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The myth that
people are "born gay" is primarily based on two widely reported
scientific studies:
1) The study
of slight differences in the hypothalamus region of the brain of
homosexuals as discovered by Dr. Simon LeVay at the Salk Institute in
San Diego, California.
2) The study
of identical twins done by Dr. J. Michael Bailey from the Department of
Psychology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and Dr.
Richard C. Pillard of the Family Studies Laboratory, Division of
Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine.
In Part 1 we
discussed Dr. LeVay’s study. We now proceed to the Identical Twins
study.
II. Bailey and
Pillard’s Study on Identical Twins
The second
scientific study that the media uses to propagate the myth that
homosexuality is genetically determined is the prevalence of
homosexuality among twin and adopted brothers by Bailey and Pillard.
Bailey and Pillard recruited the subjects for their study through
homosexual publications which cater exclusively to the homosexual
population. Thus, their study did not represent a randomized, non-biased
selection.1
They found
that of the homosexual brothers that responded 52% of identical twins,
22% of fraternal twins, 11% of adoptive brothers were homosexual, and 9%
of non-twin brothers were homosexual.
Bailey and
Pillard theorized that the reason there was such a high percentage of
homosexuality among identical twins was because of their identical
genetic make-up.
Problem:
Half of the identical twins were not homosexual; rather, they were
extremely heterosexual. How could this be if they shared the same genes?
Cohen noted:
As identical twins have
identical genetic make-up, it is much easier to interpret the findings
as supporting the nurture rather than the nature theory. If a
homosexual orientation is genetic, then 100% of all identical twin
brothers should have been homosexual, but only half were. Therefore,
it is easy to conclude that environmental factors, not genes, cause
homosexuality.2
Dr. Simon
LeVay admitted that neither Bailey and Pillard’s study on identical
twins nor his brain research has proven that homosexuality is
genetically determined:
At the moment it’s still a
very big mystery. Not even my work nor any other work that’s been done
so far really totally clarifies the situation of what makes people gay
or straight.... In fact, the twin studies, for example, suggest that
it’s not totally inborn because even identical twins are not always of
the same sexual orientation.3
Pillard’s
Biased Agenda
Dr. Pillard is
himself a homosexual. He admits that his agenda is to promote the notion
that homosexuality is in-born and therefore a natural sexual behavior.
III. Leading
Scientific Researchers Conclude Homosexuality Is Not Biologically or
Genetically Based
Masters and
Johnson stated: "The genetic theory of homosexuality has been generally
discarded today... no serious scientist suggests that a simple
cause-effect relationship applies."4
Dr. John
Money, leading sex researcher at Johns Hopkins University, reported:
No chromosomal differences
have been found between homosexual subjects and heterosexual controls.
[and later] On the basis of present knowledge, there is no basis on
which to justify an hypothesis that homosexuals or bisexuals of any
degree or type are chromosomally discrepant [different] from
heterosexuals.5
He also
stated: "The child’s psychosexual identity is not written, unlearned, in
the genetic code, the hormonal system or the nervous system at birth."6
Even John
DeCecco, the editor of the Journal of Homosexuality, said: "The
idea that people are born into one type of sexual behavior is foolish."7
No less than
Alfred Kinsey himself believed that homosexuality was not biologically
or genetically based. Rather, he admitted: "I have myself come to the
conclusion that homosexuality is largely a matter of conditioning."8
Dr. van den
Aardweg stated: "No genetic factor—sexual or otherwise—has been found
that would differentiate persons with homosexual tendencies from
others."9
In the same
issue of Archives of General Psychiatry that the Bailey/Pillard
piece on the lesbian twins appeared, two well-credentialed researchers
at New York State Psychiatric Institute, said: "There is no evidence at
present to substantiate a biologic theory of sexual orientation."10
IV. If People
are Born Homosexuals, Then Why Do Studies Show They Switch From
Homosexual to Heterosexual to Homosexual Orientation?
In their 1970
report the Kinsey Institute stated that 84% of gays shifted or changed
their sexual orientation at least once. 32% of the gays reported a third
shift, and 13% of gays reported at least five changes.11
If sexual
orientation is biologically fixed at birth as gays say, why do 84% of
them change their sexual orientation at least once? In 1981 Bell,
Weinberg and Hammersmith reported similar findings to those of Kinsey:
Further, 84%
of the homosexuals vs. 29% of the heterosexuals reported a shift in
their sexual feelings or orientation after their first appraisal (1981b,
p. 91); 60% of the homosexuals vs. 10% of the heterosexuals reported a
second sexual orientation shift (1981b, p. 92); 32% of the homosexuals
vs. 4% of the heterosexuals reported a third sexual orientation shift
(1981b, p. 93); and 14% of the homosexuals vs. 1% of the heterosexuals
reported yet another sexual orientation shift (1981b, p. 95). These data
may suggest that prehomosexuals were considerably more apt to be
sexually confused in their feelings than preheterosexuals were.12
(To be
continued)
Notes:
1 See "Twins Born Gay?,"
Family Research Report, January-February 1992 and other materials
from the Family Research Institute.
2 In Richard A. Cohen,
Perpetuating Homosexual Myths (Seattle, WA: Public Education
Committee, 1992 rev.), pp. 18-19.
3 Dr. Simon LeVay, taped
Interview for "The John Ankerberg Show."
4 William Masters, V. E.
Johnson, R. C. Kolodny, Human Sexuality (Boston: Little, Brown
and Company, 1984), pp. 319-320.
5 In Judd Manner, ed.,
Homosexual Behavior: A Modern Reappraisal (New York: Basic Books,
1980), pp. 9,66.
6 John Money,
Perspectives in Human Sexuality (New York: Behavioral
Publications, 1974), p. 67.
7 John DeCecco, ed.,
Journal of Homosexuality, quoted in USA Today, 1 March 1989, p.
4d.
8 Cited by W. B. Pomeroy,
Dr. Kinsey and the Institute for Sex Research (New York: Harper
& Row, 1972), p. 147.
9 van den Aardweg, pp.
30-31.
10 William Byne, M.D.,
Ph.D., and Bruce Parsons, M.D., Ph.D., Archives of General
Psychiatry, March 1993.
11 See "Born That ‘Way,"
Family Research Report Special Report 1991.
12 A. P. Bell, M. S.
Weinberg, and S. K. Hammersmith, Sexual Preference Statistical
Appendix (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1981), p.
261.
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