REAL ANSWERS about HOMOSEXUALITY

Myth: Homosexuals are born gay.

Did Stella really get her grove back, or did Terry McMillian marry someone who was destined to be gay? Can someone really be born a homosexual? The controversy over this issue is huge. In 1993, a respected research journal, Science, published a study by molecular biologist Dean Hamer that ignited a “born gay” myth that exploded like an atomic bomb.

Hamer basically claimed that science was “on the verge of proving that homosexuality is innate, genetic and therefore unchangeable — a normal variant of human nature.”

The media went into overdrive. National Public Radio, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and several other news publications and programs heralded headlines and stories that suggested scientists had discovered a “gay gene.” Of course, in the fine print, reporters qualified statements about this possible discovery because, in reality, there was no actual discovery. But they did so in a way that most people didn’t notice the important disclaimer! The public was beginning to be persuaded.

Why is it so important for some homosexual activists to “prove” this issue? Maybe the biggest reason is this: If the world was convinced that some people are indeed born gay, then some would feel there’s a need to protect homosexuals by the government as a designated minority class status, such as blacks or Native Americans.

Slowly but surely, it seems the government is embracing this view and granting special rights to the homosexual community for what is a behaviorally based identity rather than a true genetic one.

The Facts: There is no evidence that a person can be born homosexual. Here’s how Focus on the Family’s Dr. James Dobson addressed this issue:

There is no evidence to indicate that homosexuality is inherited, despite everything you may have heard or read to the contrary. There are no respected geneticists in the world today who claim to have found a so-called “gay gene” or other indicators of genetic transmission.

This is not to say that there may not be some kind of biological predisposition or an inherited temperament that makes one vulnerable to environmental influences. But efforts to identify such factors have been inconclusive. Despite this lack of evidence, the gay and lesbian organizations and their friends in the mainstream media continue to tell the public that the issue is settled — that gays are “born that way.” Time and Newsweek splashed “promising findings” to that effect on their covers. Time titled their story “Search for the Gay Gene,” and Newsweek proclaimed, “Does DNA Make Some Men Gay?”

Over years, Oprah has devoted several slanted television programs to the subject. In fact yesterday, she invited best-selling author Terry McMillan and her gay ex-husband Jonathan to talk about their relationship and his "discovery" of his sexuality.

Jonathan maintains that he wasn't intentionally lying about his sexuality when he was married to Terry, but agrees that he was repressing something. "I identified as heterosexual when I was 20," he says. "I may have thought about [being gay], but I didn't act on it. It was not the right thing to do at the time." He says that in the final two years of his marriage to Terry, he began to have conflicting feelings about his orientation.

Barbara Walters even tackled the subject of "born-gay" saying, “There is a growing body of opinion that says that people are born homosexual.” Even though entirely false, this politically motivated information (or disinformation) has done its work. According to a Harris Poll in February 2000, 35 percent of the people polled believed homosexuality was genetic.

There is further convincing evidence that it is not. For example, since identical twins share the same chromosomal pattern, or DNA, the genetic contributions are exactly the same within each of the pairs. Therefore, if one twin is “born” homosexual, then the other should inevitably have that characteristic, too. That’s not the case. When one twin is homosexual, the probability is only 50 percent that the other will have the same condition. Something else must be operating.

Furthermore, if homosexuality were specifically inherited, it would tend to be eliminated from the human gene pool because those who have it tend not to reproduce. Any characteristic that is not passed along to the next generation eventually dies with the individual who carries it.

Not only does homosexuality continue to exist in nations around the world, it flourishes in some cultures. If the condition resulted from inherited characteristics, it would be a constant across time. Instead, there have been societies through the ages, such as Sodom and Gomorrah and the ancient Greek and Roman empires, where homosexuality reached epidemic proportions.

The historical record tells us that those cultures and many others gradually descended into depravity, as the apostle Paul described in Romans 1, resulting in sexual perversion in all its varieties. That ebbing and flowing with the life cycle of cultures is not the way inherited characteristics are expressed in the human family.

Finally, if homosexuality were genetically transmitted, it would be inevitable, immutable, irresistible and untreatable. Fortunately, it is not. Prevention is effective. Change is possible. Hope is available. And Christ is in the business of healing. Here again, gay and lesbian organizations and the media have convinced the public that being homosexual is as predetermined as one’s race and that nothing can be done about it. That’s simply not true. There are former gay and lesbian individuals who have escaped from the homosexual lifestyle and found wholeness in their newfound heterosexuality.

Why Does the Truth Matter?
Science is fact, not theory, is it not? So when the media grab hold of a theory of genetic links to homosexuality and promote it as science, people are led astray. This isn’t right. Besides, even if a genetic link could be proven, it wouldn’t suddenly make the behavior right — or acceptable to God.

A genetic link to some behaviors doesn’t prove the idea of normalcy or rightness. Look at alcoholism or propensities toward anger. While these have been promoted as having genetic linkage, there are few, if any, in our society who would promote these behaviors as OK just because they’re linked genetically. God’s Word makes no provision for sexual activity except that found within heterosexual marriage.

MORE SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

An Ex-Gay Black Activist Denounces Homosexuality