So the question is not if but when we can alter sexual preference/inclination

[AngryAmish]

I'm paraphrasing but according to Dr. Featherstone, a neuroscientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago (they guy who turned fruit flies from strait to gay and back) it is just a matter of time when sexual identity is alterable.

Some quotes
"The fact is, ‘gay genes’ have been known to exist for a long time, in flies and other animals, including humans. Genetic links to all sorts of human traits have been identified.

A widely used, extremely useful database of human traits with a genetic basis is Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), which can be accessed here. This database has entries for devastating neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, but also things like pathological gambling, attention deficit disorder, eye color, arm folding preference, and homosexuality. Some of these conditions are things we obviously want to ‘cure’. Others are not. Regardless, information on all of them is accumulating to the point where drug treatment approaches could be designed.
As for our ability to switch homosexual behavior on and off in flies, a Harvard study this past summer showed that it could also be done in mice (interestingly, it, like our study, also involved changing the ability to sense pheromones).

So the question is not if we will understand the biological basis of homosexuality enough to alter it, but when. And what people will choose to do with the knowledge. If there is a demand, I guarantee some pharmaceutical company will make the stuff. Or will the government outlaw treatments for behaviors that are obviously no threat to the individual or society? Would this imply that the government officially thinks that homosexuality is no one’s business but one’s own?"
<http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/round-2-turning-heterosexuality-on-and-off/>

I'm a straight guy. The thought that this could change with taking a pill is a little disconcerting. It strikes at one's core self -- and has interesting implications about free will. Do we choose to do many things or does our biology decree many things?

Biological science and knowledge of the human genome have come very far in a short period of time. This knowledge will increase. We are finding out that many things that are scary to contemplate. Do we try to increase our knowledge or reamin ignorent because of the fearful implications.

[zalinda]

1. I seriously doubt that it could be turned on and off

in humans. Animals give off pheromones that correspond to their specific species, which is why there isn't much cross breeding. So with an animal, you would be able to turn on and off a response to the pheromone. Humans don't respond to each other in the same way, so it would be much more difficult.

zalinda

[robcon]

2. OP conclusion is incorrect, IMO.

We've known, for example, the genes that allow starfish to regrow 'limbs' for a while. Yet no one is claiming humans will be able to regrow limbs, or that we will do it in the foreseeable future.

I wouldn't extrapolate from chimps to humans, much less from flies to humans.