In the 6 May 2013 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine, the
exclusive cover story was ‘The Gay
Athlete’ written by Jason Collins himself.
This 34-year old NBA player is the first openly gay athlete from a major
American sport. Within the same issue is
an article by Jarron Collins … also an NBA player, but in a heterosexual
marriage with three children. So what?
you ask.
The ‘so what’ is because Jarron and
Jason are identical twin brothers. Identical
twins have the same genes or DNA. They
are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions.
If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin
is gay, the co-twin should also be gay.
Eight major studies of identical
twins in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last two decades all
arrive at the same conclusion: Gays were not born that way.
“At best genetics is a minor
factor,” says Dr. Neil Whitehead, PhD. Whitehead
worked for the New Zealand government as a scientific researcher for 24-years,
then spent four years working for the United Nations and International Atomic
Energy Agency. Most recently, he serves
as a consultant to Japanese universities about the effects of radiation
exposure. His PhD is in biochemistry and
statistics.
“Because they have identical DNA, it
ought to be 100%,” Dr. Whitehead notes. But
the studies reveal something else. “If
an identical twin has same-sex attraction the chances the co-twin has it are
only about 11% for men and 14% for women.”
Because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality
cannot be genetically dictated. “No-one
is born gay,” he notes. “The predominant
things that create homosexuality in one identical twin and not in the other
have to be post-birth factors.”
Dr. Whitehead believes same-sex
attraction is caused by “non-shared factors” – things happening to one twin,
but not the other; or a personal response to an event by one of the twins and
not the other. For example, one twin
might have exposure to pornography or sexual abuse, but not the other. One twin may interpret and respond to their
family or classroom environment differently than the other. “These individual and idiosyncratic responses
to random events and to common environmental factors predominate,” he says.
The first very large, reliable study
of identical twins was conducted in Australia in 1991, followed by a large U.S.
study about 1997. Then Australia and the
U.S. conducted more twin studies in 2000, followed by several studies in
Scandinavia, according to Dr. Whitehead.
“Twin registers are the foundation of modern twin studies. They are now very large, and exist in many
countries. A gigantic European twin
register with a projected 600,000 members is being organized, but one of the
largest in use is in Australia, with more than 25,000 twins on the books.”
A significant twin study among
adolescents shows an even weaker genetic correlation. In 2002, sociologists Peter Bearman and Hannah
Brueckner studied tens of thousands of adolescent students in the U.S. The same-sex attraction similarity between
identical twins was only 7.7% for males and 5.3% for females—lower than the 11%
and 14% in the Australian study by Bailey (et al conducted in 2000).
In the identical twin studies, Dr.
Whitehead has been struck by how fluid and changeable sexual identity can be. “Neutral academic surveys show there is
substantial change. About half of the
homosexual/bisexual population (in a non-therapeutic environment) moves towards
heterosexuality over a lifetime. About
3% of the present heterosexual population once firmly believed themselves to be
homosexual or bisexual.” “Sexual
orientation is not set in concrete,” he notes.
Even more remarkable, most of the
changes occur without counseling or therapy. “These changes are not therapeutically
induced, but happen ‘naturally’ in life, some very quickly,” Dr. Whitehead
observes. “Most changes in sexual
orientation are towards exclusive heterosexuality.”
Numbers of people who have changed
towards exclusive heterosexuality are greater than current numbers of bisexuals
and homosexuals combined. In other
words, ex-gays outnumber actual gays. The
fluidity is even more pronounced among adolescents, as Bearman and Brueckner’s
study demonstrated. They found that from
16 to 17-years-old, if a person had a romantic attraction to the same sex,
almost all had switched one year later. These
‘pro-gay’ sociologists commented that the only stability was among the
heterosexuals, who stayed the same year after year. Adolescents are a special case—generally
changing their attractions from year to year.
Still, many misconceptions persist
in the popular culture. Namely, that
homosexuality is genetic – so hard-wired into one’s identity that it can’t be
changed. “The academics who work in the
field are not happy with the portrayals by the media on the subject,” Dr.
Whitehead notes. “But they prefer to
stick with their academic research and not get involved in the activist side.”
Now, we have not only the inerrant biblical
truth that God didn’t create humanity as homosexual beings (which He undeniably
calls sexual immorality), but science has declared it as non-genetic. So, let’s stop the defense of this sexual
preference as “the way God created me” and call it for what it is – a chosen
lifestyle. There is nothing innate about
homosexuality; therefore, not a civil right.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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