May 27, 1997: Genetically gay?

Over the past decade, numerous scientists have announced the bodily location for a biological foundation for homosexuality. In the early 1990s, Simon LeVay's claim about the hypothalamus was followed shortly by Dean Hamer's suggestion of a "gay gene." In 1997, Advocate writer Ted Gideonse explored potential ramifications of a definitive gay genetic marker and the possibility of fetal testing for sexual orientation. "The medical establishment would be presented with an ethical quandary," Gideonse wrote. "Is homosexuality a medically neutral trait and therefore to be left alone? Or is it a genetic disease that should be cured, as antigay crusader the Rev. Lou Sheldon has remarked?"

"Science should stay out of areas that are clearly not dysfunctional," said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan. He added, though, that if such a gene were discovered, it wouldn't take long in the market-driven world of reproductive medicine to "correct" it.

However, few scientists or ethicists thought a large-scale eugenics program would occur. But many thought the possibility of some prospective parents screening fetuses for sexual orientation could be likely. "As gay acceptance and gay parenting become more common, it seems less likely that the gay gene will disappear from the human genome entirely," Gideonse wrote. "If that does start to happen--well, there's always cloning."

* Find the entire text of this 1997 Advocate article on the "gay gene" at www.advocate.com