Does a 'Gay Gene' Exist?

"Wonderful Husband. Loving Father. Former Homosexual. Jesus Christ Changes Lives."

So read the billboards sponsored by Stephen Bennett, the head of a Christian family advocacy group based in Huntingdon, Connecticut. The ad, part of a nationwide campaign last year opposed to same-sex marriage, features a large photo of Bennett with his lovely wife and two children.

Some advertising companies refused to accept Bennett's ads because of their "controversial content." Wherever the ads were posted, gay rights activists rose up in anger to protest the very idea that homosexuals can change, or even should want to.
But Bennett is one of thousands of practicing homosexuals who has reversed his sexual orientation and found fulfillment in heterosexual marriage. His message is simple: Unhappy gays do have hope, because real change is possible.

Why do the radical gay activists resent Bennett's message? Because it clearly refutes the urban myth they have so carefully crafted: the lie that about 10 percent of the population is "born gay" and simply can't help it.

Many today are being taught to believe that homosexuality is a genetic condition, like skin or eye color. This deception has been nurtured over the years by the pro-homosexual major media. But like other urban myths, this is a lie. (To learn more about how this myth got started, go to:

http://www.narth.com/docs/istheregene.html.)

Supporters of this "born gay" thesis frequently refer to a series of scientific studies in the 1990s, particularly one by a homosexual activist researcher named Dr. Dean Hamer of the National Cancer Institute, a study that supposedly identified an "X chromosome" possibly linked to homosexuality. Published in the journal Science back in July of 1993, that report said merely that researchers were studying the linkage between certain genes and homosexual behavior.

National Public Radio quickly trumpeted the news, followed by the Wall Street Journal and other major newspapers. Next, Newsweek emblazoned "Gay Gene?" across its cover. The average layperson reading these reports clearly got the message that science had discovered a gene that causes or determines homosexual behavior.

But that is not what the research actually revealed, as even Dr. Hamer himself admitted. Establishing a possible linkage does not prove causality, as all real scientists know.

In its Fact Sheet on Sexual Orientation (published in 2000), the American Psychiatric Association contradicts the "born gay" claim. "There are no replicated scientific studies supporting any specific biological etiology for homosexuality," the APA said. So much for the pseudo-science of the New Gay '90s.

Until 1973, the APA classified homosexuality as a deviant mental disorder. But that year, the same year that abortion was legalized, the APA revised its DSSM manual.

Then, in an ironic twist of fate, Dr. Robert Spitzer, the very same doctor who got the APA to change its stance on homosexuality in 1973, came back in 2003 and changed his own mind. Why did this formerly zealous pro-homosexual reformer have a change of heart? Because – although he described himself as "initially skeptical" – he personally interviewed more than 200 former homosexuals who had become heterosexual through what he called "reparative therapy"!

To his credit, Dr. Spitzer dared to tell the truth about his findings, despite the rabid rantings of the radical gay activists who foresaw the dire implications of this revelation. Dr. Spitzer's report, entitled "200 Participants Reporting a Change from Homosexual to Heterosexual Orientation," was published in the October 2003 edition of the prominent journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

"Almost all of the participants reported substantive changes to the core aspects of sexual orientation, not merely overt behaviour," Dr. Spitzer wrote. In other words, they didn't just change their homosexual actions, but their unnatural attractions as well!

What's more, they were better off mentally for doing so. "For the participants in our study, there was no evidence of harm," he added. Dr. Spitzer described these 200 conversion decisions as a "rational, self-directed goal" that was achieved. Not a single one committed suicide through guilt-induced self-loathing.

"Mental health professionals should stop moving in the direction of banning therapy that has as its goal a change in sexual orientation," Dr. Spitzer concluded. "Many patients can make a rational choice toward developing their heterosexual potential and minimizing their homosexual attractions."

Coming from the man who was responsible for redefining homosexual deviancy as "normal" more than three decades ago, that's quite a turnaround.

Conservatives need to stand up and hold homosexuals accountable to the facts. They will have to acknowledge that their lifestyles are personal choices, before anyone else should be expected to grant them the legitimacy they seek.

The "gay gene" doesn't exist. Whether it's through "reparative therapy" or through a higher power, the fact remains: Homosexuals CAN change ... if they want to.

For more information please visit http://www.sbministries.org/
Nathan Tabor
Saturday, March 5, 2005
Copyright © 2005 by Nathan Tabor

Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based in Kernersville, North Carolina. He has his BA in Psychology and his Master's Degree in Public Policy. He is a contributing editor at www.theconservativevoice.com. Contact him at Nathan@nathantabor.com.