Homosexuality: Legally Permissible or Spiritually Misguided?1
Homosexuality: Legally Permissible or Spiritually Misguided?1 Homosexuality: Legally Permissible or Spiritually Misguided?1
Lockard, Homosexualitygay men are born that way . . . nor did I locate a gay center inthe brain.Although, LeVay himself has made public statements that gay men are not“born that way”, proponents of homosexuality continue to spread erroneousinformation to the uninformed populous.3.4.2. Bailey and Pillard: study of identical twinsThe second scientific study to determine a genetic basis for homosexualitywas undertaken in December 1991 by John Bailey and Richard Pillard. Theyreported that it was more likely for both identical twins to be homosexual thanit was for fraternal twins or both adopted brothers. Bailey and Pillard reportedthat 52 percent of identical twins were homosexual; 22 percent of fraternaltwins were both homosexual, and 11 percent of the adoptive brothers wereboth homosexual.It is now clear, however, that there were scientific problems with each of thesereports, which seriously undermined the validity of their study. Bailey’s(Bailey et al. 1994) follow-up study in the Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology suggests that the genetic influence may be dramatically less thanhis earlier studies indicated. Since then, it is well known in the behaviouralscience community that Bailey’s statistical methods have been refuted (Jones1999:53). 43.4.3. Dean Hamer’s study of chromosomesThe third and perhaps the most widely publicised research suggested a geneticlink to homosexual behaviour. In 1993, Dean Hamer and his colleagues at theUSA National Institute of Health studied forty pairs of homosexual brothersand concluded that some cases of homosexuality could be linked to a specificregion on the human X chromosome (xq28) inherited from the mother to herhomosexual son.This study, however, has come under heavy criticism both inside and outsidethe behavioural sciences. The office of Research Integrity of the Department4 For further study of Bailey and Pillard's (1991) research, see General Psychiatry 48:1089.150
Lockard, Homosexualityof Health and Human Services, USA, investigated Hamer for alleged fraud inthis study (eventually he was cleared of the charges). Significantly, the studycould never be reproduced. Although Hamer, as a behavioural scientist, waswell aware that you cannot verify the validity of research without innumerablesuch correlations.Two subsequent studies (Hamer et al. 1995; Bailey et al. 1999) of otherhomosexual brothers have concluded that there is no evidence that male sexualorientation is influenced by an X-linked gene (Austraico 2003). In July 1993,the Science research journal was quick to publish the study by Hamer whichposited that there might be a gene for homosexuality.Unfortunately, what was not disseminated and understood by the nonscientificcommunity was the fact that Hamer and his research team performeda common type of behavioural genetics investigation called a “linkage study”.This is a limited model of research whereby researchers identify a behaviouraltrait that appears to be prevalent in a family and then proceed with thefollowing:• They look for a chromosomal variant in the genetic material of thefamily.• They determine whether that variant is more frequent in familymembers who share the particular trait. 5Importantly, despite intensive scientific and medical research, there is nosound evidence that people are born homosexual. Rather, studies indicate thatbehaviour is acquired and not instinctive.3.4.4. The genetics of behaviourIt is erroneous to conclude that the correlation of a genetic structure with abehavioural trait implies that the trait is “genetic” or inherited. Hamer and hiscolleagues failed to relay to the non-scientific community that there cannot bea human trait without innumerable such correlations (NARTH 2004).5 For a complete study of Hamer’s research, see “Science 261” July 16, 1993:321.151
- Page 1 and 2: Homosexuality: Legally Permissible
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- Page 7 and 8: Lockard, Homosexuality“married”
- Page 9 and 10: Lockard, HomosexualityHowever, Vale
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Lockard, <strong>Homosexuality</strong>gay men are b<strong>or</strong>n that way . . . n<strong>or</strong> did I locate a gay center inthe brain.Although, LeVay himself has made public statements that gay men are not“b<strong>or</strong>n that way”, proponents of homosexuality continue to spread erroneousinf<strong>or</strong>mation to the uninf<strong>or</strong>med populous.3.4.2. Bailey and Pillard: study of identical twinsThe second scientific study to determine a genetic basis f<strong>or</strong> homosexualitywas undertaken in December 1991 by John Bailey and Richard Pillard. Theyrep<strong>or</strong>ted that it was m<strong>or</strong>e likely f<strong>or</strong> both identical twins to be homosexual thanit was f<strong>or</strong> fraternal twins <strong>or</strong> both adopted brothers. Bailey and Pillard rep<strong>or</strong>tedthat 52 percent of identical twins were homosexual; 22 percent of fraternaltwins were both homosexual, and 11 percent of the adoptive brothers wereboth homosexual.It is now clear, however, that there were scientific problems with each of theserep<strong>or</strong>ts, which seriously undermined the validity of their study. Bailey’s(Bailey et al. 1994) follow-up study in the Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology suggests that the genetic influence may be dramatically less thanhis earlier studies indicated. Since then, it is well known in the behaviouralscience community that Bailey’s statistical methods have been refuted (Jones1999:53). 43.4.3. Dean Hamer’s study of chromosomesThe third and perhaps the most widely publicised research suggested a geneticlink to homosexual behaviour. In 1993, Dean Hamer and his colleagues at theUSA National Institute of Health studied f<strong>or</strong>ty pairs of homosexual brothersand concluded that some cases of homosexuality could be linked to a specificregion on the human X chromosome (xq28) inherited from the mother to herhomosexual son.This study, however, has come under heavy criticism both inside and outsidethe behavioural sciences. The office of Research Integrity of the Department4 F<strong>or</strong> further study of Bailey and Pillard's (1991) research, see General Psychiatry 48:1089.150
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