Gays and the church

I have never been able to get very excited about the issue of gays in the church, feeling that both major Christian churches spend too much time talking about sex, like pagans, and not enough dealing with the ills of society, to say nothing of saving our souls. I also felt that with scientists identifying genes so regularly now it would only be a matter of time when the gay gene was discovered and they would be able to say they were made by God just the same as the straight people and it would be unanswerable (to the extent, as I say, that people feel the need to answer it).

But the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, writing in spiked, says there is no genetic cause of homosexuality. Genes might affect the child’s predisposition towards homosexuality, as might hormones encountered in the womb, but that is not the same as causing it.

Some may remember the Clause 28 issue back in Mrs. Thatcher‘s time. This was a clause preventing local governments promoting homosexuality as a normal lifestyle. Gay rights campaigners (Tatchell too, if I recall) were up in arms saying it was a normal lifestyle, in that it was natural, just different from the majority. I rather agreed with Clause 28 inasmuch as it seemed a gross waste of taxpayers’ money for local governments to be promoting any kind of alternative lifestyle.

You may think that in saying that homosexuality is not genetically caused Tatchell is agreeing with the Clause 28ers, but no. He says whatever its cause, homosexuality is determined at a very young age – in the first few years of life. All external influences can do is stop gay people repressing their gayness.

Perhaps he might agree with my point that at the very least promoting homosexuality in classrooms is a waste of money when our children can’t read and write. But the debate goes on, even if it shouldn’t.