The Myth of Genetic Homosexuality

The Myth of Genetic Homosexuality 1

The Myth of “Genetic” Homosexuality

As you know, I have emphasized the role of “beliefs” in psychopathology. Irrational beliefs (or lies) can have a powerful influence on thinking, emotions, and behavior. One of the most prevalent “lies” regarding homosexuality is that it is genetically based and unchangeable. People in our society are being taught that homosexuality is genetically determined and, therefore, “inevitable and immutable.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

To date, no one has been able to provide any sound scientific data to show that homosexuality is genetically based. Believe me, people have tried to find some genetic or biological markers, but none has been clearly established. If some combination of genes could be found that could be directly linked to homosexuality, this information would be “shouted from the rooftops,” and heralded throughout society.

Once again, no combination of DNA has ever been shown to be linked directly to homosexuality. Interestingly, the same people who are trying to establish a genetic basis for homosexuality, are also proponents of macro evolution. That is, they fully buy into the Darwinian notion that man evolved through the process of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Now consider this for a moment:

Individuals engaging in homosexual behavior almost never propagate!

How could a “homosexual gene’ be passed down through the process of evolution, to other members of the species. If thereis a gene for homosexuality, it would certainly have been “maladaptive” to the species, and would have been eliminated from the gene pool because of the failure of the gene to be “passed on” to offspring (since there would be almost none).

Personally, I believe in “micro” evolution. It is clear that human beings pass on genetic characteristics to their offspring. However, even in micro evolution, any homosexual genes would not be “passed down” to offspring, because if there were such a gene or gene combination, individuals with these genes would almost never produce offspring. So any gene combination that was linked with homosexuality would be eliminated from subsequent gene pools.

In reality, homosexuality is a behavior. It is not something someone “has,” it is something that someone “does” In my clinical experience, homosexual behavior in males has always been linked to the presence of two factors in the person’s history.

A dominating (overly enmeshed) female (mother figure) and a non-dominating male (or, the absence of a male figure (father) altogether)).
An early homosexual experience.

Personally, I feel strongly that you could give me any male child ever born and he would not grow up to exhibit homosexual behavior—especially if he was never exposed by others to homosexual experiences as a child. What I am strongly suggesting is that homosexual behavior is learned. Once begun, the underlying force that drives this behavior is the orgasm.

Orgasm is the “reward” that God has built into human beings to “drive” the directive to “Go and multiply and fill the earth.” From a biological perspective, we are hard-wired to seek pleasures, avoid pain, and procreate. The process leading to procreation is driven by some power chemicals—testosterone (the predominately male sexual hormone) and estrogen (the predominately female sexual hormone).

As males and females mature, the levels of testosterone and estrogen increase dramatically. At the time of puberty, the hormones are raging and are responsible for the development of secondary sexual characteristics (breast enlargement in females, pubic hair, etc.). Actually, for males, there is another flooding of testosterone that occurs earlier—in the womb—when increased levels of testosterone are responsible for the sexual differentiation of males vs. females.

For males, the flooding of testosterone is “overwhelming.” During adolescence, boys become highly sexually aroused and find it difficult to think about anything else. Women also become sexually oriented—but the process, driven by high levels of testosterone, is much more significant in boys. Most boys begin masturbating during adolescence and having “wet dreams.” Once the orgasm is experienced by males, it becomes a dominating force.

In my opinion, the orgasm experienced by males is a much more rewarding biological event than it is for females. The pleasure chemicals released during orgasm are similar to the experience that cocaine gives when it “hits” the brain. Once males experience orgasm, they are driven to have the experience again. The difference is, technically speaking, orgasm is not physiologically addicting--but it is psychologically/behaviorally addicting.

If you think at the level of behavior modification—behavior being driven by rewards and punishment—you can see how orgasm is the ultimate reward for sexual behavior. Now let’s consider young adolescent males. At the height of their sexuality during adolescence (when testosterone levels are around 1000 nanograms, compared to the female levels of 70nanograms), males are “turned on” to sex, but their biology has not clearly directed their activity towards females. They are highly sexual (i.e., “turned on” biologically), but there is a time in male adolescence when boys are somewhat confused about the “direction” that their sexual urges will take.

If, during the time of vulnerability, another male were to arouse an adolescent to the point of orgasm, then, through the process of conditioning (i.e., high reward for the behavior) the adolescent would start to have thoughts of other males and associate the orgasm with males, vs. females. In the future, because of the conditioning through the orgasm, when an adolescent would think about the male who was responsible for the orgasm, he would probably start to be aroused and would desire the male in order to achieve orgasm again.

Unfortunately, the same process of conditioning can be started by watching pornography. Even if adolescent males start out looking at porn involving women, if they observe the complete act of intercourse, they will also be observing male genitals during the process. This, combined with the fact that there are also strictly male-to-male sexual acts portrayed on the internet, provides the basis for the conditioning process to be “directed” towards other males.

Interestingly, many of the male homosexuals that I have seen in counseling, or I have come to know in my role as a professor in a secular university, have admitted that the main force that drives their homosexual behavior is the orgasm. One of my students once admitted to me that he had over 10,000 homosexual partners. He was extremely wealthy, so he had “bought” males in order to have sex with them. He also admitted that his homosexual behavior was not about “love” or “relationships”—it was simply about sex. With other males, he did not have to “wine and dine them,” in order to have sex.

It is a tragedy in our society that the myth of the genetic basis for homosexuality has pervaded the hearts and minds of general population and has filtered down to our children. In reality, in my opinion, male homosexuality is largely driven by the need for “acceptance” by young people. Many adolescent males and females will now say that they are “bisexual” or “homosexual” in order to be “cool” and to be accepted by others. As a result, they may also “dabble” in homosexuality in order to be part of the “in group.” This can have tragic consequences.

Once a male has engaged in homosexual behavior, then society tries to label him as homosexual and convince him he must be homosexual—after all, he engaged in homosexual behavior, and only homosexuals engage in homosexual behavior. This is circular reasoning, but it sounds convincing.

Remember, homosexuality is actually best thought of as “behavior,” rather than as something you “have”—as if it were biologically immutable. Homosexual behavior can be changed and modified. In fact, the homosexual community is outraged that certain individuals appear have changed (through Christian counseling) and left their homosexual behavior and started embracing heterosexual behavior—which God clearly ordains.

At present, in our society, there is a strong movement by the homosexuality community to “stop” efforts to help individual reorient to heterosexuality. There has even been legislature to make it illegal to counsel young people to reorient from their homosexual lifestyle to a heterosexual lifestyle. This will have direct and undesirable consequences for Christian counselors. If you get the opportunity, please support the LU law department in their efforts to challenge legislation that would limit counselors from counseling re-orientation to heterosexual behavior.

For a list of scriptures on homosexuality (taken from “Pearls: Scriptures to live by), click here.

Permission granted for use in counseling. See: