by Michael Swain

Created on: October 01, 2008   Last Updated: November 26, 2011

Can a man or woman be born homosexual, or is it something that develops as they grow and through the choices they make?

This is an argument that is often attached to the ethical legitimacy of homosexuality - as if proof positive of its place in the gene pool would be equal to a validation of its morality. How can it be wrong when there is no life choice involved? How can something that is natural produce something unnatural?

But against the religious bodies who are the principle opponents of homosexuality this argument just doesn't wash. the Christian church, for example, identifies different categories of sin, one of which is Original Sin. This is the idea that mankind, all mankind, is a fallen race (unworthy of God). Regardless of who we are or how we live, so the argument goes, we are all sinners from birth. We are born into sin. Our birth may be natural, but we emerge as unnatural - a mutant species of the original design.

Under this scrutiny the question of whether we are born straight and gay or whether we develop to one or the other or both of these through our experiences and choices becomes null and void. It doesn't matter how you became gay or straight - how it happened has no bearing on whether or not ethically it is right or wrong.

It also has no bearing on our physical presence. Whether or not it is a choice, being homo or hetero is purely a state of mind. Our brains talk to us in terms of our attraction to him or her, and our bodies may respond to the stimuli, but the basic genetic make up that makes us men or women doesn't differ if we are gay or straight. Gay men are born, like straight men, with the ability to impregnate women. While it would be a depressing world if that was the sole purpose of sex, it is surely an indication of the design of the human body and its intention. Rubbing two plugs together is pointless and unproductive, whereas a plug into a socket creates a circuit. It's a question of design.

But even under this rather crass argument, there is nothing to prove that rubbing two plugs or two sockets together is morally wrong. Purely that it is useless. If someone should derive pleasure from such an action, people couldn't say it was sinful, though they might point out that it is dangerous and stupid.

I am happy to accept that some are born gay, some achieve gayness, and some have gayness thrust upon them. Homosexuality can result from physical or mental abuse, as can promiscuity in other sexual activities. Others do make a choice

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