Back when homosexual
behaviour was first recorded amongst humans back in the times of the ancient
Greeks and the ancient Romans it was considered perfectly normal and even
something to be encouraged. Then we experienced the rise of the Abrahamic
religions of Judaism, Christianity and finally Islam. One of the early
followers of these religions wrote in a letter that homosexuality was wrong so
through religious dogma it was decided that homosexuality was a sin.
Over the course of
the next thousand years or so religious leaders persecuted homosexuals as a
result. However eventually some of these religious leaders noticed that no
matter how much they terrified their flocks with tales of the fire and brimstone
that would await these sodomites and despite all the beatings and killings they
ordered as punishment a small minority still insisted in engaging in homosexual
behaviour - almost as if it was something they had no control over. Initially
this was put down to demonic possession but as the field of modern psychology
began to emerge in the 18th Century people began to argue that homosexuality
was a mental disorder.
That school of
thought continued to dominate up until the discovery of DNA in the 1950's. Not
agreeing that they were either sinful or insane homosexuals grabbed hold of the
discovery of DNA as a sort of magic bullet that would justify their lifestyles
as genetically pre-determined. This argument actually gained quite a lot of
traction playing a significant role in the American Psychological Association's
decision in the 1970's to no longer classify homosexuality as a mental
disorder. The problem is that ever since the 1950's a lot of people have been
doing a lot of research to try and find this so-called "Gay gene"
either to prove the theory once and for all or to simply eradicate
homosexuality entirely. More then 50 years later no-one has discovered this gay
gene or any evidence that such a gene even exists.
However the absence
of a gay gene most certainly does not prove that homosexuality is a choice or
something that can be cured. That is because DNA is far from the be all and end
all of human physiological development. An equally important and some would say
more important factor in physiological development is the endocrine system.
As anyone who has
studied high school biology knows the endocrine system works through six types
of glands emitting three types (polypeptide, aromatic organic and steroid) of
hormones that travel in the blood stream to modify or control the function of all the tissues
(organs, bones etc) in the human body. So for example Adiuretin (ADH) regulates
the re-absorption of water in the kidneys controlling the amount of toxins in
the blood stream and urine in the bladder. Similarly Thyroxin controls the
metabolic rate (oxygen absorption, heat generation) and growth of generally all
tissues throughout the body. During pregnancy these hormones can pass through
the placenta from mother to baby and the placenta even becomes an endocrine gland
of its own secreting hormones that stimulate the development of the foetus.
If I had to distill
all this down into an easy to follow metaphor I would say that if DNA are the
blueprints of life and proteins are the building blocks then the endocrine
system is the site foreman in charge of putting it all together. As anyone who has
toured the athletes village at the Sochi Olympics knows if the site foreman is
having a bad day weird stuff starts happening and you end up with fuse boxes in
showers and radiators at ceiling height.
The same thing is
true in the human body so if foetus/child doesn't get enough Human Growth
Hormone (HGH) they will be a dwarf regardless of whether everyone else in their
genetic line is over six foot tall. Similarly if in the 6th week of pregnancy
the right combination of hormones are not sent out to tell the arm buds to grow
you will get a child born without arms. This hormonal pre-determination of
physiological development is also true of the development of the structure of
the brain. As such if the right chemical messengers are not in place when the
part(s) of the brain that control human sexuality are being developed the child
will be born as a homosexual and there is no more they can do to change that then
a deaf person can suddenly choose to hear. Of course as with all organic
processes physiological development contains a range of variation rather then
simple right or wrong answers so it is possible to have varying degrees of
homosexuality in the same way that it is possible to have differing degrees of
congenital deafness.
At this point I feel
the need to stress that within this extremely narrow and reductive discussion I
am only considering homosexuality to be a birth defect because someone who is
sexually attracted to people of the same gender is unlikely to reproduce
without assistance. Reproduction is the be all and end all of the biological
process of reproduction. However it is most certainly not the be all and end
all of the human experience.
Due to the complexity
of human sexuality, the endocrine system and the architecture of the brain it
is almost impossible to predict the set of circumstances that will cause one
child to be born straight and another child to be born gay. To complicate
matters further - as every Olympian and certainly doping control knows - there
are a huge variety of environmental compounds that can mimic or block the effects of hormones inside
the human body. For example I think the starch in white potatoes mimics the
effects of oestrogen but don't quote me on that. As a result the trigger for
homosexuality could be something as random and unpredictable as a woman eating
three potatoes rather then two on the 63rd day of her pregnancy when there was
a slight north-easterly breeze and her neighbours were arguing kicking her
adrenal glands into action for 32 seconds at a quarter past seven in the
evening.
That said there are a
number of man made compounds such as the pesticide DDT, the herbicide Agent
Orange and the drug Thalidomide that effect in utero development by
interfering with the endocrine system in very well understood ways. Also we
are constantly learning more about the way that environmental pollutants such
as degrading plastics interfere with the endocrine system and human
development. One of the main driving forces behind increased environmental
pollution is an increasing population. Homosexuality of course limits
reproduction reducing birth rates and therefore population growth. So in a
strange way homosexuality may actually be God's plan.
19:45 on 6/3/14 (UK date).
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