Of Gay Sheep, Science and Peril of Bad Publicity

NYT ^ | 01/25/07 | JOHN SCHWARTZ

[TigerLikesRooster]

Of Gay Sheep, Science and Peril of Bad Publicity

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

Published: January 25, 2007

Charles Roselli set out to discover what makes some sheep gay. Then the news media and the blogosphere got hold of the story.

Dr. Roselli, a researcher at the Oregon Health and Science University, has searched for the past five years for physiological factors that might explain why about 8 percent of rams seek sex exclusively with other rams instead of ewes. The goal, he says, is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of sexual orientation in sheep. Other researchers might some day build on his findings to seek ways to determine which rams are likeliest to breed, he said.

But since last fall, when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals started a campaign against the research, it has drawn a torrent of outrage from animal rights activists, gay advocates and ordinary citizens around the world — all of it based, Dr. Roselli and colleagues say, on a bizarre misinterpretation of what the work is about.

The story of the gay sheep became a textbook example of the distortion and vituperation that can result when science meets the global news cycle.

The news media storm reached its zenith last month, when The Sunday Times in London published an article under the headline “Science Told: Hands Off Gay Sheep.” It asserted, incorrectly, that Dr. Roselli had worked successfully to “cure” homosexual rams with hormone treatments, and added that “critics fear” that the research “could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.”

Martina Navratilova, the tennis star who is both openly gay and a PETA ally, wrote in an open letter that the research “can only be surmised as an attempt to develop a prenatal treatment” for sexual conditions.

[Lady Jag]

I'm not gay, I'm Democrat!

[Rodney Kings Brain]

If gender is a social construction, as the left would have us believe, how is gender socially constructed for sheep? The whole problem with the gay is just a normal life choice is that to survive, organisms must procreate so an attraction to one’s own sex would seem to go against everything we know about an organisms need to survive and perpetuate it’s species whether sheep or human. It seems logical that gayness is a defective state for an organism to be in. More importantly, do gay sheep appreciate Broadway, Sher’s music, and bleat “fabulous” ad nauseam.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

That is absolute nonsense.

[scripter]

I previously wrote: There isn't a single credible scientist that [thinks homosexuality is] genetic.

You responded:

That is absolute nonsense.

There is no evidence to support your statement. Since you apparently believe otherwise then please provide evidence from a credible scientist to support your statement.

The problem is, you can't. Many here have tried only to realize they've bought the lie. Checkout my profile for information on the subject. And checkout the following article:

How Might Homosexuality Develop? Putting the Pieces Together

The good news is the APA Has No Disagreement With the Treatment of Unwanted Homosexual Attraction.

[1rudeboy]

”What’s the fuss all about, Ennis?” “I don’t know, Jack. I just don’t get it.”