11.2.1.1 Is Homosexuality Natural? IS THERE A GAY GENE?

5. Homosexuality is a natural orientation within some human beings, as it is in the animal creation. To express it is quite natural. It is homosexual rape, prostitution and other aspects of perversion which the Bible condemns, not loving same-sex acts between consenting adults

Fraud In Gay 'Science'

Like the claims for evolution, the claim that homosexuality is a natural, genetically inherited orientation have become so widespread, and are so aggressively promoted by the gay community, that many come to believe that this is actually the case. We have shown earlier that according to Rom. 1, homosexual orientation is given by God to those who come to desire this way of life as a result of abandoning God's standards. It is widely known that all studies claiming to link homosexuality to genetic causes cannot be replicated, and have been subject to much scientific criticism. The two most well known studies, by LeVay and Hamer, have been criticized in many respected journals. Horgan (op cit) summarizes the criticisms in an article in Scientific American (Nov. 1995): " LeVay's finding has yet to be fully replicated by another researcher. As for Hamer, one study has contradicted his results. More disturbingly, he has been charged with research improprieties and is now under investigation by the Federal Office of Research Integrity...in recent years, researchers and the media have proclaimed the " discovery" of genes linked to...homosexuality. None of the claims...have been confirmed" . Hamer's study is also seriously questioned by Eliot Marshall ⁽³⁹⁾. A common claim is that when homosexuals are treated with estrogen, homosexual drive decreases, and from this the conclusion is drawn that therefore homosexuality is hormonally determined from birth. And yet estrogen treatment reduces heterosexual drive also; " hormone experiments have not turned out to affect sexual orientation" (Greg Bahnsen, op cit. p. 75). It has been found that experience can alter the organization of our brains, and therefore any research on brain structure is no proof that this is how we are born ⁽⁴⁰⁾.

The stance that 'science proves that some people are born gay' chooses to willfully ignore scientific evidence to the contrary. Thus there are studies which conclude that: " In every case I have examined, studied, or treated, homosexuality was the consequence of serious disturbance during childhood development" ⁽⁴¹⁾. Whether this is the case or not, the fact is that there are various theories concerning the origin of homosexuality, each with their 'evidence', and to pick one of them (i.e. that some people are 'born gay') is to disregard all the others. The honest researcher has to admit that the scientific evidence is so contradictory that we cannot firmly come down in support of one particular explanation. And yet the justification of gay 'Christians' vitally depends on the idea that they are born like it, and therefore God does not hold it against them. Therefore they cannot impartially analyze the scientific 'evidence'. The amount of fraud in gay 'research' has been widely reported ⁽⁴²⁾. Gay 'Christians' will seize on any possible 'evidence' to support their 'born gay' position, with even more conviction than the actual researchers. Thus Simon leVay, one of the leading researchers in the 'gay chromosome' field, admits that the differences he observed between the brain structure of homosexual and straight men were " somewhat subjective" and needed replication, and that in any case his finding contained " no direct evidence" that the observed difference caused homosexuality ⁽⁴³⁾. And yet LeVay's work is widely referred to by gay 'Christians' as proof of the 'born gay' theory. Even John Hopkins psychologist John Money, dean of American sexologists, admits: " Of course [sexual orientation] is in the brain. The real question is, When did it get there? Was it prenatal...during childhood, puberty? That we do not know" ⁽⁴⁴⁾.

William Byrne, resident of Psychiatry at Columbia University, concludes: " If you look at any one piece of that [born gay] evidence, it is inconclusive. It's like trying to add up a hundred zeroes as you can get one" (Quoted in Joe Dallas, op cit.).

Even if science claims to conclusively prove that some people are 'born gay', this does not mean that homosexuality is therefore acceptable for the believer. It would be the same as if science one day 'proves' there is no God, or that the Genesis record of creation is untrue. Either we accept the God of the Bible, or we accept science as God. There is no compromise between these two positions. The 'gay gene' theory is similar to similar attempts to explain other forms of human sin- from violence to unfaithfulness. The problem with such genetic theories is that they amount to a secular version of the 'original sin' dogma- we are sinners just because we inherited 'something' from Adam. The Bible is clear that God holds us responsible for how we act; and that we have freedom to rise above our own instincts and desires. To deny this seems to me to be a denial of the entire transforming purpose of God's spirit and the Christian life.

Does Homosexuality Occur Among Animals?

" Homosexual behaviour occurs in domesticated animals because man upsets the balance of nature. Cows will cease to mount cows as soon as a bull is allowed to run among them. And dogs mount dogs simply because we deprive them of unspayed bitches. No animal, domesticated or wild, practices penetrative homosexual activity. This is an exclusively human perversion" ⁽⁴⁵⁾.

" The immature monkey may pass through a period when he is overtly homosexual, but this period is terminated at sexual maturity by an abrupt turning to heterosexual ways. Thus non-penetrative homosexual activity in primates is a manifestation of immaturity and should not be regarded as justification for the penetrative sexual practices of adult human homosexuals" ⁽⁴⁶⁾. Thus some immature animals attempt sexual activity with almost anything, even non-animate objects, and therefore the fact they attempt to mount animals of the same sex at this stage is no proof that they are constitutionally homosexual.

" Homosexual behaviour in the animal kingdom occurs...under conditions of unavailability of other-sex sexual partners, or under such stressors as crowding" ⁽⁴⁷⁾. " No mammal in its natural state seeks and prefers same-sex sexual gratification. This is found uniquely among human homosexuals" . Much analysis of animal homosexuality " rests on faulty observations...on confusions with heterosexual mating rituals and attempts to identify a sexual partner" . Genes have a much smaller effect on human behaviour than they do on animals, and therefore conclusions drawn from genetic experiments on animals cannot therefore be extrapolated to explain human behaviour. (Bahnsen, op cit) pp. 75,76.

There is no evidence of exclusively homosexual behaviour among animals, i.e. they are not born constitutionally homosexual. In any case, animals are not morally responsible; they behave instinctively, whereas humans choose their behaviour. It is impossible to reliably extrapolate from animals to humans regarding sexuality.

Notes

(39) Eliot Marshall, Gay Gene Study Questioned, Science, 30 June 1995 (Vol. 268) p. 1841.

(40) Joe Dallas, Born Gay? Christianity Today, Vol. 36 No. 7 (1992) p.22.

(41) I. Bieber, A Discussion Of Homosexuality, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 44 (1976) p. 163.

(42) E.g. Judith Reisman and Edward Eichel, Kinsey, Sex and Fraud: The Indoctrination Of A People (Huntington House, 1990). Robert Knight, Faulty Research In The Homosexual Debate (Washington D.C.: Family Research Council, 1993).

(43) Marcia Baringa, Is Homosexuality Biological? Science, Vol. 253 (1991) p. 956.

(44) David Gelman et al, Born Or Bred? , Newsweek, Feb. 24 1992 p. 48.

(45) A.W. Fowler and J. W. Shepherd, Gay Animals, Hospital Doctor, May 7 1987.

(46) A.W.Fowler, Homosexuality, British Medical Journal, Vol. 297 p. 554 (1988).

(47) P. Tyler, Homosexual Behaviour In Animals in K. Howells, ed. The Psychology Of Sexual Diversity (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984).