My Letter to Focus on the Family

So, ever the ridiculous person I am, I decided to send an email to Focus on the Family. Why? It's a funny story actually.

In a google search to find an old article I remembered from a magazine I read in high school, I ended up on their website (they owned the magazine, Brio and Beyond, at the time of publication). That article linked to a number of other articles on homosexuality. One of them talked about their views on the origin of homosexuality.

The whole article took the stance that if homosexuality was inborn it would have a genetic marker, which is not the actual position of current researchers. They cited 3 studies which attempted to provide such evidence but either came up short or were faulty in some way (some were found difficult to replicate). Their conclusion seemed to be that since there was no evidence for a "gay gene," it must mean that their position of it being due to environmental factors must be the correct position. And then they failed to provide evidence to prove that environmental factors were the cause of homosexuality.

I, of course, found this to be faulty logic. First of all, bring up all the potential reasons for something to be inborn (some studies suggest perinatal hormones as a cause). Second of all, the lack of evidence for your opponent IS NOT evidence for your position. So I decided to inform them of their faulty logic along with a peer-reviewed journal article which basically says there's not enough evidence for anyone to claim anything as far as the causes of homosexuality. Being that it's a well-written peer-reviewed journal article, it came to this conclusion after compiling findings from a number of major studies into a large array of possible causes.

So here for all to read is my letter to Focus on the Family. I will report later on whether or not they choose to acknowledge any of this.

A number of your articles about homosexuality attack the view that it can be an inborn trait. It seems that your whole case against that view is based on the fact that they haven't found a "gay gene." While it's true that they haven't found a genetic marker directly linked to homosexuality, it is not the only possible cause for something to be inborn. Another possible link is perinatal hormones, which would explain why identical twins do not share the same sexual orientation 100% of the time. Though there has not been conclusive evidence for a biological origin, there has also not been conclusive evidence for an outside influence as the cause. I think it would be unfair to jump to conclusions, just as you say your opponents have.

An article written in the North American Journal of Psychology titled "Can Anyone Tell Me Why I'm Gay? What Research Suggests Regarding the Origin of Sexual Orientation" (published 2010, in Volume 12, issue 2), compiles the results and research of a number of studies into the origins of homosexuality. The article (which can be found at http://f04cat01.ohlone.edu:2060/login?url=http://f04cat01.ohlone.edu:2053/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=50614011&site=ehost-live) comes to the conclusion that there is no data to show conclusively what the cause of sexual orientation may be. In fact, the author, William J. Jenkins, expresses concern that environmental factors such as parenting styles and cultural influences have not been studied near enough.

I hope that you will understand that stating a definite cause, regardless of which side you're on, can be dangerous if you don't have the evidence to back it up. As I didn't see any studies cited in your own articles that conclusively prove your view, I must assume that you are simply trying to distract people from your lack of evidence by pointing out the faulty evidence of your opponents. And while others may find this a fine strategy for debate, I would hope that you would be above that.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this issue. If you have trouble finding the article, or if the link provided does not work, I am willing to send a PDF copy of the article to an email address provided.

God Bless,
[name removed for privacy]

Also, if any of you would like a PDF copy of the article, just let me know.

[EDIT: You can view the article here as well.]