1. 1. Bio-Rhetoric, Background Beliefs and the Biology of Homosexuality
2. Journal article by Robert Alan Brookey; Argumentation and Advocacy, Vol. 37, 2001
BIO-RHETORIC, BACKGROUND BELIEFS AND THE BIOLOGY
OF HOMOSEXUALITY.
by Robert Alan Brookey
In the past few years the media have given great attention to scientific research which
indicates that homosexuality may have some biological cause. Contrary to the current
hype, the scientific study of homosexuality is hardly a new phenomenon. In fact,
theories about a biological basis for sexuality can be traced back to the nineteenth
century. What distinguishes this old research from the new is the untested belief that
contemporary findings will somehow ease the social pressures put upon gays and
lesbians. For example, Hamer's (Hamer, Hu, Magnuson, Hu, & Pattatucci, 1993)
research on the "gay gene" has been hailed as a valuable tool in the on going battle for
gay rights. Hamer reported that he had isolated a genetic market on the Xq28
chromosome that correlates with male homosexuality. Shortly after Hamer's study was
published, the Human Rights Campaign Fund released a special press packet suggesting
that the biological research on homosexuality will provide a powerful argument for gay
rights (Watney, 199 5). Specifically, advocates of gay rights maintain that this research
proves that sexual orientation is not chosen, and therefore gays should not suffer from
discrimination because of their sexuality.
Gay 'rights advocates believe the biological research on homosexuality will establish
homosexuality as an immutable characteristic, and thus extend to homosexuals the
constitutional protections of the Fourteenth Amendment. Although this argument may
seem compelling, it is based on a simplistic, and not wholly accurate reading of the
Fourteenth Amendment (Stein, 1994). Furthermore, if this argument is taken at face
value, some troubling problems emerge. For example, most of the biological research
(Hamer's study in particular) does not include lesbians as subjects. In fact, Hamer has
gone on record as saying that lesbianism is not genetic, but socially and culturally
produced (Gallagher, 1998). In addition, most of this research (again, Hamer's study in
particular) argues that bisexuality is not biologically based. Given that the biological
argument assumes that rights should be extended to sexual minorities whose sexuality is