The Gay Science

Wingnuts talk about science and teh gay:

Funny thing is that in the natural sciences there has long been a theory that the gay was caused by something in the endochrin [sic] system during fetal development. Environmentalists have long claimed that certain pollutants mimic estrogen and that increased levels of these estrogen mimickers has led---among other things--- to an increase in homosexual behavior in animals.

I kid you not. See for instance Our Stolen Future, which is forwarded by none other than Al Gore. Of course, in that book they make a strong case for homosexuality in animals being caused by human pollution and then, as if on cue, exempt the human race from their findings.

Well, there's a whole lot more talk about how chemicals affect the "endochrin" [is the author of the post kind of old?] system to alter fertility amongst all sorts of species and hence affect the vitality of ecosystems. There have also been studies looking into human diet and chemical exposure on all sorts of physiological measures. Being a conservative website, they'll want to bring up gay seagulls. Something discussed in a book published 10 years ago to which Al Gore wrote the forward without mentioning homosexuality in any way.

Homosexuality is really problematic in Darwinian terms. Evolutionary principles are stacked against homosexuality being a genetic predisposition. It doesn't exclude the possibility altogether, but it seems less likely than other explanations.

Like sociobiological explanations...homosexuals share genes with their kin and can contribute to their joint survival without reproducing, thereby strengthening genetic inheritance rather than weakening it...oh well, never mind.

And so gay activists are not trying to support alternative scientific research to disprove the endochrin [sic] theory, they, in fact, are supporting no scientific research. In this case, they oppose any advancement of knowedge because scientific discovery stands in the way of their agenda.

Meanwhile conservative christians are all for cutting edge science! And as if to want to prove that two wrongs don't make a right, he links to PETA:

This entire discussion was prompted by reader Dave checking out a PETA website. I don't know if he found his way there searching for lesbian sheep porn or not.

Openly gay tennis icon Martina Navratilova is condemning hormone-altering experiments on “gay sheep” at Oregon State University (OSU) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) that seek to manipulate sheep’s sexual preferences and make them heterosexual. The tests are funded by taxpayers through the year 2008. ...
OHSU experimenter Charles Roselli is drugging pregnant sheep to prevent the actions of hormones in their fetuses’ brains and cutting open the brains of rams he calls “male-oriented” (homosexual) in an attempt to find the hormonal mechanisms behind homosexual tendencies so that they can subsequently be changed.

Well, it'll be hard to subsequently change 'em once their brains are cut open...never mind.

I know Chuck and he definitely has works with the gayest of gay sheep, but he's definitely aware of what the implications of his research might be. The idea behind it is to investigate mechanisms of neuroendocrine development relating to all sorts of sexual differentiation and behavior; including homosexual behavior. Here's his grant abstract. If his animal model turns out to be similar to human behavior, it doesn't mean that homosexuality can be "cured" like the wingnuts would like. Quite on the contrary, it quite likely will suggest that no intervention should be attempted to alter sexual preference. If human behavior turns out to have nothing to do with the developmental neuroendocrine mechanisms in sheep, well, then farmers will better understand sheep and maybe know why some of them are the way they are.

Dissed wingnuts and PETA all in one post!