Special to the SGN

If you ask the average American what moved them on issues of Gay rights, they'll often tell you that it's because they were convinced it wasn't a choice. It's a popular argument, maybe best encapsulated by Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." It's an argument that was at the heart of one the most rapidly successful social movements in history.

The argument feels convincing on its face. If Gay people don't choose to be Gay, so the reasoning goes, how could we be justified in upholding legal discrimination against them?

That, though, doesn't really hold up under scrutiny. For example, there is some evidence that pedophilia is even more common than homosexuality, [1] and further still that pedophilia should be classified as a sexual preference.[2] Obviously, this does nothing to change the fact that child sexual abuse is wrong. A child cannot give informed consent to an adult. It's pretty clear that even if someone is "born" a pedophile, they don't have the moral right to act on that impulse.

What, then, must our defense of homosexuality be? The answer is clear: simply don't concede that it's wrong.

Implicit in our "born this way" argument is a subtle form of bigotry. In this mindset, homosexuals are not equal citizens deserving of equal rights but rather a dejected species whose rights are born out of pity for their Sisyphean jihad. This approach concedes far too much ground. The difference between homosexuality and pedophilia is that, if homosexuality were a choice, it still wouldn't be immoral by any rational, consistent measure. Two consenting adults engaging in a sexual act for pleasure or love isn't immoral — a simple principle that concedes no moral ground.

This difference in argument is not just for moral righteousness, though. It also works to undermine the inflexibility of the way people view sexual orientation. Suddenly, "homosexual" isn't a thing people are but rather a thing people do. Lots of people don't identify as Gay or Bisexual but still engage in same-sex behavior. [3]

If a person believes that homosexuality is immoral, and that Gay people are only acceptable because they're "born that way," they just aren't going to experiment. Instead, they'll suppress their interest and stay within the confines of what they see as virtuous behavior. Ensuring that the public understands that homosexuality isn't immoral allows people to be more comfortable in experimentation without endangering their sensibilities. In essence, greater sexual liberation comes from normalized homo- and bisexuality.

The final piece to the puzzle is that, in reality, none of our social designations for sexual orientation really make that much sense. For example, we know that some historical societies didn't share our model of sexual orientation. In these societies, the idea of gender-based sexual orientation just wasn't that prominent. Ancient Greek even lacks a direct translation for "homosexual."

These societies certainly aren't models to copy — Ancient Greek pederasty is infamous for a reason — but they do show that our current understanding isn't as "scientific" as it is made out to be. We don't need to impose a restrictive, gender-based model of attraction.

Gay liberation has come a long way. We have more power today than we've had in centuries. It's time to take the next step.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2706562/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12462476/
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26766410/
[4] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality/