Genetic Engineering; A Cure for Homosexuality? Would anyone want it? Share your thoughts!
Aug 15th, 2010 | By Kentucky Guardian Contributors & Staff | Category: Kentucky Guardian News, Lead Story, National News
Graphic copied from Kentucky Equality Federation, sponsor of the International Day Against Homophobia in Kentucky.
A prenatal pill for congenital adrenal hyperplasia to prevent ambiguous genitalia may reduce the chance that a female with the disorder will be gay. Critics call it engineering for sexual orientation while others are calling it outright genetic engineering.
Each year in the United States, perhaps a few dozen pregnant women learn they are carrying a fetus at risk for a rare disorder known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The condition causes an accumulation of male hormones and can, in females, lead to genitals so masculinized that it can be difficult at birth to determine the baby’s gender.
A hormonal treatment to prevent ambiguous genitalia can now be offered to women who may be carrying such infants. It’s not without health risks, but to its critics those are of small consequence compared with this notable side effect: The treatment might reduce the likelihood that a female with the condition will be homosexual. Further, it seems to increase the chances that she will have what are considered more feminine behavioral traits.
That such a treatment would ever be considered, even to prevent genital abnormalities, has outraged gay and lesbian groups, troubled some doctors and fueled bioethicists’ debate about the nature of human sexuality.
The treatment is a step toward “engineering in the womb for sexual orientation,” said Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University and an outspoken opponent of the treatment.
The ability to chemically steer a child’s sexual orientation has become increasingly possible in recent years, with evidence building that homosexuality has biological roots and with advances in the treatment of babies in utero. Prenatal treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia is the first to test — unintentionally or not — that potential.
In animal studies, the treatment appears to cause an increased risk of high blood pressure, plus changes in glucose metabolism, brain structure and brain function, leading to memory problems, for example. Long-term studies in humans are lacking.
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
Genetic Engineering
Graphic copied from Kentucky Equality Federation, sponsor of the International Day Against Homophobia in Kentucky.
Being born gay or lesbian is not a sickness or a disease. The United Nations World Health Organization removed it from their list in 1978 thanks to the International Lesbian and Gay Association (“ILGA”) and enormous pressure from medical experts. This resulted in U.S. states as well as the U.S. Center for Disease Control (“CDC”) and other world governments to do the same.
This finding will eventually have profound long-term impacts on the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Some doctors and scientists still believe homosexuality is a sickness despite reports from the American Medical Association and other reputable organizations to the contrary.
- Would you change your sexual orientation with a pill or therapy if you could?
- Would you have wanted your parents to take that action?
United We Stand (old version)
i am happy being gay and I would not change it becuase there is nothing wrong with it. this is dangerous especially since the tests (In animal studies, the treatment appears to cause an increased risk of high blood pressure, plus changes in glucose metabolism, brain structure and brain function, leading to memory problems, for example.)
when will this stop?
Is there a pill yet to cure STUPID people?
Genetic Engineering; A Cure for Homosexuality? Would anyone want ……
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
To be honest, I would want a cure for homosexuality. Unless you are gay, you do not understand the hardships that come from being a sexual minority and even then, unlike other members of the homosexual community, I am more comfortable amongst my heterosexual peers and wish that I could be just like them. I still respect the homosexual community and wish for marriage equality for them, but honestly… if you were about to have a child and you had the option of giving that child a life of privilege or a life as a marginalized minority, why on earth would you deny your child the opportunity to have the privileged life? I seriously would have liked it if I were not born gay and I to be frankly honest, I wish my parents could have prevented my current sexual orientation. Most importantly however, I am greatly disappointed that no one is doing factual research on its causes – all it is is left-wing politics and right-wing politics that leave both proud homosexuals and ashamed homosexuals in the dark… Homosexuality is not a choice, but it SHOULD be and if it ever does become a choice, it should be respected, just like religion.
Homosexuals, and homosexual behavior, will never truly be accepted by the mainstream.
Humans are conformist creatures, and those unfortunates who are unable to conform are made to suffer every bit as much as willful deviants are made to. We like to think how “society is evolving”, but DAMN IT, people… the only thing that has really changed in the last 5000 years is technology; if you think about it, the abolition of slavery and the liberation of women have only occurred because slavery/treating women like chattel became unprofitable due to advances in machine technology (which made slavery inefficient and made it more profitable for the services of women to be employed outside the home.)
People AREN’T getting nicer, or more “tolerant”/accepting of those who are different. Racism, sexism, and any other “ism” you care to think of are strong as ever out there. Politically correct attempts to combat “isms” only throw fuel on the fire (for instance, the word “gay” is now used among the young as a synonym for “bad.” Interesting development considering the veritable Manhattan Project undertaken in recent years by the GBLT community to “educate” this demographic, no? And have you noted how calling someone a “fag” is still “fighting words”? I rest my case here!)
If the technology exists to identify if my future son/daughter is predisposed to homosexuality, AND the means exist to cure it… I would be committing a crime which would, in a way, be worse than kidnapping a child and plucking out his/her eyeball, if I did not take steps to screen for and, if necessary, prevent the development of homosexuality in my son/daughter. After all, society accepts and treats one-eyed people as normal human beings. Society does not, and never will, truly accept homosexuals and they will always face savage bullying, discrimination and harassment as well as personal anguish in all likelihood. To sentence my own kid(s) to such a fate would make me nothing less than evil personified… move over, Darth Vader.
So sorry, GLBT groups. The happiness of my future children is WAY more important to me than your political agendas.
I FULLY SUPPORT GENETIC ENGINEERING TO IDENTIFY/ERADICATE HOMOSEXUALITY!
There is no reason to change a natural, biological part of all species. Do we need to cure people with blue-eyes, black skin, or people whom are left-handed? There is no need to. Unless you can prove homosexuality is wrong (which it isn’t), there would be no reason to. I have yet to see an argument against homosexuality that i couldn’t easily logically refute with facts.
For those of you claiming homosexuality is a “lifestyle”, that is a false and ignorant statement. Homosexuality is not a choice. Just like you don’t choose the color of your skin, you cannot choose whom you are sexually attracted to. If you can, sorry, but you are not heterosexual, you are bi-sexual. Virtually all major psychological and medical experts agree that sexual orientation is NOT a choice. Most gay people will tell you its not a choice. Common sense will tell you its not a choice. While science is relatively new to studying homosexuality, studies tend to indicate that its biological.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/03/differential-brain-activation.pdf
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/dn14146-gay-brains-structured-like-those-of-the-opposite-sex.html
Gay, Straight Men’s Brain Responses Differ
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155990,00.html
http://www.livescience.com/health/060224_gay_genes.html
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w27453600k586276/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/06/16/172/
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that homosexuality is not a choice. Sexual orientation is generally a biological trait that is determined pre-natally, although there is no one certain thing that explains all of the cases. “Nurture” may have some effect, but for the most part it is biological.
And it should also be noted that:
“It is worth noting that many medical and scientific organizations do believe it is impossible to change a person’s sexual orientation and this is displayed in a statement by American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, and National Education Association.”
We need to get the word out to religious communities that anti-gay people are twisting God’s words to condone their hate.
Homosexuality is not a sin. The Bible is constantly being taken out of context to support anti-gay views. Scholars who have studied the Bible in context of the times and in relation to other passages have shown those passages (Leviticus, Corinthians, Romans, etc) have nothing to do with homosexuality. These passages often cherry-picked while ignoring the rest of the Bible. The sins theses passages are referring to are idolatry, Greek temple sex worship, prostitution, pederasty with teen boys, and rape, not homosexuality or two loving consenting adults.
(Change *** to www)
***.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/NotASin.htm
***.jesus21.com/content/sex/bible_homosexuality_print.html
***.christchapel.com/reclaiming.html
***.stjohnsmcc.org/new/BibleAbuse/BiblicalReferences.php
***.gaychristian101.com/
***.mccchurch.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Resources&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2121
***.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/biblical_evidence.html
***.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-gay-christian
***.goodhopemcc.org/spirituality/sexuality-and-bible/homosexuality-not-a-sin-not-a-sickness.html
Homosexuality is not a choice. Just like you don’t choose the color of your skin, you cannot choose whom you are sexually attracted to. If you can, sorry, but you are not heterosexual, you are bi-sexual. Virtually all major psychological and medical experts agree that sexual orientation is NOT a choice. Most gay people will tell you its not a choice. Common sense will tell you its not a choice. While science is relatively new to studying homosexuality, studies tend to indicate that its biological.
(Change *** to www)
***-news.uchicago.edu/releases/03/differential-brain-activation.pdf
***.newscientist.com/channel/sex/dn14146-gay-brains-structured-like-those-of-the-opposite-sex.html
Gay, Straight Men’s Brain Responses Differ
***.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155990,00.html
***.livescience.com/health/060224_gay_genes.html
***.springerlink.com/content/w27453600k586276/
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that homosexuality is not a choice. Sexual orientation is generally a biological trait that is determined pre-natally, although there is no one certain thing that explains all of the cases. “Nurture” may have some effect, but for the most part it is biological.
And it should also be noted that:
“It is worth noting that many medical and scientific organizations do believe it is impossible to change a person’s sexual orientation and this is displayed in a statement by American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, and National Education Association.”