Why the “born this way” argument doesn't advance LGBT equality | Dr. Lisa Diamond | TEDxSaltLakeCity 

To recall what Princess Bubblegum said: "People get built different. We don't need to figure it out, we just need to respect it."

She looks like the kind of teacher that would tell you to believe in yourself and stand up for you when other teachers put you down

"What am I supposed to tell them? That I'm this way .... because reasons???" "No. Not even because reasons. *Just because **_you are._* " - Natalie Wynn

You know bi erasure is a thing when you are so surprised and start to get emotional when mentions us

So glad she explained the part about bisexuality, honestly sometimes it makes some of us wonder why include a b in lgbt+ when we are dismisses or belittled.

Imagine being named "Dr. Diamond", that is unironically so dope. I love it

I'm not gonna lie, it took me to the end of the video to really grasp what she was saying, but when i did, i loved it. this idea of 'whether we were born this way or not, it shouldn't matter because regardless we deserve to be treated as respected people' edit: some of u bring good points i never thought of; this is why respectful discussion is so important. since this comment blew up all i ask is that u keep it polite people.

The volume is horrible. In fact I am writing this comment while watching this video and the sound of my keypad is much louder.

she finally pinpoints why I've always felt religious folks claiming "They were born that way, we can't change them, we just need to pray for them" is such an uncomfortable comment.

so... our sexualities are fluid, but it's not like we can control the fluidity. we don't choose our attractions, which makes discrimination based on it all the more nonsensical, especially because they can fluctuate over time.

why is no one talking about those GUNS?!😍

I don’t get why people are mad at her, everything she says is perfectly plausible and in no way malicious

Lady Gaga: *writes a few lyrics* Lisa Diamond: i'm gonna end this woman whole career

First thing she says: True or false? audience: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA Did i miss a joke or something??

im sorry but am I the only one who can't stop staring at her arms??

I did not think I was going to like this. I'm glad I was wrong.

I don't understand the comment section. Pls someone tell me what people are arguing about? She says lgbt people aren't born that way. But it doesn't mean it's a choice. It can be a choice too, but it's not a wrong choice. i think she's saying that our feelings can grow in its own way, naturally , and it can be fluid sometimes.

I’m sorry but she looks like a female Rick from Rick and Morty😂

the fact that you have a gene doesn’t mean it’s going to be expressed. that’s what recessive genes are all about. also, your gene expression can shift over time, like hair color or taste buds.

I don't mean to offend in any way but she reminds me of olivia octavius from into the spider-verse

Identical twin studies are underrated, and underfunded in my opinion.

Why is the audio on this video so ridiculously low? I had to double the the level on my tv

I see more comments complaining about criticism then actual criticism;_;

My ears: listening to fax My eyes: watching them guns

Wow, I have never seen so many comments misunderstanding what someone's said lol.

I love her use of “can be fluid”!that matters cause it shows possibility instead of saying “it is fluid” and stating it as some universal unchanging fact.

Volume too LOW!!!

Thank you for defending bisexuals/pansexuals 💙💜💗

i just wanted to listen to the lady with the cool hair and now everyone is screaming in the comments

people who keep commenting about her topic and didn’t listen to her ted talk are clowns

Yeah. I didn’t really feel my bisexuality until I was 17. I couldn’t relate to people who said they knew from early childhood. I think that’s an interesting way of thinking about it.

so her point is "you weren't born this way, you developed this way."

I have one problem with this idea, many lgbt people if not most, are actually consistent in they're orientation, and when they come out it's often dismissed as a 'phase' so how are people supposed to fight that idea, without invoking the 'born this way' argument?

Genetic circuits are non-deterministic (they are stochastic), so, although some traits may be determined genetically, they might not be expressed the same between identical twins. Because although they have the same genes, some genes may be turned ON for one twin and OFF for the other.

I’m seeing a TON of people defending the ted talk against people in the comment section who misunderstood her point...but I’ve yet to see someone actually disagree with her or be rude. How far down are those comments?

Here's a lesson my mother taught me about the world that ALL LGBT people should know (I'm LGBT too): When I was 15, as a young and wide-eyed Asian kid, I stumbled across the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child, and I was ecstatic. In it, the convention states that every child has a RIGHT to food and shelter, even though my mother had on many occasions denied me food and shelter whenever I misbehaved (i.e. refusing to give me food or money to buy food, or kicking me out of the house as punishment). I brought this up with her, confident that I can change her mind because somewhere out there, a bunch of enlightened individuals believe that children also had rights and that they DESERVED better. My mother, a lower-middle-income hard-nosed parent, laughed in my face and said, "you can decide what you think you deserve when you can make your own money." And that night, I had no dinner, and I was locked outside the house. My mother was cruel, but she was right. You can't talk about human rights, or whatever you think you deserve, when you DON'T HAVE POWER. You may live among kindred souls who chose to be kind to you, but you'd be gravely mistaken to take that for granted. For the world is not benign... there will always be people out there eager to destroy and take you apart if you let them, and those whom you lean on for charity can one day decide to STOP giving. And only when all your friends have betrayed you (and they will one day) will you realise that you are nothing without POWER. When I talk about power, I'm not talking about power over other people, I'm talking about power you have over yourself. Those who are constantly overpowered by their own passions cannot achieve greatness. The greatest power one can have is the power to control one's own fate. And you EARN that power by first controlling your emotions. With your emotions under control, you then control your actions. And with your actions under control, you can then shape your own destiny, one - excruciating - inch at a time. The whole 'we are born that way' argument is very disempowering! We are essentially trying to appeal to other people's good side when not all of them have a good side! And it doesn't matter what you get from others by using that tired argument, because even if it grants you heaven and earth, you are still down on bended knees, and there is no dignity in that. LGBT people, above all, should seek power and not entitlement. Even if you have to fight harder than everyone else, then so be it. You will surpass yourself one day, and even surpass all your critics. Let those who once hated you fear you, be envious of you, or god forbid, be respectful of you because you are powerful. You can't force them to change their minds but you can force them to look at you when you have power. Be grateful to every ounce of charity you receive, but always maintain your power to ensure nobody can mess with you. And this is by far the most dignified way to live that I know of. And I owe all of that to my dear mother, whom I kicked out of my house not too long ago.

Stream "Born this way" by Lady Godga

I dont’t agree with her idea that people would only refer to “born this way” as a way of admitting fault. People are “born this way” with many characteristics that aren’t thought of as “bad” things... they’re just characteristics.

"true or false" Audience slapping their knees: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAHAGAH 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

it's because 'born this way' is apologetic at its worst... why apologize for being lgbtqi when straight people don't apologize about their gender either? be yourself and be proud of your gender... don't apologize!

WHAAAAAAA? ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT PEOPLE CHANGE?

I’m so glad someone’s talking about this. She’s an amazing speaker!!!

I didn’t know how this was going to go but I was pleasantly surprised that I literally had the same opinion as her and didn’t even know it 😂

She’s right. People who are criticizing her need to learn how to interpret-ate a message.

I normally don't like this argument. but she made it so well and presented it in a respectful way that increases respect. Now only if we lived in a respectful society. Its a difficult line to walk because there are still a lot of hateful people who will look for any way to weaponize arguments. for this argument to work, outside of communities that respect human autonomy we need to actually make human autonomy our strongest argument and highest value.

"Born this way" is an argument custom-built for a society with conformity as its highest value. Lisa Diamond mentions in this talk that this argument came about in the 60s and 70s and was crafted (reactively) for that timeframe and its values. For young people today especially I don't think they see it this way as much. I think they don't see conformity as especially valuable to begin with, for one thing.

i feel like she works on her arms for this particular reason

I personally didnt take the "Born This Way" thing so deeply and literal. More like a metaphor and a statement relating to pride. But if we gonna discuss more profoundly, i don't stan essentialism, philosophically.

Wow, this completely changed my mind. I went in really sceptical that it was a bad argument but I completely agree.

It’s Born This Way ma’am if your gonna quote Gaga get it right

I'm so happy about how she perfectly explained why the born this way argument is harmful to bisexuals, as we are seen as being able to have a "choice" in our attraction

Her voice is so appealing to hear, and she makes multiple great points.

Just reading the comment section made me sure of my choice to cut-off every pious people from my life the moment they started talking about how they're right and other people who doesn't share their belief is a demon or something. It's just not healthy and definitely not helping anyone involved.

TL;DR version: *bisexuals exist.*

I like when she opens her arms because of the gun show 😍

Everyone complaining about the volume: there are captions

Jesus, I would never think about this issue using this perspective, thank you

She looks like a crazy scientist from a cartoon

The only thing I got from this was that she doesn’t know that Lady Gaga’s song is “Born This Way” and NOT “Born That Way”

It's pretty sad that most of the comments are still about the look of that woman rather than what she's talking about 😒

she really snapped on this one

Honey don't you misquote the queen Gaga like that

the argument is not “born that way” but “affection is not controllable”, right?

If they were “ born that way” then why call it a preference? How many people didn’t need to listen to this to come to the same conclusion?

If our sexualities are fluid and we can’t control it changing then there’s more proof that we can’t choose.

This talk has made me feel validated. What Dr Diamond said simply reflects not only my opinion on this matter, but also my own experience. THANK YOU, Dr Diamond!! 🥰

She looks like olivia octavius from into the spider-verse.

Honey just say being bi is ok and go

When she started talking about bisexuals I teared up, thank you lady, I really needed that

Her argument ignores the concept of the Kinsey scale. Where one is on the Kinsey scale is likely where one is born. Most people are therefore born in the middle. Perhaps what she should be debating is rephrasing “born that way” to the more appropriate that same gender attraction is “natural” which I believe is what was really meant by born that way.

I saw this girl on “trixie and katya watch a documentary about s3x”

Finally someone standing up for the Bi folks!

RU-vid: Comments: _Its I was born _*_THIS_*_ way, not _*_ThAt_*_ way!!_ 😲😫😥⚠️

I support lgbtq+ equality just because it's the RIGHT thing to do.

"Born this way" is just a shorter way of saying "I can't do anything about it". Yes it's simplified but it was used to counter the claim that you choose this. You have to look at it from the context of people telling you to just be normal. The scientific details are not that relevant when someone says to you you need to change something you know you cannot change.

Born this Way actually has advanced LGBT equality...

Her arms ❤️

Damn we're really one search away from leaving ignorance yet so many people don't care. Truly eye-opening points to me.

The problem is her research is contradicted by others, as hers does theirs.

1. Identical twins can have different alleles. 2. Confused bisexuals can be the confounding variables in her research. (I wish I had access to her research) Agree with her 2nd and 3rd points though.

Life is not worth a damn 'Till you can say Hey world I AM WHAT I AM

What an incredible speaker! Loved it so much, hope we can accept people irrespective of whoever they are. ❤

She has the most powerful stance ive ever seen.

‘We are built this way’. Done.

Ok so twin studies are done based on genetic studies while neglecting epigenetics. Technically there is no such thing as an identical set of twins, even if they were monozygotic and monochorionic, are not identical unless their epigenetics are identical as well as their chromosomes and genes. So her argument is based on a flawed platform.

Thank you, Ms. Frizzle! ❤

I was born like this, my twin brother as well. I only can speak for us! But good luck with new researchers in the future.

brb streaming born that way

It is long overdue someone said that. I always thought "born that way" was just a defence against the seduction theory. Understandable but wrong.

I get what she means, but the Born This Way "argument" has FACTUALLY helped and advanced the LGBTQ community, thank you Lady Gaga and thank you everyone who ever advocated and talked about and STOOD for equality!

The whole purpose of the "born this way" argument was to say "I have no choice". She is reinforcing the idea that you have no choice isn't she?

PRECISELY!! THIS is the talk on this topic long overdue...

I know I am born this way...just like you don't know why you like red over yellow, why you like grapes over peaches , why you like cookies over chips *you don't know why you like boys over girls* This is just it. Its just you don't choose what you like. You are like that way.

Cool perspective, I never would have considered the subtle implications that statement makes.

I had this video on my list for quite some time. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be about but I really appreciate the talk and recommend it to everyone. Thank you

I'm not sure I can trust anyone who can get on stage and use twins dna as evidence even though environmental factors change gene expression. She's got a good point about just respecting people but she's not explaining it in an effective or even completely true way.

I think her points would be better made with more numbers. The one number she did give in the beginning about the twins, has a faulty conclusion, if you ask me, when you talk about nurture vs nature. Cause twins both share DNA, and their upbringing. So it seems like you can't juxtapose nurture vs nature in this case.

Well presented and substantive arguments she makes. Not sure if I totally agree, but she make a quite compelling case for her position. Well done.

Actually the "born this way" argument made it easier to accept myself... Now I just don't know...

one of the best ted talks ive seen