It's about time we talked about.... Homosexuality

Good Tuesday Morning to my faithful 2.50 readers!

That's one up from my long term average because my Beautifully Muscled Angel of God has taken up reading my blog....

Don't have a clue why other than she's all into psychological analysis and I give her about 17 different deviant behaviors to research....

Hey... it's a basis for a great Doctor - Patient relationship....

Which seems to be the way this thing is going....

But I ain't gonna bitch about it.... it's Free Therapy.... and I like Free.

Especially Free Thinking.

And speaking of Free Thinking and Expression....

I was sitting in church - specifically Brazospointe Fellowship - for the 2nd time in recent times.

That, in and of itself, is a minor miracle since I haven't been in church since late 2008.

I think Blondie is putting some sort of God Hoo Doo spell on me and Wills-ing me into another collision with God....

But I ain't fighting it.... I tried fighting with this Lady.... intellectually anyway.... cause she could kick my ass with one hand tied behind her back physically.... I thought I at least had a chance to make headway in some aspect of Spiritual or Lifestyle discussion....

But that hasn't happened.... Turned out the Intellectual Muscles are about as developed as the rest of her.

So now I just throw out discussion points and get it rolling and then just sit back and take notes.

I mean She insists that I honor all kinds of social mechanisms I'm not used to like being considerate in discussions (and not cussing - Dammit - I hate that) and staying within boundaries....

I mean what's the fun in that?

So anyway... I'm sitting in church Sunday morning and it's the 2nd sermon in a series on.... Marriage.

And what's the focus this week?  Same Sex Marriages and Homosexuality....

Oh boy.... You gotta respect a church that will tackle these kind of issues full on in a public service.... gotta give credit where credit is due. Kudos to you Greg Pickering!

And of course, the Biblically based teachings of this church and this sermon and this pastor was that....

Homosexuality is a sin.... in fact it is one of the sins of "abomination" in the eyes of God.... I guess that means in the degrees of sin, this was like 1st degree murder or something.... I dunno.

Well - right off, I'm shaking my head and getting all riled up inside.... cause you know I'm a Live and Let Live kinda guy.

I try to think that, practice that and project that.

So I text off a note to my friend - I know.... Texting in church.... worse than texting while driving.... an abomination.... but I did it...

So I text the Straight and Narrow One the following:

"What happens when a Man has the Mind of a Woman?  OR vice versa....

That is....

A Man living in a Woman's body.

This issue is not about the physicality of a Man and Woman.....

But the Mind and Spirit of a Man and Woman....

And this can be mixed with a body of opposite gender.

Another close minded Christian principle IMHO."

What I was referring to was the situation where the genetic makeup of a man or woman is different from that of the normal structure that favors heterosexuality and instead is genetically structured to favor homosexuality.

This has been a condition that has been widely researched over the last 20 - 25 years and with the recent modern advances in human genome analysis and mapping, these studies have gained relevancy and credibility.

Later, my friend and I got into a full on discussion on homosexuality and the condition of genetic predisposition and I offered the position that there have been numerous studies that show that there is statistical significance to variations in the genetic makeup / chromosome structure of many long term and committed homosexuals.

Understand I'm not talking about people who are exercising Free Sex or people who just wanna see what it's like to be with another person of the same sex or girls who get drunk or high and wanna exchange a wet kiss with their girlfriend at a party or club.

I'm talking about those dyed in the wool, had it since they were kids people who obviously have mindsets - perspectives - desires that are predominantly homosexual.

So I presented the argument that the Christian perspective does not take into account those people who are actually Men in Women's Bodies or Women in Men's Bodies - because of the way they are genetically wired.

And naturally.... my friend responds with....

"There is no Gay Gene".

So, being the Data Guy that I am..... I said - Ok.... I'll send you a link or links that show studies that conclude the contrary.

Anybody that reads this blog knows.....

I use Wikipedia as kind of a “go to” on research and general information.

I did a search for “Chromosomes vs Sexual Orientation” and this Wikipedia link was at the top of the list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation

The info that I was referring to in the discussion with the Anointed One was in the section "Chromosome linkage studies":

The specific study that I was referring to and giving the most weight to is highlighted in red below.

I have underlined and italicized the statement of conclusion from that study.

Chromosome linkage studies

Chromosome linkage studies of sexual orientation have indicated the presence of multiple contributing genetic factors throughout the genome. In 1993 Dean Hamer and colleagues published findings from a linkage analysis of a sample of 76 gay brothers and their families.^[13] Hamer et al. found that the gay men had more gay male uncles and cousins on the maternal side of the family than on the paternal side. Gay brothers who showed this maternal pedigree were then tested for X chromosome linkage, using twenty-two markers on the X chromosome to test for similar alleles. In another finding, thirty-three of the forty sibling pairs tested were found to have similar alleles in the distal region ofXq28, which was significantly higher than the expected rates of 50% for fraternal brothers. This was popularly dubbed the "gay gene" in the media, causing significant controversy. Sanders et al. in 1998 reported on their similar study, in which they found that 13% of uncles of gay brothers on the maternal side were homosexual, compared with 6% on the paternal side.^[14]

A later analysis by Hu et al. replicated and refined the earlier findings. This study revealed that 67% of gay brothers in a new saturated sample shared a marker on the X chromosome at Xq28.^[15] Two other studies (Bailey et al., 1999; McKnight and Malcolm, 2000) failed to find a preponderance of gay relatives in the maternal line of homosexual men.^[14] One study by Rice et al. in 1999 failed to replicate the Xq28 linkage results.^[16] Meta-analysis of all available linkage data indicates a significant link to Xq28, but also indicates that additional genes must be present to account for the full heritability of sexual orientation.^{[citation needed]}

Mustanski et al. (2005) performed a full-genome scan (instead of just an X chromosome scan) on individuals and families previously reported on in Hamer et al. (1993) and Hu et al. (1995), as well as additional new subjects.^[17] With the larger sample set and complete genome scan, the study found somewhat reduced linkage for Xq28 than reported by Hamer et al. However, they did find other markers with a likelihood score falling just short of significance at 7q36 and likelihood scores approaching significance at 8p12 and 10q26. Interestingly, 10q26 showed highly significant maternal loading, thus further supporting the previous family studies.

Results from the first large, comprehensive multi-center genetic linkage study of male sexual orientation were reported by an independent group of researchers at the American Society of Human Genetics in 2012.^[18] The study population included 409 independent pairs of gay brothers, who were analyzed with over 300,000 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers. The data strongly replicated Hamerʻs Xq28 findings as determined by both two-point and multipoint (MERLIN) LOD score mapping. Significant linkage was also detected in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 8, overlapping with one of the regions detected in the Hamer labʻs previous genomewide study. The authors concluded that "our findings, taken in context with previous work, suggest that genetic variation in each of these regions contributes to development of the important psychological trait of male sexual orientation."

The biology of sexual orientation has been studied in detail in several animal model systems. In the common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the complete pathway of sexual differentiation of the brain and the behaviors it controls is well established in both males and females, providing a concise model of biologically controlled courtship.^[19] In mammals, a group of geneticists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology altered the sexual preferences of female mice by removing a single gene linked to reproductive behavior. Without the gene, the mice exhibited masculine sexual behavior and attraction toward urine of other female mice. Those mice who retained the gene fucose mutarotase (FucM) were attracted to male mice.^[20]

In interviews to the press, researchers have pointed that the evidence of genetic influences should not be equated with genetic determinism. According to Dean Hamer and Michael Bailey, genetic aspects are only one of the multiple causes of homosexuality.^[21][22]

Of course, very few studies on human behavior are 100% conclusive…. And obviously, none of those referenced in this source are.

I think my whole issue was what I brought up later in the discussion and what the BpF pastor referenced in his sermon…. 

That being that too many Christians point out Homosexuality as such as a terrible sin against God and His framework for marriage and yet they violate that same Biblical marital structure in so many other ways in their own heterosexual relationships – through adultery, spousal abuse, neglect, abandonment, etc.

IMHO, we got bigger fish to fry in this old, messed up world….

Let the Gay people be…. And just deal with other more important issues.

If they wanna be married and have health care coverage and other benefits / rights / recognitions that regularly married folks are entitled to.....

That's fine by me.

So now you know where I stand on this issue.