Posted on 04/20/2015 5:01:58 PM PDT by xzins
“I don’t believe that your sexual preferences are a choice for a vast and enormous majority of the people. The bottom line is I believe that sexual preference is something people are born with.” ~ Sen. Marco Rubio, April 19, 2015
Marco Rubio has become the latest GOP presidential candidate to stumble badly over the issue of homosexuality. Sen. Rand Paul hurt himself by saying that gay “marriage” is okay, as long as it’s a matter of private contract, a view which will satisfy no one.
Dr. Ben Carson hurt himself by asserting that people do change their sexual orientation (correctly using prison as an example) and then retreating under fire and promising never to talk about homosexuality again.
Sen. Rubio is now the victim of a self-inflicted wound, by saying something that is politically correct but scientifically, medically and genetically wrong. Our public policy on homosexuality should be based on the best in scientific research, and Sen. Rubio’s position isn’t.
As I have written before, it’s time to send the “born that way” myth to the graveyard of misbegotten ideas, buried in the plot next to the myth that the sun revolves around the earth.
Psychiatrists William Byne and Bruce Parsons wrote in Archives of General Psychiatry (March 1993) that, “Critical review shows the evidence favoring a biologic theory to be lacking … In fact, the current trend may be to underrate the explanatory power of extant psychosocial models.” In other words, nurture plays a greater role in sexual preference than homosexual activists want you to believe.
As Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council points out, rigorous studies of identical twins have now made it impossible to argue seriously for the theory of genetic determination. If homosexuality were fixed at birth, as the misguided thinking of homosexual activists goes, then if one twin is homosexual, the other should be as well. The “concordance rate” should be 100%.
But it’s not. One early proponent of the “born that way” thesis, Michael Bailey, conducted a study on a large sample of Australian twins and discovered to his chagrin that the concordance rate was just 11%.
Peter Bearman and Hannah Bruckner, researchers from Columbia and Yale respectively, looked at data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and found concordance rates of just 6.7% for male and 5.3% for female identical twins.
They determined that social environment was of far greater significance, and their research led them to reject “genetic influence independent of social context” as an explanation for homosexuality. They concluded, “..[O]ur results support the hypothesis that less gendered socialization in early childhood and preadolescence shapes subsequent same-sex romantic preferences.” In other words, post-birth experiences shape sexual orientation, not genes.
Bearman’s and Bruckner’s research is born out by no less than eight major studies of identical twins in the U.S., Scandinavia and Australia over the last two decades. They all arrive at the same conclusion: gays aren’t born that way.
As Sprigg observes, “If it was not clear in the 1990’s, it certainly is now -- no one is ‘born gay.’”
Strikingly, honest homosexuals agree. In an astonishing column published in the winger-left publication, “The Atlantic,” openly “queer woman” (her words) Lindsay Miller says flatly, “In direct opposition to both the mainstream gay movement and Lady Gaga, I would like to state for the record that I was not born this way.”
Tellingly, she argues that saying people are “born this way” is a form of condescension, and she resents it mightily. “I get frustrated with the veiled condescension of straight people who believe that queers ‘can’t help it,’ and thus should be treated with tolerance and pity.”
Ms. Miller concludes her piece by saying, “The life I have now is not something I ended up with because I had no other options. Make no mistake -- it’s a life I chose.”
The implications, of course, of this simple truth are far-reaching. If homosexual behavior is a choice, then our public policy can freely be shaped by an honest look at whether this behavioral choice is healthy and should be encouraged or unhealthy and dangerous and consequently discouraged.
The elevated health risks associated with homosexuality are by now so well established that not even homosexuals pretend otherwise. The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association warns that active homosexuals are at elevated risks of HIV/AIDS, substance and alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety, hepatitis, a whole range of STDs such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, pubic lice, Human Papilloma Virus, and anal papilloma, and prostate, testicular and colon cancer.
Bottom line: this is not behavior that any rational society should condone, endorse, subsidize, reward, promote or sanction in domestic policy or in the marketplace. It’s a choice, and a bad one at that. It’s long past time for our culture - and our presidential candidates - to say a simple and direct “No” to homosexuality and the homosexual agenda.
Social conservatives need and deserve a candidate who will base his social policy agenda on genetics, science, biology, the best in health research, and on biblical morality. Sen. Rubio has failed that test.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
Your problem is that you didn't read very well. In an above post, I suggested that the trait is heritable via messenger RNA; i.e., that it is an epigenetic consequence of an environmental input. That does not mean that it is either beneficial or to be tolerated.
We are not like animals. Humans possess the knowledge to project responses to inputs into the future, to build into a society a form of feed-forward stability. Your predilections are destructive to that stability and foster the almighty state.
We are all unique and made in God’s image. Fingerprints are an example of the effects of the environment on 2 identical DNA patterns. Although the environment is exact, our uniqueness expresses itself in many different ways.
http://multiples.about.com/cs/funfacts/a/twinfingerprint.htm
As I have said, it appears that homosexual traits are heritable but not genetic. They fade out if a society is disciplined. The Torah teaches that it takes three to four generations. Remember: it was written by herders who breed sheep. Gay sheep are eaten as soon as they are discovered before they can do any more damage.
“The only logical thing to conclude is homosexuals are naturally attracted to people of their own sex. Hormonal abnormality is the only thing that sounds semi-logical to me.”
“Only”????!!!
How about PREDATORY MOLESTATION?!?!?
How many studies would you like me to cite?
I didn't write that, driftless2 did.
And then you've got to answer the question as to why the molester had homosexual inclinations. At some point some person, who had never been molested as a child, started molesting children of his or her sex. Where did that come from?
YOU are the one who made the “only logical” constraint, not me.
Some people have a deep urge to start fires and burn down buildings. We punish people for that whether it's natural or not. Same with homosexuality. They can try to not act on those urges, but those urges are natural.
The course of action to take is to try to discover for sure what causes homosexuality. I believe it's abnormal hormones in the womb. If we can correct that, we can prevent many people from living sexually dysfunctional lives.
Sexualized as a child, close to it. Yes, sexual abuse of children is a lot worse than we think it is, especially by mass media.
Which is why Federalism is the answer. Let them burn down buildings in San Francisco. The insurance companies will love it when they can raise the rate base.
I never said it was beneficial or to be tolerated. I merely stated that the idea of normal people choosing homosexuality is not a viable theory. I view it, homosexuality, as an extreme mental disorder. I’d seriously like to see a cure for homosexuality.
That's fair enough, but I think that it should be tolerated in jurisdictions where people choose to tolerate it and not tolerated in places where people choose not to tolerate it. Then we all get to watch what happens and the lesson will be learned without Fed.gov getting into the act. It is the enforced uniformity of despotism falsely portrayed, educated, and enforced as benevolent that I fear the most.
Oh, yes, I understand.
I just wanted you to see my response.
What we know about homosexuality is that it leads to early death, debilitating defect, psychological devastation, and deadly disease. Those are not debatable. They are fact.
Nor is homosexuality natural. Since all sexuality is about procreation of the species, then homosexuality creates nothing.
So, what the 'genetic' special pleading has to do is come up with one reason why a deadly, unnatural BEHAVIOR could be inherent in a species. It certainly isn't explained by evolutionary principles and the survival of the fittest. And nature's God has amply demonstrated that it is unnatural.
So, WHY would such a genetic characteristic be carried forward? It doesn't enhance the species in any way. At best, it would be viewed as a defect. AND, there are no studies clearly demonstrating that this horrible defect is carried forward. Which is what one would expect.
It’s natural in the sense that it’s not from someone consciously choosing. They act on impulses. It’s not normal, but it is natural.
It is not natural to act on impulse. Impulsively jumping in some direction can, for example, take you over a balcony or into onrushing traffic.
I could make a case for acting on impulse being the opposite of natural.
Thank you for your comments and links.
I’m not sure I understand you here. Your use of the word heritable causes me to thing hereditary, but then you state not genetic. I don’t understand how that can coincide.
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