministry, who said the union's protest hasn't affected the ticketing.

Marco Vargas, transportation minister, told the daily Diario Extra that police should put more emphasis on actions that endanger other people, and not be as vigilant in applying the tickets to minor offences.

“What I have said in our guidelines is to pay particular attention to what we call serious offenses, such as drunk or reckless driving,” he said. “But that transit authorities should apply the full force of the law.”

As police are busy handing out tickets, legislators are still working in an effort to make changes to the law before they leave office in May.

“We are looking for the necessary consensus,” said National Liberation Party lawmaker Alexander Mora. “The idea is to adjust the sanctions so that they reflect Costa Rican society.”

The original law was supposed to take effect in September of 2009, but due to inconsistencies in the legislation and fines that many lawmakers considered too high, the Legislative Assembly voted to postpone the implementation of the law an additional six months.

Even with the added time, they weren't able to achieve agreement on changes, and the law went into effect March 1, looking much like the original one approved in November of 2008.

Costa Rica looks to take itself off tax haven list

This past Friday morning found more than one hundred dark-suited men and women in a windowless meeting room of the Intercontinental Hotel, plotting how to remove Costa Rica from the international list of tax havens.

It's been nearly a year since Costa Rica was identified as a so-called tax haven due to outdated legislation that makes exchange of information on suspected tax evaders complicated and time-consuming. The Central American country was hit with another slap in mid-February when France announced it would levy high sanctions on interest and dividends earned in the country.

“Costa Rica is recognized in the world as a haven for peace, a haven for ecological tourism, a haven for the respect of human rights; but under no circumstance, can we or do we want to run the risk that Costa Rica is perceived as a tax haven,” said Rodrigo Arias, minister of the presidency, at the Friday morning forum.

The worldwide recession has motivated developed countries to clamp down on suspected tax evaders, looking for additional income for cash-strapped budgets. With the participation of countries around the world, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ) drafted an international standard for the exchange of tax information and got dozens of countries to sign on to it.

"We've made more progress in 10 months than we have in 10 years," said Pascal Saint-Amans, head of the international cooperation and tax competition division of OECD. “The standard for the exchange of tax information is now almost universally accepted.... There are no more safe places to hide money to avoid paying taxes.”

Costa Rica has dragged its feet in the process of subscribing to international tax standards, but Finance Minister Jenny Phillips has pledged her commitment to meet OECD demands. In order to make it off the list of havens, Costa Rica must sign information sharing agreements with 12 countries (it has one now and nine pending) and adopt new national legislation.

Phillips said the legislation has been drafted and is now before the Legislative Assembly. Though she said she will push for legislators to pass it before they leave office in May, she also recognizes the tight timeframe.

“Two months is very short in order to pass a reform like this one,” she said. “But after hearing what was said today(Costa Rica could face more sanctions), … Today it's France, tomorrow it could be another country... and some of the sanctions could come from international organizations such as the World Bank.”

Transit Law Stalled

Steep fines for traffic violations likely will go into effect on Monday without the reductions legislators had hoped to apply.

The fines, which climb as high as $415 for attempting to bribe an officer and $300 for talking on a cell phone while driving, were first included in the law in November 2008 as a means to help deter reckless and drunk driving.

But as September 2009 approached – when the fines were to go into effect – legislators began to question whether they were excessive. They agreed to delay the law's effective date until March 2010 to allow themselves more time to review the sanctions and a handful of other inconsistencies in the law.

“Today, th e parties who proposed all of this are looking for an exit,” said Luis Antonio Barrantes, legislator for the Libertarian Movement Party. “We've said from the beginning that the fines and sanctio ns were disproportionate and it included unnecessary requirements, such as first aid kits.”

Speaking on the floor of the Legislative Assembly early last week, independent legislator Andrea Marcela Morales said, “This is the hour to vindicate these mistakes, to give the Costa Rican people a better quality law, traffic legislation that is the law not lenient, but also doesn't smother people.”

But when the law returned to the floor of the assembly, legislators threw motions at it, handcuffing any forward progress.

Some factions wanted to lower the blood alcohol level for drunk drivers. Others looked to take out the requirement of a psychological exam on applications for driver's licenses. And others simply pushed for lower fines for traffic violations.

“I presented a few (motions) to try to lower the fines to a reasonable amount, to eliminate the point system, and to modify the law so the medical exam doesn't just need to be done by a doctor in order to obtain a license,” Barrantes said. “Together, they are a series of motions that would make the Transit Law more reasonable for our country. If this doesn't happen, I can't support it.”

Barrantes and dozens of his colleagues presented a total of 220 motions to modify the law.

As a result, the Transit Law likely will take effect Monday without any of the changes the legislators proposed.

At this point, the only way the existing law could be changed is via an agreement reached through an expedited legislative process. If legislators were to follow such a path, the agreement would be signed after this newspaper's deadline

Cameras To Monitor Crime Activity Across Costa Rica

Smile, you are on camera. No, not Candid Camera like the hidden camera television series created and produced by Allen Funt and seen on American television in the 1960's, but rather a network of hundreds of cameras that will be installed by the ministerio de Seguridad Pública across the country, as a means to cutting crime.

The cameras will be placed in strategic locations in San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Limón and will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by a group of 60 police officials.

A total of 342 cameras with "intelligent video" will be the eyes of the Fuerza Pública.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is partnering with the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública in the us$9 million dollar project.

Pedro Pablo Quirós, president of ICE, along with Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, the ministra de Seguridad Pública, Janina del Vecchio and the ministro de la Presidencia, Rodrigo Arias, announced the plan at Casa Presidencial on Wednesday.

Quirós explained that the video feed from 182 points in the four provinces will be sent by way of ICE's telecommunications network to the Fuerza Pública operations control centre.

The cameras will be placed in locations like rotondas, highways, buildings, in neighbourhoods with high incidents of crimes.

The program is not new, it is a result of research of use in places like Colombia and England and according to Costa Rican officials, it is a very important way to fight crime.

The system, in addition to allowing police to keep an eye on things, will also be used to gather evidence to be used in court against criminals.

The video information from the cameras will be stored for 30 days to allow judicial authorities time to obtain the material for their investigation in criminal cases.

Janina Del Vecchio said that the installation of the system and the training of the officers is expected to begin in August.