SO SOME scientist claims he has found the gene which 'causes' homosexuality! Mow we know, we can...do what, exactly? Eliminate gays at source? Or since we can't help it anyway, seeing as its genetic, should we treat it as any other inherited mistortune?
The med splash about this "discovzted only that rational de03e 00 38 ity is almost impossible.
Ratione cople substitute prejudice for reaso ite the bigots relish another opportuni revel in their ignorant vitriol. 'Scientic newspaper reports, radio phone-ins "ision interviews with respectable sures from the Stonewall broup, we wand them a.
And most of it was a load of nonsense.
The scientific nature of the discovery is, at best, questionable. They found that some of a sample of brothers who were both gay had genes which 'predisposed them that way'. What a surprise! In truth, scientists have made similar discoveries time and time again - only for the research's conclusions to be proved fallacious, or lead nowhere.
What about lesbians?
But what about lesbians? Do lesbians have the same snecial genes as gay men? If they do, why haven't they been discovered? If they haven't, does it mean that lesbians aren't homosexual?
What about the countless numbers of people who are lesbian or gay who aren't related to one another, or who haven't or discrimination or because they are mined. that all ballet dancers are It seems pure prejudice that no one has drawm another possible conclusion: if sexuality is genetic, surely most harmful deviant behaviour in the world comes from heterosexual males, so maybe its the heterosexual gene which is defective. There has been a predictably depressing response from so-called spokespersons (actually men) from the lesbian and gay movement. The staid, lobbyist Stonewall and the radical direct action group Outrage share a common view for all their differences. They also think sexuality is biologically deterPeter Tatchell of Outrage, in arguing crimination. that we are a valuable part of society. repeated the unoriginal myth that gays are predisposed to be more peaceful, artistic and creative than heterosexuals.
Lesbians apparently don't count. It's merely the other side of the popular myth fairies. The political method involved is that of accepting that society is as it is, and that all we want is to be accepted into it.
Revolutionaries have a different approach. We do not have a pet theory as to the 'cause of homosexuality. Or indeed of predict. such as thousands of years of historythat au sexuality is socialy constructed, not biologically determined.
There is also ample evidence that the oppression of homosexuality is not an accident. We believe it is a consequence of the establishment of heterosexuality as the dominant sexuality, with the nuclear, straight family as its current form, delib- HOME NEWS erately upheld and secured by the state as part of the structure of society which best serves the needs of the capitalist class While struggling to gain every possible improvement in the legal and social position of lesbians and gay men, we believe such reforms are steps on a road and will not in themselves totally eliminate disLiberation Our liberation can only come about brough a transformation in the social order brought about by socialist revolunow appear 'natural" and inevitable like the family and heterosexual dominance will undergo dramatic changes.
Then we will be able to create conditions in which human sexuality can de
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 48, September 1993, Page 6 "In essence, Labour's proposals mean the continuation of British rule for another 20 years with the active involvement of Dublin..."
To succeed, the Unionists would, as with the Curragh Mutiny of 1912 or the