The Gay Germ Theory

Several nights ago I was surfing the net and stumbled across "the gay germ theory". I had never heard of it. Yes, there have been movies perhaps implying such a theory, such as "It's in the Water"(1997), a movie where a rumor starts that the town's water is contaminated and it 'turns' people gay.

Wikipedia (WIKI, 24th) is quick to set the record straight, no pun intended ;0), that it can only be a hypothesis, as 'theories' represent well-tested scientific scrutiny. Wikipedia therefore describes it as a pathogenic hypothesis of homosexuality. This hypothesis argues against a genetic component for homosexuality in that evolution would strongly select against it and that there is not a strong twin concordance for homosexuality.

The two gentlemen responsible for this hypothesis are Paul W. Ewald, a biology professor at Amherst College in Massachusetts, and Gregory Cochran, an independent physicist in Albuquerque, New Mexico. According to Wikipedia (WIKI, 24th), Cochran compares this hypothesis to the theories of the cause of narcolepsy, which is that it is an auto-immune disease triggered by a virus.

Wikipedia (WIKI, 24th) reports on the social controversy to Cochran and Ewald:
"William Byne who is a brain researcher at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, suggest that 'Cochran and Ewald are guilty of pathologizing homosexuality' (in the words of Crain, 1999). In contrast, Michael Bailey, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, asks, 'Suppose we found that a form of genius was also cause by a virus. Would that mean that genius is a disease?' (Crain, 1999)"

I have always thought and felt that individuals are born with their sexuality. I have never given it much thought though as to if it is via a genetic component or some other component. After reading up on this topic though I would seriously consider that there is not a genetic component involved in individuals being gay or not. I would seriously not agree though with the 'gay germ theory' either. Could it be that it is a character trait, similar to being introverted or extraverted? I have heard people refer to sexuality as being a spectrum. More at a later date on this 'spectrum' idea.

Island Dyke

Reference:

WIKI 24th WWW PATHOGENIC Retrieved on August 24, 2007 from,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogenic_hypothesis_of_homosexuality