In the Swedish study, when sniffing a chemical from testosterone, the male hormone, portions of the brains involved in sexual activity were activated in gay men and straight women, but not in straight men, the researchers found.
Ah, but they’re only choosing to let their brains react to testosterone like women. If they pray to Jesus hard enough, they can overcome their urge to act on their biology. Hey, you inner repressed redneck! Back into the hypothalamus where you belong! Sorry, dear readers, sometimes my inner Cletus gets out onto the keyboard.
OK, it’s great that there’s yet another indicator of a biological basis for homosexuality. I warn my queer friends, though, don’t hang your whole argument for equal rights on the biological issue. What if evidence were to come out showing that gay is primarily a nurture, not a nature issue? I’d hate to see all the eggs in the bio basket if science shows that, hey, you really can change. I don’t think that’s likely, but…
Plus, what happens if they discover the “gay gene” and genetic manipulation advances to the point of flipping that gene to “straight”. Would gay then be a “condition” that can be “cured”, and those that “choose” to remain gay could be justifiably discriminated against. (Wow, my brain just short-circuited with the idea of the marriage of Christian Fundamentalism and advanced science – “The Holy Temple of Genetic Straightification.”)
So, yes, let’s appreciate the advance of science, but let’s also frame the gay rights issue as a MYOFB issue. It’s not whether you’re choosing to be or born gay, it’s a matter of how do we treat people who are identifiably different?
