Now this one is a real problem for all you folks out there trying to claim that homosexuality itself is a sin, for the simple reason that science is now starting to prove pretty conclusively that homosexuality is not “chosen” at all, which means – if homosexuality is indeed a sin – that God is both flawed (having created homosexuality not only in humans, but in over 1500 other species of animals as well; cited by Bagemihl in 1999, Roughgarden in 2004, and  Sommer & Vasey in 2006) and that He is also evil – as He is in effect punishing those same non-sinning “sinners” for eternity for simply living out the inclinations that HE gave them in the first place!

 

Indeed, the scientific studies that follow have shown what most humans already intuit: namely, that homosexuality is primarily an inclination granted at birth (or at the very least during very early childhood) and thus is not a voluntary choice one can make during adulthood…

Please consider:

 

*A 1991 study by Dr. Simon LeVay found that a specific region of the hypothalamus is twice as large in heterosexual men as it is in women or gay men. This strongly points the role of biology in sexual orientation …

 

*Another 1991 study by scientists Richard Pillard and John M. Baily studied homosexuality among brothers and found that 53 percent of identical twins were both gay.  In adoptive brothers, 11 percent were both homosexual.  Of non-twin biological siblings, only 9 percent were gay. Again, this points to solid evidence that homosexuality is indeed much more a matter of nature than nurture …

 

*In 1993, the National Institute of Health’s Dean Hamer illustrated that homosexuality might be inherited from the mother by her sons through a specific region of the X chromosome (Xq28). Hamer demonstrated this by noting that 33 out of 40 pairs of homosexual brothers whom he studied showed the same variation in the tip of said chromosome …

 

*In 2003, University of Texas psychoacoustics specialist Dennis McFadden found that when measuring the way the brain reacts to sound, lesbians fell in between heterosexual men and straight women, suggesting they might be exposed to higher than normal levels of male hormones while in utero …

 

*In 2003, University of Liverpool biologist John T. Manning found that the lesbians he studied have a hand pattern that resembles a man’s more than a straight female’s. Manning concluded from his study that this “strongly tells us that female homosexuals have had higher levels of exposure to testosterone before birth” …

 

*In 2005, Dr. Brian Mustanski of the University of Illinois at Chicago published a study in the esteemed biomedical journal Human Genetics, noting that he had identified three chromosomal regions linked to sexual orientation in men: 7q36, 8p12 and 10q26 …

 

*A study released in May 2006 by Swedish scientists demonstrated that biology plays a key role in determining a person’s sexuality. The research showed that the portion of the brain that helps regulate sexuality (the hypothalamus) reacted exactly the same way in straight women and gay men when exposed to male pheromones, which are chemicals designed to provoke a behavior, such as sexual arousal. The same area of the brain only became stimulated in heterosexual men when introduced to female pheromones …
*A June 2006 Canadian study, published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” said that nature – instead of nurture – explains the origins of homosexuality. The study’s author, Prof. Anthony F. Bogaert (at Brock University in Ontario), explored the causes behind what is known as the fraternal birth order.  The research showed a correlation between the number of biological older brothers a man has and his sexual orientation. Dividing his sample of more than 900 heterosexual and homosexual men into four groups, Bogaert examined the impact of all types of older brothers, including step and adopted siblings, and the amount of time brothers spent together while growing up.  His research found that only the number of biological brothers had an impact on sexuality, regardless of whether the boys were raised together …

 

*A 2008 Swedish study of twins (published in The Archives of Sexual Behavior) concluded that “[h]omosexual behaviour is largely shaped by both genetics and random environmental factors.”  Dr. Qazi Rahman, study co-author and a leading scientist on human sexual orientation, said: “This study puts cold water on any concerns that we are looking for a single ‘gay gene’ or a single environmental variable which could be used to ‘select out’ homosexuality … And that we are not simply talking about homosexuality here – heterosexual behaviour is also influenced by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors” …

 

*A 2012 study in The Archives of Sexual Behavior noted that sexual orientation in men is essentially fixed by the time they reach puberty, and – even though women do show greater levels of “erotic plasticity” (meaning their levels of attraction are more significantly shaped by culture, experience and love than is the case for men), that even women who switch from gay to straight lifestyles don’t stop being sexually attracted to other women …

 

*The American Psychological Association (APA) states that sexual orientation “ranges along a continuum,” and acknowledges that despite much research into the possible genetic, hormonal, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, scientists have yet to pinpoint the precise causes of sexual orientation.  Regardless, the APA maintains that “most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation.”  Indeed, in 1994, the APA noted that “homosexuality is not a matter of individual choice”, and that research “suggests that the homosexual orientation is in place very early in the life cycle, possibly even before birth” …

 

*The American Academy of Pediatrics stated in 1993 (and then affirmed in 2004) that “homosexuality has existed in most societies for as long as recorded descriptions of sexual beliefs and practices have been available”, and that even at that time, “most scholars in the field believe that one’s sexual orientation is not a choice … that individuals do not choose to be either homosexual or heterosexual”.

 

 

*And finally, not only have studies conclusively shown that “Gay Conversion Therapy” is ineffective, but the American Psychological Association now says such treatments are actually harmful, and often worsen feelings of low self-esteem & self-hatred.  This would explain why the APA does not consider homosexuality a mental disorder, and why it also does not recommend “curing” same-sex attraction in any situation – noting as early as 1977 that trying to do so entrenches societal ignorance, intensifies bigotry, escalates pressures to conform, elevates stress, causes depression, spurs feelings of anxiety and increases the prevalence of suicidal tendencies in the LGBT’s who undergo the same.  On top of that, a 2009 APA task force, after reviewing multiple conversion therapy studies from 1960 to 2007, found that such therapies were essentially unsuccessful and, in many cases, acutely detrimental to the health of those involved.

 

[Please NOTE that the only scientific study that showed conversion therapy to “work” was one conducted by Robert Spitzer in 2003; a study that Mr. Spitzer himself later debunked in 2012,  after succumbing to a prevalence of accurate criticisms from his scientific colleagues.]

P.S. Even if you ignore the science (which you probably will), you will find rock solid evidence for the fact that homosexuality is a genetic inclination by answering the following, very simple & quite straight-forward question: If being gay is a choice, WHEN DID YOU CHOOSE TO BE STRAIGHT?

Filed under: Burnishing Bigotry by Scaughdt