Speaking of Homosexuality

Right-Wing Religious Wackos (RWRWs), taking their cue from an ancient book of superstitious nonsense, believe that homosexuality is a sin and that homosexuals for some reason choose this life of sin and with proper guidance can change their misguided ways. This is of course utter nonsense. If that were the case, at some point in our young lives each of us would be called upon to make that choice. Having only my own experience to draw from, I can only relate that I personally never had the feeling that I had a choice. There are homosexual men who have tried hard throughout their lives to be heterosexual. They have married, had children, and only after many unhappy years of struggling to lead the straight life they eventually give in to their instincts and embrace their true sexuality. Many such men, some well respected community leaders, even gay-bashing, evangelical preachers, have made national headlines lately when their true orientation was revealed.

Orientation is the right word, not choice. I can't imagine, given a choice, that anyone would deliberately choose homosexuality in today's world and subject themselves to such a potentially stressful way of life. The same can be said of other sexual variants, such as pedophilia. This is not to imply that homosexuality and pedophilia are equivalent, since the sexual molestation of children is a crime of exploitation, and its victims are subject to great emotional and physical harm. The point is that both are sexual orientations, not choices.

Why each of us is born with a particular sexual orientation, medical science has not determined. Some still think homosexuality is an illness, a result of some childhood trauma, especially sexual abuse. That too has been discarded for lack of evidence.

Evolution is a blind watchmaker, according to a book of the same name by Richard Dawkins. Survival of any species requires that many variations arise in individuals. Some of those variants are adaptive, some are maladaptive, some are neutral. Since no homosexual genes have been discovered, homosexuality is apparently not genetically determined and therefore not inheritable. If it were, since homosexuals would be less likely to pass the trait on to offspring, the trait would eventually disappear. But since it is not hereditary, it is most likely a neutral variation, although one that occurs with great regularity. The neurological basis for homosexuality and other sexual variations is still a mystery.