Nobody Born Gay

                The battle for the souls of men and women continues.  The LGBT movement claims that gay people are “born that way” in order to press their same-sex marriage agenda.  Society has been flooded with these claims even though the gay movement is a very, very small percentage of Americans.  Now information is coming to the forefront stating that gay historians do not believe anyone is “born that way.”

                Freelance writer David Benkof  claims that gay historians say no one is “born that way,” meaning nobody is born gay.  “Virtually no serious person disputes that in our society, people generally experience their gay or straight orientations as unchosen and unchangeable.  But the LGBT community goes further, portraying itself as a naturally arising subset of every human population, with homosexuality being etched into some people’s DNA. 

                “Are gays indeed born that way?  The question has immense political, social, and cultural repercussions.  For example, some of the debate applying the Constitution’s equal protection clause to gays and lesbians focuses on whether gayness is an inborn characteristic.  And the major argument gays and lesbians have made for religious affirmation has been, `God made me this way.’

                “Thus, if its proven sexual orientations are not innate, much of the scaffolding upon which today’s LGBT movement has been built would begin to crumble.  Given the stakes, most gays and lesbians are dismissive or hostile toward anyone who doesn’t think being gay is an essential, natural characteristic of some members of the human race.

                “But a surprising group of people doesn’t think that – namely, scholars of gay history and anthropology.  They’re almost all LGBT themselves, and they have decisively shown that gayness is a product of Western society originating about 150 years ago.

                “Using documents and field studies, these intrepid social scientists have examined the evidence of homosexuality in other times and cultures to see how the gay minority fared. But they’ve come up empty.  Sure, there’s substantial evidence of both discreet and open same-sex love and sex in pre-modern times.  But no society before the 19^th century had a gay minority or even discernibly gay-oriented individuals.  (There weren’t straight people, either.  Only our society believes people are oriented in just one direction, as gay history pioneer Jonathan Ned Katz, formerly of Yale, explained in his book The Invention of Heterosexuality).

                “According to the experts on homosexuality across centuries and continents, being gay is a relatively recent social construction.  Few scholars with advanced degrees in anthropology or history who concentrate on homosexuality believe gays have existed in any cultures before or outside ours, much less in all cultures.  These professors work closely with an every-growing body of knowledge that directly contradicts `born that way’ ideology….”

                I do not claim to know what causes homosexuality in some people; in fact, I am somewhat confused about its causes.  I thought the problem was caused by the home environment until I heard that children of some of my dearest friends gay.  In fact, my own great-niece claimed she was gay and began a family with another woman.  A few years later, I learned that she was leaving her gay partner and marrying a man; I believe they have two children together.  Was she gay to begin with or not?  If she was gay, what caused her to become heterosexual?  Her genes surely did not change!

                I do not believe that anyone is born gay.  I believe that we lived with our Heavenly Father.  I believe that He has a plan by which all of His spirit children can achieve happiness.  I believe that part of that plan is marriage between one man and one woman and biological children.  Just as something can happen to prevent a man or a woman from having children, I suppose that something can happen to make someone to prefer a same-sex partner. 

                I do not believe God causes anyone to become gay.  I do believe that some children and youth can hear so much talk about same-sex attraction that they develop an unnatural interest in it.  I believe that some children and youth experience neglect, abuse, etc. that could warp their thinking.  I believe that proper parental examples and proper behavior from other adult mentors could go a long way toward helping our children and youth develop natural interest in the opposite sex.  I am grateful that scholars and historians are coming forth with information about the gay movement throughout history.