"The Truth about Homosexuality" - Session 2 Recap

On Monday October 30th, 2017 we met for our second session to study "The Truth About Homosexuality: A Compassionate Response". This meeting focused on a look into What Science Says About Homosexuality.

The meeting was recorded and the video is available here. A written recap summary of the session is provided below.

Our next meeting will be next Monday, October 30th, 2017 - 6:30 to 8pm in rooms 11-12 of the education building of Mt. Zion UMC. Next week we will continue to see what science says, specifically about What Are Some Causes of Same-Sex Attractions.

Before we dove into the topic at hand I offered 2 comments. First, I shared an article from a great source that responds to the question brought up last week, "What about the idea that Jonathan and David were homosexual lovers?" Second, I reiterated the mission of our study and the ministry as a whole - to equip Christians to defend their faith with gentleness, compassion, and respect. We are not trying to gather ammunition to further hate on a group of people, but rather to be better informed ambassadors as we go to bring good news to a hurting world.

As we look at what science says about homosexuality we specifically focused on 4 popular myths.

(1) Is 10% of the population gay?

Interestingly, a 2015 Gallup poll revealed that most Americans think that 23% of the population is gay or lesbian! But, the idea that 10% of the population is gay has been propagated for well over 40 years an "become a generally accepted 'fact'" (Bruce Voeller, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force).

The origin of this estimate is rooted in research by sex researcher Alfred Kinsley. However, a critical flaw in his research was that his dataset was not representative of the U.S. population; in fact about 25% of his dataset included convicted criminals and sex offenders, hardly representative of the general American populace.

In fact, secular research has shown that about 1.6% to 4.1% of the population identifies as homosexual.

(2) Is homosexuality just as normal as heterosexuality?

It's important to clarify right off the bat homosexuals are normal in the most significant way - they are made in the image of God and have intrinsic worth and dignity, no matter what they say or do. So we are specifically looking at normalcy regarding sexual use of the body and health risks.

Homosexual behavior doesn't entail normal sexual use of the body

Regarding normal sexual use of the body we introduced teleology - how something is designed to operate. We can study something like a speaker to see that it has a magnet, a cone, a box, etc. to understand that it is designed to produce and amplify sound. The cone can be extracted and beat on to still create noise but that may cause damage since that is not what it is designed for.

In that same way, the male and female bodies, by inspection, are designed to function together in a sexual way. Consider their size, shape, nerve endings, type of tissue, etc. As further evidence, when you bring a male and female organs together in a sexual act you have the opportunity to bring about life! In fact, sex organs are the only ones that require a complementary sex organ to achieve its designed function.

In contract men who have sex with men (MSM) involves using the body in ways they are not intended to be used. We looked at two type of epithelial tissues, stratified squamous and simple columnar tissue.  Stratified squamous has multiple layers of flat shaped tissue like scales that is designed to protect the underlying tissue. protection of the underlying tissue; e.g. in the hands and vagina. Simple columnar tissue is made up of one row of column shaped tissue designed to quickly absorb material into the underlying tissue and body, it is not designed for protection. Stratified squamous is found in the skin and in the vagina where tissue can be lost due to friction but still provide protection. Simple columnar tissue is found in the digestive tract and the rectum to aid with absorption. And so anal intercourse will cause damage to the rectum and any STD will be quickly absorbed into the body. This is an example of using the body in ways that are not normal or as intended.

Homosexual behavior doesn't entail normal health risks

Overall, studies show that homosexuals experience astonishingly high health risks compared to heterosexuals. According to a Huffington Post article "Together Alone" (written by a gay man), gay men...

• Have fewer close friends
• Twice as likely to experience major depression
• 3/4 gay men suffer from anxiety, abuse drugs, and have risky sex
• Have higher rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer
• They are between 2 and 10 times more likely to commit suicide
• Netherlands (legal since 2001) – 10 times more likely to commit suicide
• Sweden (civil unions since 1995) – triple the suicide rate

A Canadian study in 2011 found that "gay and bisexual men showed twice the rate of anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and psychotic illness.” and that “lesbians and bisexual women demonstrated a 3-fold increased likelihood of substance use disorders, compared to heterosexual counterparts." It is important to note these findings in places like the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada where same-sex marriage has been legal for many years. That indicates that legal changes have not eliminated mental health challenges.

The risk for HIV in the MSM community is extremely high. CDC official Dr. Amy Lansky reported that,

 "In the United States, gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) get AIDS at a rate more than 50 times greater than women and non-gay and bisexual men.”

For perspective, the CDC says that smoking cigarettes puts you at 15-30x the risk to get lung cancer.  Of the 50,000 new cases of HIV each year, 63% of them come from MSM. That means that approximately 2% of the population is responsible for over half of all new HIV infections. The CDC clearly shows MSM as by far the highest pathway for HIV transmission.

Again, these statistics aren't intended to be used as ammunition but should deeply sadden us and stir compassion for those who have these health risks that are other than normal.

 

(3) Are homosexuals born that way?

The next myth we looked at is the "born this way" claim. Popularly the concept came from work done by Simon Levay and Dean Hamer in the 90s. Other attempted to repeat their studies to corroborate the results but none have done so. In fact all recent studies suggest that people are not born homosexual. So Simon Levay and Dean Hamer later clarified their work to say,

“It’s important to stress what I didn’t find.  I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay.  I didn’t show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work.  Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain…” - Simon Levay

Is homosexuality genetic? “Absolutely not.  From twin studies, we already know that half or more of the variability in sexual orientation is not inherited...” - Dean Hamer

The most decisive evidence that people aren't born gay is, as Dean Hamer alludes to, twin studies.
Identical twins share the same genes and so, if homosexuality is a necessary genetic outworking then there ought to be 100% concordance rate in identical twins for homosexuality - that is, for every gay person with a twin, that twin would also be gay.

But, twin studies have revealed about a 11% concordance rate. Interesting identical twin studies also account for all prenatal conditions as well.

Secular researchers agree that people are not born gay. In fact, the APA has to soften its 1998 statement about homosexuality to say that there is "considerable recent evidence" that homosexuality is inborn to its 2009 statement that "no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors."

But, we also pointed out that even if a "gay gene" is found, it tells us nothing about whether homosexual behavior is good or bad. This would commit the is-ought fallacy that just because something is so it doesn't mean we ought to do it. Science is amoral.

(4) Is homosexuality a choice?

Finally, we looked at the myth that homosexuality is a choice. Often people think there are only 2 choices: people are born gay or else they choose it. But there are far too many testimonies of people who have unwanted same sex attractions to suggest that they chose it.

Next time

So, if people are not born gay and they don't choose it, what causes same-sex attractions? That's where we will pick up next time. Our next meeting will be next Monday, November 6th, 2017 - 6:30 to 8pm in rooms 11-12 of the education building of Mt. Zion UMC. Next week we will look at What Are Some Causes of Same-Sex Attractions. Hope to see you there!