Facts are Stupid Things

Dream and give yourself permission to envision a You that you choose to be. Joy Page

This week we discussed same gender attraction.  I have always felt this is an important issue because it produces questions, deep questions, that no one in our time will escape from answering personally, or publicly.  This is a topic that must be approached with care for it deals with the nature of mankind in general, and real people in specific.  

Cold hard facts about gender roles seem to make up much of the argument these days, problem is both sides seem to have legitimate reasoning.  How are we to make sense of this? Well, as you can see in the title I am a firm believer that facts indeed are stupid things and can be used to support any side.  What is stupid about them is that facts simply can't stand alone, we need some kind of context to get any real use out of them.  Claims made on all sides of the argument ought to be considered carefully from a biological, cultural, sociological, and developmental viewpoint.  Understanding comes when we put observed behaviors in its proper contexts.

It is important to understand that the terms we use have specific meanings.  Attraction to the same gender is not the same as a gay lifestyle.  If we are not careful in our conversations we can easily lose that distinction.  From a gospel standpoint, that distinction makes all the difference.  It is the difference between temptation and sin.  Another important context we could all benefit by understanding includes arguments on both sides of the "I was born this way" argument.  I have taken a behavioral neurobiology class wherein we discussed some of the research and findings behind biological factors of same sex attraction (fetal environment, hormones, etc).  We also discussed the cultural and behavioral influence on cognitive and neural development.  In this family relations class we reviewed and interpreted research about psychosocial development.  This issue has so much to do with identity.  Social factors can have a powerful influence on the development of children.  Say a boy is born with greater tendencies to create, or to talk about his feelings, or to be nurturing.  Some would say that this is proof that he is "gay."  His friends might even tease him about being gay.  What's a kid supposed to think about that? How does that affect his attitude when he reaches puberty and starts thinking about his identity?  Research shows that the majority of those who claim to be gay where sexualized at a young age either by social expectations of experimentation or by some incident of molestation. How easy would it be for an adolescent with little experience to say in essence, "Oh, my body responded to that, I must be..." The body is as a machine in at least this way:  Sensory input is presented, reactionary output is produced. Choice starts there.  So Katie Perry kissed a girl in experimentation, her sympathetic nervous system responded appropriately to the sensory input.  That will happen to any body and that's a fact, what a person does with that fact depends completely on agency and how well the contexts are understood.

For anyone struggling with same gender attraction, see the quote at the top of this post.  You DO have a choice, you are not bound by simple biology nor by societies expectations.  Your attitudes and beliefs about your mortal and eternal identity have everything to do with who you are.  You can choose to do what you feel is right, even if it is difficult.