Some More Thoughts On Homosexuality

Although I'm not going to resurrect my post on gay marriage I do have some more to say about homosexuality.

Thank you Skye for your recent comment on my original gay marriage post; it got me thinking about this again. You can read Skye's comment here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=16918635&postID=8589953684021295446

You raise an important point that I didn't really address, Skye. Alfred Kinsey, entomologist, zoologist, and the pioneer of sex research said:

"Males do not represent two discrete populations, heterosexual and homosexual. The world is not to be divided into sheep and goats. Not all things are black nor all things white. It is a fundamental of taxonomy that nature rarely deals with discrete categories. Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning human sexual behavior, the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex" (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948, p.639).

I believe that Kinsey was right on the mark. Sexuality exists on a continuum and the people that are closer to the center of that continuum may have more choices in their attraction than those of us that are on one end or the other. I completely agree with you that we can only respect people's choices, and it's pointless to try to second guess their experience.

I agree that the main point of the discussion shouldn't be "which one" is the cause of homosexuality. The real discussion in my mind is the discriminatory treatment of any group that's different from the majority. A better discussion could also be focused on how we view human sexuality in general, looking at it cross-culturally, and understanding that many of the taboos and hang-ups around it are unnecessary, and founded on the particular view of our culture. I would rather discuss ways to honor human sexuality instead of the dichotomous way in which we view it in American culture as either a careless pleasure, or puritanically restricted.

Unfortunately the "which one" question is an important part of the discussion because of the prevalent ignorance based on dogmatic beliefs that focus on showing that homosexuals are sinful and should make a different choice in their preferences. It is my opinion that if the majority of Americans were well educated in science in general, and in the research at hand about homosexuality, the controversy would cease to exist. There have been many other controversial issues where scientific evidence eventually overwhelmed the dogma and as a result mainstream opinion adjusted.

I think that the pursuit of knowledge in this area is very important and that sharing it with others is even more important. I do believe that there is a biological basis for sexual preferences. I'm not saying there aren't any environmental factors at all, just that there is no evidence to support a hypothesis based solely on environmental factors. There is evidence to support biological hypotheses and I believe that we dispel some of the misconceptions of homosexuality by understanding those factors.

Much of the research into the causes of sexual preferences points to exposure levels of androgens in the prenatal state. These hormonal levels may predict a person's position on the sexual continuum. This article in Slate discusses the implications of being able to manipulate those hormone levels, and how homosexuality could possibly be screened out of existence: http://www.slate.com/id/2193841/. The article also references nascent research into the structure of the homosexual brain that shows that a male homosexual's brain is structured more like a heterosexual woman's and vice-versa. You can read more about that here: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/17/science/sci-gaybrain17.

This is one of the most fascinating inquiries of our age, going to the very core of the human experience. I don't know that it will be completely settled in my lifetime, and I hope that we don't get to a place where people would prenatally screen their offspring for homosexuality. I do hope that the research at least creates enough ambiguity surrounding the issue to convince people to reserve judgment and respect people's sexual preferences as long as they don't involve predation.