A sophisticated study of almost a half million people shows no “gay gene.” But some sexual revolutionaries want to interpret even this as showing how “natural” homosexual behavior is.
We need to draw the correct conclusions from this research. There is a difference between same sex acts, same sex inclinations, and self-identification as “gay.” Same sex attraction is not an intrinsic part of a person’s identity.
Our Senior Research Associate, Fr. Paul Sullins, wrote:
“The study found that genetic propensity for same-sex behaviour is not very different from that of 28 other complex traits or behaviours and is related to a propensity for other risk-taking behaviour such as smoking, drug use, number of sex partners or a general openness to new experience… But the longstanding and emphatic claim of gay activists in law and public policy has not been that same-sex activity reflects upbringing or lifestyle factors, but is an inborn difference that is discovered, not developed; a distinct and fixed element of a person’s nature that is unchangeable.”
US courts have relied heavily on the belief that being “gay” is an unchangeable trait. This allows them to apply anti-discrimination law to sexual behavior. This law was originally developed to combat discrimination based a race, a trait that clearly is unchangeable and unchosen.
Fr. Sullins points out:
“Conflict for tolerance today is not so much for people who want to identify themselves as gay or lesbian, but for people who want, for themselves personally, to avoid or resist such an identification… If gay and lesbian persons are genetically no different from anyone else, what basis is there for considering them a distinct, protected class subject to preferential treatment under the law?”
Those who call themselves “once gay” are proof that same sex behavior is not genetically determined. We are proud to offer books by our friends, Daniel Mattson, author of Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay, and Elizabeth Woning, compiler of the Changed: #OnceGayStories.
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse