New Brain Study Challenges
Bigotry of the Brainwashed

by Wayne Besen
May 11, 2005

A monumental new study released by Swedish scientists this week shows that biology plays a pivotal role in determining a person's sexual orientation. With this new research, can the brainwashed finally abandon their bigotry and admit that the brain, not the Bible, decides sexual attraction?

It must be difficult for the right wing to accept that God did create Adam and Steve, after all. Instead of anti-gay political campaigns, the extremists should call it a day, visit the mall and buy this oft-maligned gay couple nice wedding gifts. No matter how they spin it, a growing body of scientific evidence points to the obvious: Homosexuality is not a choice.

In the Swedish study, the portion of the brain that helps regulate sexuality - the hypothalamus - reacted the exact same way in straight women and gay men when exposed to male pheromones, which are chemicals designed to provoke a behavior, such as sexual arousal. The same area of the brain only became stimulated in heterosexual men when introduced to female pheromones.

This research appears to partially validate a 1991 study by Dr. Simon LeVay that found the hypothalamus is twice as large in heterosexual men as it is in women or gay men. At that time, the right wing dismissed the study by saying that LeVay used cadavers who died of AIDS. They claimed that the disease potentially could have caused brain wasting which may have accounted for the smaller gland.

Fair enough.

This time, however, the test subjects were alive and while the studies were markedly different, the results were strikingly similar. The portion of the brain that governs sexuality behaves differently in gay men than in straight men. There is no morality involved. The brain leads, and the body follows.

Sadly, right wing ideologues are already trying to spin this study. Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a leading proponent of ex-gay therapy, wrote that, "smell is highly responsive to learning". He suggests that gay men are really heterosexuals who are mysteriously taught to respond sexually to male pheromones.

This "learning" canard is patently absurd, considering those on the right who teach us homosexuality is wrong keep producing gay kids. Did Dick Cheney teach his daughter to be a lesbian? Did the Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly enroll her son John in Homosexuality 101 courses? Did the Godfather of "ex-gay" therapy Charles Socarides train his son Richard to be President Bill Clinton's gay liaison? Did Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry tutor his son Jamiel?

The other myths circulated by the lucrative anti-gay industry, such as gay men have distant fathers, are easily disproved. Sure, a lot of fathers create distance when their young sons gravitate to ballet over baseball. But this simplistic cause and effect is eviscerated by the existence of countless relationships where fathers and gay sons share strong bonds.

The fable that women are lesbians because men sexually abused them also collapses under the weight of common sense. Most lesbians grew up in perfectly normal homes and had relatively uneventful childhoods. Meanwhile, there are many women who were sexually abused as children - and they turn out heterosexual. Clearly, this propaganda is not rooted in science, but crass stereotyping designed to foment prejudice, persecution and often votes for opportunistic politicians.

It is only a matter of time before science incontrovertibly establishes the biological origins of sexuality. While people do not choose their sexual orientation, America can choose to end discrimination against people who are living the life in which nature obviously intended. Here is a good place to start:

** Stop presenting sexual orientation as a moral issue. It has as much to do with morality as eating or breathing. Homosexuality is a natural phenomenon and just one more beautiful difference in the diversity of humankind.

** Stop encouraging gay people to "marry" heterosexuals in order to cure them. Pressuring someone to marry a person that he or she does not love or find sexually appealing is cruel, immoral and unfair to both people involved. It is a divorce waiting to happen that becomes more tragic when children are brought into such a mess.

** Support same-sex marriage. Prohibiting gay people from tying the knot does not change their reaction to pheromones. It only promotes the gay single life that conservatives claim to loathe.

Now that it appears sexual orientation is biological and connected to smell, it is time that opponents of equality acknowledge that their oppressive behavior stinks. And to those who try to change gays to straight: Give it up and stop wasting your time. You can't pray away a God-given brain. But, you can start using it.



©2009 Wayne Besen. All rights reserved. Used with Permission

Note from Mary: If you wish to read the original article on which this article is based, please go to For Gay Men, an Attraction to a Different Kind of Scent

Wayne Besen is a nationally recognized advocate for gay and lesbian rights. He has appeared as a guest on leading news and political talk shows including: NBC Nightly News, The Roseanne Show, CNN's Talk Back Live and The Point, Fox's O'Reilly Factor and Hannity and Colmes, Fox News and MSNBC News.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters anti-gay propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life.

Contact Wayne: Phone: 917-691-5118        Email: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

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