The Gay Gene: What does it matter?

Homosexuality has been viewed as "abnormal" for centuries. Although it is more accepted today than ever, it is still not "normal" to many people. Religious moralists think homosexuality is a sin, the willful choice of evil. Strict behaviourists think it is a mental disorder resulting from ineffective parenting. Others just think it's wrong.

Simon LeVay, a neuroanatomist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, examined the brains of 41 people-including 19 homosexual men who had died of AIDS- related illnesses-and discovered a genetic difference between gay and straight men. Since his research was made public, most people have come to believe that homosexuality is genetic.

Levay discovered that the area of the brain believed to be responsible for sexual activity was less than half the size in gay men than in heterosexual men. (One question, does that mean that a lesbian's brain is the same size as a straight guy's?). This was the first direct evidence of a correlation between sexual orientation and brain structure. Although I think homosexuality is genetic, it doesn't matter to me. It's not going to change my opinion of myself. I'm okay with who I am. The only way the discovery of a gay gene would be important to me is if it puts an end to homophobia.

The search for the gay gene is itself homophobic. Instead of just accepting the fact that some people are straight and some people are lesbian, gay, or bisexual, people are searching for a cause-as if homosexuality is a disease. Nobody's looking for the heterosexual gene. Nobody's trying to find a genetic cause for left-handedness, which could even be less prevalent than homosexuality and therefore even more "abnormal." My mom is left-handed. Maybe her parents did something wrong. Maybe she's got a disease. But people don't really think of being left-handed in that way. It's not a big deal because left-handedness, like heterosexuality, is considered natural. That's bullshit, considering sexuality and left-handedness are probably both genetic (i.e., natural). Homosexuality isn't considered natural. That's why a cause is being searched for.

Confirmation of a genetic cause for homosexuality won't change people's attitudes toward gay people. It won't make homophobia go away. The fact that we can't help being gay is supposed to make people go, "Well, if they can't help it then it's okay." Why do we have to prove that our same-sex attraction is not something we can control? The implication is that if homosexuality were controllable, it would or should be controlled. If that's not homophobia, I don't know what is.

Still, I can see how it might be tempting for people-straight or gay-to embrace the idea. If a gay gene is discovered, then we can claim it's like being left-handed. We'd be acting as nature intended and could then expect equal treatment. The gay gene might mean an end to all of the standard arguments used to block our legal rights and may be enough to persuade legislators that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is unconstitutional. Parents might not be afraid if their kids have a gay teacher, and adoption agencies might be less reluctant to let gay couples adopt kids. They wouldn't be worried that the kids are going to grow up gay because homosexuality is not contagious.

But would that really fix anything? People might be forced to tolerate us, but it wouldn't make them accept us. What makes us think that given how cruel and punitive so many have been towards us that the gay gene won't be seen as pathological? To a lot of people we'd still be mutants, just not social mutants any more. We'd be genetic mutants. We'd be able to claim that homosexuality is no different than skin colour or left-handedness, but our opponents could claim that instead of a natural gene, it is a genetic defect. That doesn't do much for gay and lesbian liberation, does it?

These question of cause should be irrelevant. If more people believed that homosexuality is as natural and normal as heterosexuality, no one would want or need to search for a cause.

The root of homophobia is sex. Sex. Sex. Sex. A huge issue for a lot of people. Most of the big social debates have to do with sex. Prostitution, pornography, lap dancing, nudity. Most people agree with the current regulation of such aspects of our sexuality, but others disagree. Sex is controversial territory. It fascinates us. I'm sure the first thing people think of when I say I'm gay is "Hey. She sleeps with girls!"

When I say I'm gay, I'm not just talking about who I sleep with. It's not what I do, it's who I am. It's so much more than sex. Even outside the bedroom my identity as a lesbian colours every aspect of my life. If people weren't so concerned about sex (especially homosexual sex), we wouldn't be hunting for the gay gene.

The key to ending homophobia is making people understand and accept that sex is only one aspect of being gay or lesbian. When we talk about straight relationships, the conversation is not centered around sex. We talk about marriage, love, and how Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Heterosexuality is socially organized as natural and normal. Gays and lesbians are social outcasts.

The heterosexual hegemony that dominates our society marginalizes same-sex relationships. Because of this hegemony, we've been fired, beaten, spit at, called names, threatened and made to feel ashamed of who we are. We've all been oppressed in one way or another and often without legal protection or recourse.

Our relationships are different from but equivalent to their heterosexual counterparts. Love is just as important. So is marriage. People need to realize this. Therefore, it is important for us to come out and defend our identity. It is important that we challenge the heterosexual hegemony. But need to go beyond simply proclaiming our identity and creating our own community. We need to directly challenge sexual regulation in our society and shatter the rigid sex and gender rules that bind us all.

Mainstream media usually reproduce the heterosexual norm by excluding gay and lesbian characters and issues. However, considerable media attention has been devoted to gay and lesbian themes in the last few years. Two American primetime television shows, Roseanne and Friends, feature homosexual characters. A group of Canadian artists known collectively as "Kiss and Tell" have produced two very important books (Drawing the Line and Her Tongue on My Theory ) that explore lesbian sexuality truthfully and without reservation. Canadian documentary filmmaker, David Adkin, has produced a film called Jim Loves Jack: The James Egan Story which celebrates the 45 year marriage and landmark constitutional rights struggle of Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit. (Jim Loves Jack will be shown on "The Knowledge Network" on March 7 at 10 p.m.).

It is not only important for us to see ourselves represented accurately by mainstream media. It is also important for heterosexuals to see accurate portrayals as well. This sort of positive media attention normalizes gay and lesbian relationships because they are dealt with honestly, openly and without prejudice. Such treatment includes and affirms our identities and paves the way for acceptance, not just tolerance. Media efforts like this are important because they normalize same-sex relationships, and if people see homosexuality as normal, the won't need to search for a gay gene, or any other cause for homosexuality.

Still, scientists continue to hunt for a cause for homosexuality, as if being gay is something bad or defective. People are all too willing to accept this. Maybe it's because it reaffirms their own heterosexual lifestyles. If gay is bad then heterosexuality is good. If heterosexuality is the norm then anything different is "abnormal." If something is abnormal then there must be a reason.

It doesn't surprise me that when I first talked to my mom and dad about being gay, the first question they asked was "why?" After listening in shocked shocked silence for nearly an hour, my dad cleared his throat and asked "Why do you think you're gay? What do you think caused it?"

I had just spend an hour basically telling them how happy I was, and they wanted to know why-as if I couldn't possibly be happy this way. As if there were something wrong with me. I stared at them in disbelief. "What?" I asked, "nothing caused it!" and continued to talk happily about my life, hoping they'd realize it doesn't matter.

Gays and lesbians are still fighting the heterosexual hegemony, both within our own families and in society at large. The fact that people think it's necessary to find the cause of homosexuality is evidence of this fight. We don't need to find the cause of homosexuality. Being gay or lesbian is not something that has to be justified. We need to get more support based simply on open-minded acceptance of individual differences, regardless of whether it is a difference by choice or by physiology. The end to homophobia will not come through science.

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