A Stitch in Haste

One of my long-standing theses is that, in the "gays versus bigots" culture wars (especially the "gay libertarians versus bigots" culture wars), we will never win the "Is it genetic?" argument, for a very simple reason. To the bigots:

--If it's genetic, then "it's a disease" that should be cured (or alternatively, screened out via prenatal testing).

--If it's not genetic, then "it's a choice," so to hell with us anyway.

With that in mind, try to follow the bouncing ball:

1. University conducts research showing that "gay" rams prefer other rams because of differences in brain structure (i.e., it's genetic).

2. PETA decries experimentation on "gay sheep." Oh, wicked, bad, naughty, evil university!

3. Gay rights activists decry attempts to "cure" gay sheep. Oh, wicked, bad, naughty, evil university!

4. Pro-research group decries opposition to scientific research. Oh, wicked, bad, naughty, evil gay rights activists!

I'm so confused...

Best as I can tell, the weak link in the chain is Assertion #2 (the PETA people):

To put it simply, these experimenters believe that homosexuality is a defect that needs to be fixed, and they're cutting open and killing gay sheep to do it.

I see no evidence of that claim. Yes the university is conducting research into same-sex attraction in lower mammals, but that does not translate into "homosexuality is a defect." I love rams as much as the next guy, and I love gay rams as much as the next gay guy, but I can't, without more, get too indignant about these studies.

Assertion #3 (the gay rights group) piles on with this blockquote from Assertion #2 (the PETA people):

Roselli has made it very clear that he intends to use the findings of his experiments to "cure" humans next.

Yes, I'd get pretty indignant about that too — if there were any evidence of it. PETA provides none. And given that it's PETA, I'm not at all surprised.

So I hope that the proponents of Assertion #4 (the pro-animal-research blog) might consider cutting the proponents of Assertion #3 (the gay rights group) some slack — it's a touchy subject for us gays. And they simply might not have known better than to trust the proponents of Assertion #2 (PETA).

My conclusion: I should not be thinking this hard on a Sunday evening! I so need a boyfriend...