Homosexuality is “less fixed” than many people may think, a prominent gay commentator at The Times has said.
Matthew Parris also dismissed the suggestion that there are two types of men – one heterosexual and the other homosexual.
And while Mr Parris insisted that he does not think “everyone is alterable” he said that “male sexual orientation is less fixed than we suppose”.
Promoted
He said: “It may alter. We gays fought that idiotic ‘section 28’ on dishonest grounds. Homosexuality can, as the statute implied, be ‘promoted’.
“So can heterosexuality. It always has been, with much success.”
Writing in The Times he added: “Before the late Victorians and for almost all recorded history, humanity described male same-sex attraction as a kind of habit, a diversion to which any man might be prone and into which any might be led — something men do as opposed to something men are.
Prone
“Some were known to be more prone to this habit than others, but the elevation of a habit to the status of an identity, ‘gay’ or ‘straight’, would have struck our ancestors as weird. It is weird. It flies in the face of the evidence staring us in the face.”
He added: “I hate talking about my own sexual behaviour and my experience is hardly extensive, but I’ll say only this.
Straight
“Without ever seeking the type out, I’ve slept with as many men who considered themselves basically straight, lived basically straight lives and in some cases (I think) really were basically straight, as with men who were self-identifying gays.”
Mr Parris’ comments follow a number of high profile stories in the media concerning sexual orientation.
Marriage
The comments come as the Westminster Government holds a consultation on its plans to rewrite the definition of marriage.
Opponents of same-sex marriage have warned that redefining marriage will affect what is taught in schools.