Answering the Tough Questions About Homosexuality - Part I

The Triumph of St. Augustine

Coello, Claudio

(Spanish, 1642-1693)

Museo del Prado, Madrid

I have been receiving queries from readers about homosexuality. I wish to adress some of these concerns in this series on homosexuality.

Q. Are some people born with same-sex attraction?

A. No. Numerous researchers have tried to find a genetic cause for same-sex attraction (SSA) without success. The media have promoted the idea that a "gay gene" has already been discovered (Burr 1996), but in spite of several attempts, none of the much publicized studies (Hamer 1993; LeVay 1991) has been scientifically replicated. (Gadd 1998) A number of authors have carefully reviewed these studies and found that not only do the studies not prove a genetic basis for same-sex attraction; the reports do not even contain such claims. (Byne 1963; Crewdson 1995; Goldberg 1992; Horgan 1995; McGuire 1995; Porter 1996; Rice 1999).

There are, however, ongoing attempts to convince the public that same-sex attraction is genetically based. (Marmor 1975) Such attempts may be politically motivated because people are more likely to respond positively to demands for changes in laws and religious teaching when they believe sexual attraction to be genetically determined and unchangeable. (Ernulf 1989); Piskur 1992) Others have sought to prove a genetic basis for same-sex attraction so that they could appeal to the courts for rights based on the "immutability". (Green 1988)

Catholics believe that sexuality was designed by God as a sign of the love of Christ, the bridegroom, for his Bride, the Church, and therefore sexual activity is appropriate only in marriage. Catholic teaching holds that: “Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion." (CCC, n.2360) Healthy psycho-sexual development leads naturally to attraction in persons of each sex for the other sex. Trauma, erroneous education, and sin can cause a deviation from this pattern. Persons should not be identified with their emotional or developmental conflicts as though this were the essence of their identity. In the debate between essentialism and social constructionism, the believer in natural law would hold that human beings have an essential nature -- either male or female -- and that sinful inclinations (such as the desire to engage in homosexual acts) are constructed and can, therefore, be deconstructed.

It is, therefore, probably wise to avoid wherever possible using the words "homosexual" and "heterosexual" as nouns since such usage implies a fixed state and an equivalence between the natural state of man and woman as created by God and persons experiencing same sex attractions or behaviors.

The information obtained here is excerpted from the Catholic Medical Association's research paper, Homosexuality and Hope.