Did Plato really teach that same-sex relations are unnatural?

Question: Did Plato really teach that same-sex relations are unnatural!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Plato is actually one of the first philosophers to argue that some men are inherently homosexual just as some are inherently heterosexual!. In some of his dialogues he even argues that love between men is better than other kinds, but unlike other Greeks he thought they should be life-long, equal, and even in replacement of a heterosexual one (most Greeks who engaged in homosexual behaviour were also married and just did it on the side)!.

Toward the end of his career, though, he began to see sex as a lower, base need!. An animal lust that is better abandoned if you could!. The part of love he wanted to save occurred on a higher plane and didn't need sex (thus the term 'Platonic love')!. In the Republic, he acknowledged that SOME sex had to occur to produce more people and because some people had trouble abstaining entirely!. Those sexual encounters should not be treated any more meaningful than sating any other base need such as hunger or sleep!.

But unnatural!? I can't imagine!. Most scholars think he was pretty darn homosexual himself!. I've never even heard of him having a wife or heirs!.Www@QuestionHome@Com