Is homosexuality a choice or a trait? I think this question is at the core of objections to recent postings here. I have run across a number of studies that have been performed to answer this question. Many of these have been a search for a "gay gene". Dr. Dean Hamer, a leading researcher in this area and the man credited with finding such a gene has also stated that genes are only part of the story. "Homosexuality is not purely genetic...environmental factors play a role. There is not a single master gene that makes people gay....I don't think we will ever be able to predict who will be gay." Dr. George Rice refutes Dr. Hamer's evidence for such a gene in Science magazine. A search of the National Library of Medicine yields a plethora of articles on the topic. I did not go through everyone of these articles. I did read several of them and found nothing that refuted the claim that homosexuality is not strictly genetic. I think much of this is well-summarized by Dr. A. Dean Byrd in a National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality article.
To me it seems less important to determine whether there is gene linkage or not - maybe there is, maybe there is not. What is most important is that these researchers agree that genetics is not the sole cause of homosexuality. Further, they are publishing their findings in Science, Scientific American, Nature and other very well respected scientific journals. If homosexuality is not strictly a genetic trait, then human will is involved. It is a choice. If it is a choice, then it must be possible to change. The Byrd article referenced above quotes some statistics that bear this out. I have not yet had a chance to track down any formal studies done on this. It sounds like the waters have been muddied a bit since the American Psychiatric Association made the decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental diagnosis back in 1973 (in an alleged politically motivated decision). I hope to follow up on this some time.
In the meantime, I think I will take my stand on God's word. Homosexuality is offensive in the eyes of God. Homosexuals as people are the same as the rest of us. We all have sinned. We all fall short of God's measure of righteousness. We are all saved by the grace of God alone. We are all capable of loving one another irrespective of our sin. We are all expected, as Christians, to hold one another accountable for our sins.
10:54:25 PM
"Campaign officials were surprised to learn that two of the three major television networks – ABC, Fox and NBC -- have a general policy of not accepting religious advertising for nationwide broadcast. CBS was the only one that accepted the United Methodist Church's commercials, according to the Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, director of the Igniting Ministry effort and a staff executive at United Methodist Communications ..."CBS network will air church's national TV commercials [United Methodist News Service by Stapler]
10:13:21 PM
