Born Gay Theory Essay, Research Paper

If a young boy has a feminine throw he may be homosexual. Also if he has a soft or high voice this would be another detection that one would be homosexual. There have been many conclusions and statements as to what causes homosexuality. These are the traits that normally are classed with someone who is homosexual. The popular argument in today’s society is that homosexuality is something that is inborn, genetically linked to an enlarged gland in the brain or due to a particular chromosome. This would prove that it is natural, and that it is luck of the draw whether one is homosexual. There have been many studies done to prove this theory, but due to a lack of evidence it has remained just that, a theory. Homosexuality, contrary to popular beliefs, is not inborn and has yet to be proven.

Dr. Simon LeVay, a neuroscientist at the Salk institute of Biological Studies in San Diego, conducted a series of autopsies in order to seek out the reason for sexual orientation. In 1991, he conducted autopsies on forty-one people in search of an answer (Winslow 2). Among these cadavers, nineteen were allegedly homosexual men, sixteen allegedly heterosexual and six allegedly heterosexual women. His study was primarily centered towards a group of neurons in the hypothalamus structure. This structure is called the interstitial nuclei of the anterior hypothalamus, or otherwise known as the INAH3 (Dallas 111). His reports showed that he found a portion of the brain that he believed regulated to sexual behavior in men. The gland he discovered was “twice as large in men assumed to be homosexuals as it was in those who were homosexual”(Winslow 2).

In the same year that Dr. LeVay performed his research, there was a pair of researchers out for the same answer to homosexuality, that it is inborn. Dr. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwesten University and psychiatrist Dr. Richard Pillard of Boston University School of Medicine experimented with twins comparing fraternal twins to identical twins. Within each set of twins, one was homosexual. The doctors were out to prove that if one twin was homosexual there was a pretty good chance that the other was too. This would prove homosexuality to be true because if the chemical make-up of one were so similar to the other then they would both be gay (Newman 2)

Pillard and Bailey’s study showed that the identical twins had a much greater chance of both being gay then the fraternal twins did. “They found that, among identical twins, 52 percent were both homosexual, as opposed to the fraternal twins, among whom only 22 percent shared a homosexual orientation”(Dallas 114). Because the study was done with twins, Pillard and Bailey concluded “higher incidence of shared homosexuality among identical twins meant that homosexuality was genetic in origin”(Dallas 114)

In 1993, Dean Hamer of the National Cancer institute and his co-workers performed further studies towards the genetics of homosexuality. They studied thirty-two pairs of non-identical homosexual brothers. No two pairs were related. “… Hamer and his colleagues found that two- thirds of them (twenty-two of the sets of brothers) shared the same type of genetic material.”(Newman1). Researchers in the past have claimed that the “homosexual” gene was past down maternally. Because of this, Hamer looked closely at the region of the X chromosomes in which most of the brothers shared. “Hamer concluded that the region in question, known as the Xq28, might carry a kind of gene associated with homosexuality”(Watson 2).

Although all of the research is reportedly conclusive and is sometimes quoted as factual, they do not prove that homosexuality is genetic. For this reason, all three have flaws and holes in the research. Dr. William Byne of Columbian University calls inborn evidence “‘inconclusive’, and compares it with ‘trying to add a hundred zeros so you can get one.’”(Dallas 117).

Dr. LeVay’s research was not uniformly consistent and allowed his studies to be inconclusive. His research seems to claim that all of the homosexual subjects had smaller INAH3s than the heterosexual subject. In actuality “… three of the homosexual subjects had larger INAH3s that the heterosexuals. Additionally, three of the heterosexual subjects had smaller INAH3s than the average homosexual”(Dallas 112). In response to these reported inconsistencies, Dr. John Ankerberg of the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute notes, “17 percent of his total study group- contradicted his own theory”(Dallas 112)

It is also unclear whether or not brain structure even affects behavior or vise versa. Dr. Kenneth Klivington, also of the SALK Institute acknowledges, “… neurons can change response to experience. You could also postulate … that the brain change occurs throughout life, as a consequence to experience”. Dr. Lewis Baxter of UCLA concludes that behavior therapy can produce changes in brain circuitry. This backs up the idea that behavior can be the reason for change in brain structure (Dallas 112).

George Ebers of the University of Western Ontario later, with similar investigations, contradicted Hamer’s research. He examined fifty-two pairs of homosexual brothers and found, “no evidence for a linkage of homosexuality to markers on the X chromosome or elsewhere” (Dallas 116) Ebers also studied four hundred families, with one or more homosexual males, in regard to Hamer’s theory of mother-to-son transmission. In response he states, “no evidence for the X-link… posited by Hamer” (Dallas 117)

Again, like LeVay’s work, there are also flaws in the research of Pillard and Bailey. One problem with the experiment is that all the twins were raised in the same household. This runs into the problem of environment. If all the twins were raised in the same household, they live with the same experiences, same parents, and same day-to-day affairs. Joe Dallas, the author of A Strong Delusion, claims that, “If the twins were raised in separate homes, it would be easier to say that genes played a role in sexual development. But since they were raised together, it would make it impossible to know the role the environment played and if genes played any role at all” (114-5).

About a year after the above research, the British Journal of Psychiatry conducted a similar experiment. They found that only twenty percent of their twins, both fraternal and identical, had a homosexual sibling (Dallas 115). Dallas quotes the journal saying, “genetic factors are insufficient explanation of the development of sexual orientation” (115).

While willing to consider the possibility of inborn homosexuality, Professor John D’Emilo of the University of North Carolina comments that, “there is too much else we haven’t explored”(Dallas 117). There has not been any proof of a direct cause to homosexuality and why it occurs. Gay activists have taken the false studies and preached that they hold truth and that the way they are is “OK” and that God made them homosexual. We must be educated in this topic in order to approach it as a good Christian.

The Catholic Church teaches that people with homosexual tendencies should be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. All discrimination, ridicule and judgment should be avoided at all costs. Because homosexuality is contrary to natural law and closes the door of reproduction, homosexuals are called to a vow of chastity. (Catechism 562)

Homosexuality is contrary to natural law and enables procreation. In Leviticus, the bible says, “Do not lie with man as one lies with woman. That is detestable”(195) The Bible even goes into what is going to happen if your are homosexual. In 1 Corinthians 6:9 it states, “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders will inherit the kingdom of God”(Bible 2069) Clearly God does not look upon homosexual lightly. In actuality, God does not take any sin lightly. Not just homosexual sin but all sin is detestable to God. The verse that is normally ignored in 1 Corinthians when referring to homosexuality is that “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”(Bible 2069). There are too many holes in the idea that homosexuality is something that one is born with. If someday science proves that homosexuality is something that one is born with, than I believe that that person can be born again.

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