Gay Sheep Story Exposes Inconsistencies in Gay Community

Update: Sadly this post has gotten the most hits of any post I have ever written. Since most come directly to this post, they will not know I have a retraction of sorts on a different post that can be read here. PETA is the original source of disinformation about this and it made its way into the TimesOnline. The sheep story I retract. The question of what would the reaction be if there was a way to prevent homosexuality stays.

The battle over whether homosexuality is a choice has been raging for some time now. During every single television or radio discourse I have heard, those representing the gay side have boldly made two claims:

1) They did not choose to be gay, they were gay from birth
2) The idea that nobody would choose to be gay as a supporting argument

Some conservatives have speculated a war among liberal groups when they identify the "gay gene" and are able to produce a prenatal test for the gene. The idea is that the gay community would go ballistic if parents had the option to identify if their child was gay and choose to abort it. What fun to see the gay community and abortion advocates go toe to toe.

New research may remove the need for an abortion, but gay advocates are ballistic anyway. According to the Timesonline:

SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans. The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.

It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening” procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova went on to claim that the sheep have a right to be gay and that it was wrong to take that right away from them (major eye roll on my part). Obviously from a livestock point of view, more reproduction means more profit. Livestock returns the investment of feeding and care by providing offspring and meat upon slaughter. To politicize research aimed at increasing livestock offspring is ludicrous.

Of course the real fear is that the same research will next be used in humans to prevent children from being gay. This goes against the two items listed above. First, you would think the gay community would welcome research that would prove that homosexuality is caused by factors other than choice. This research would do just that. Second, since we so often hear the line that being gay would not be the preferred choice; preventing it with some hormone therapy before birth would be fully consistent. If the gay community cannot be consistent with their statements, then perhaps they should stop saying them.

The Christian right community is often accused of fearing science. References to the "earth being flat" are often tossed at them. Now it is the gay community who is fearing science. Will they be called on it by anybody but me?