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•          Bio-Rhetoric, Background Beliefs and the Biology of Homosexuality
•          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 biologically based, and given that the biological research excludes specific sexual
    minorities, it would seem that the biological research would only benefit a specific
    group: male homosexuals (Zita, 1994).
    Of equal concern, however, is how the dependence on biological research places the
    gay rights movement in a precarious position. After all, if the argument for rights is
    based on specific research, what happens to the argument when the research is
    rendered obsolete? For example, a recent study published in Science casts doubt on
    Hamer's genetic research. The authors (Rice, Anderson, Risch & Ebers, 1999)
    concluded their report by observing:
    It is unclear why our results are so discrepant from Homer's original study. Because
    our study was larger than that of Hamer et al., we certainly had adequate power to
    detect a genetic effect as large as was reported in that study. Nonetheless, our data do
    not support the presence of a gene of large effect influencing sexual orientation. (p.

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Bio rhetoric, background beliefs and the biology of homosexuality

  • 1. Bio-Rhetoric, Background Beliefs and the Biology of Homosexuality • 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 biologically based, and given that the biological research excludes specific sexual minorities, it would seem that the biological research would only benefit a specific group: male homosexuals (Zita, 1994). Of equal concern, however, is how the dependence on biological research places the gay rights movement in a precarious position. After all, if the argument for rights is based on specific research, what happens to the argument when the research is rendered obsolete? For example, a recent study published in Science casts doubt on Hamer's genetic research. The authors (Rice, Anderson, Risch & Ebers, 1999) concluded their report by observing: It is unclear why our results are so discrepant from Homer's original study. Because our study was larger than that of Hamer et al., we certainly had adequate power to detect a genetic effect as large as was reported in that study. Nonetheless, our data do not support the presence of a gene of large effect influencing sexual orientation. (p.