It is common knowledge that the “born this way” argument has traditionally been used as a defense of gay rights. The basic premise is that being gay is something you are born with and is not a choice, just like your sex or skin color, and as such, cannot be a sin, nor can it be something as a reason for discrimination.
Two popular songs advance this idea to the general public.
“I Was Born This Way” by Carl Bean
“Born This Way” by Lady Gaga
Now, first, we must talk about whether this is true. Are people born gay? Absolutely. I am not a biologist, but I have friends who are, and I have read and watched documentaries on this topic, and I can easily make the case that, yeah, we are born this way.
But the story really begins before we are born. There are some basic facts that people don’t know about the development of children in the womb. I believe that intersex variations are the key to understanding this.
Some people are born with differences in sex chromosomes that don’t match the simplified XX and XY chromosomes most students are taught in school.
To just name a few.
For example, some people have XXY chromosomes, and this is called Klinefelter syndrome. These people appear generally male but sometimes are infertile and have lower testosterone.
Some people have XY chromosomes but have androgen insensitivity syndrome and appear female because their body resists testosterone, so they develop looking like a female baby in the womb.
Turner syndrome is a condition where there is only one X chromosome. These people look like girls but don’t always have a normal female puberty due to lower estrogen and don’t grow like the others without taking extra hormones in some cases.
There are many more intersex variations than these, but the main point is that since these differences exist, some baby’s brains and bodies develop in a not strictly male or female. The sex binary is an illusion that is continued because a lot of intersex babies are aborted because the parents are told their child has a “genetic defect” and should be killed.
I believe that I have Klinefelter syndrome. I don’t have the money to pay for a test, but I have several signs. But if you think about it, wouldn’t someone with XXY chromosomes meet the definition of being both male and female chromosomally? Could this person grow up and then turn out to be gay or transgender? And if you look at the links between Klinefelter syndrome and autism as well, it doesn’t turn out to be a surprise that so many transgender women are computer programming and video game nerds. The transgender and autism connection is so common that there are stereotypes in the trans community about this!
And if someone has XY chromosomes and is therefore “genetically male,” as is commonly believed, would it really be any surprise that they may look like a female because of androgen insensitivity? Still, they may also be attracted to women instead of men as society expects them to just because they “look female” and society expects them to conform to heteronormativity?
Some of these intersex conditions are so extreme that people are born with more than one set of genitalia. Sometimes, doctors do surgery on these infants to “correct” them to what the doctors “want” the child to be. Sometimes, this happens with parental consent and sometimes without, but NEVER with the consent of the infant. After all, they can’t speak or write yet. How are they going to tell you which set of sex organs you should remove? People should leave intersex babies alone and let them decide when they are older what is right for them.
And, of course, not all people who are gay or transgender are intersex. Don’t misunderstand me because that’s not what I am saying. But we can’t ignore the role that intersex conditions play! Also, during the time we are formed in the womb and cells are multiplying, so many things can happen, and the hormone levels of our biological mothers are going to play a factor, as well as everything they eat!
So, is it any surprise that people are born gay or transgender? Not at all. But this information is not very well known and is often ignored by those who will, at all costs, cling to the idea that everyone is either male or female and nothing in between.
But if you are just a regular straight, cisgender male or female, it can be easy to assume everyone is like you. You wouldn’t even take the time to google this unless you were one of these people, know some of them, or maybe you’re just a complete nerd.
But what I am saying is that some of these intersex conditions take place even at the moment of conception and that some of us, when we are born, are going to have genitals that look different. Some of us may appear normal, but then, at puberty, we are suspiciously fabulous, and instead of having new feelings for those who look different than us, we notice others who look and act a lot like us. Still, now we feel different somehow, and we want to marry them, adopt children, homeschool those children, and teach them chess!
There is a lot I could say about how I figured out some of this as it relates to my own life, but the point is that it’s not enough to say we were “born this way”. Although true, it accidentally makes it sound as if a boy passes through his mother’s vagina, and it’s such a traumatic experience that he never wants to see another vagina in life, so he marries a man when he grows up. Yes, we are born this way, but it’s not at the moment of birth that we suddenly turn gay.
I think these facts are particularly important for the Pro-Life movement to recognize.
The Pro-Life movement has two particular problems.
- Most of them are Pro-Life only as part of their religion. Some religions like Christianity and Islam are not kind to gay people, and this idea that they are born/conceived this way is brushed aside because they will never listen to anything that is not included in their holy scriptures (not that they actually follow what their holy books DO say except when it comes to picking on gay people)
- As a whole, the LGBTQIA community has gone a bit too far when it comes to the promotion of their sexuality. As a reaction to the strict puritanical views of many Christian churches, they have reacted in a way that says, “We should have sex with as many people as we can” and “You need to have sex with other people before you get married so you are experienced”.
Obviously, I don’t follow either of these categories. I am not a traditional Christian, and I take the Bible about as seriously as I do a chess book, but I know that the opinions of the authors come from a bias that may not match my own. I am Pro-Life because I follow the Golden Rule, which is part of Jesus’s teaching. If I don’t want to be aborted, then I don’t abort somebody else!
And yeah, I am gay, but I’m not gay about it! In fact, I have never had sex with anyone. I am Chastity White Rose, the Vegan Virgin. And I am transgender, too, and that’s a lot for some people to handle! But for the context of understanding this post, my views on the topics of abortion and gay marriage are the following.
Abortion is murder and a violation of the Golden Rule. It is also hypocritical to be Vegan and then start killing human babies, which are also animals.
Some people are gay, and they should be able to marry the people they want to. What they do sexually (if they do anything at all, we don’t know. It could be a celibate marriage) is none of my business, nor is it anyone else besides those two people doing it. And I will go a step further and say that gay couples should be able to adopt children too, just the same as straight couples can, but are too busy producing their own and half the time aborting them!
I am one of the few who fully supports all gay and transgender people to do as they wish and not be discriminated against in marriage equality or employment. But I also don’t want them to be murdered before or after birth.
There are others like me, though! That’s why I joined the Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance, and we work to educate people about the evils of abortion and also how it affects those like us who were conceived this way.
Some people call themselves Pro-Life but hate gay people. These people would abort their children if they knew they would be gay. Unfortunately, we have the science to detect genetic “defects” and a Stone Age mentality among the human population, where they will kill anything that they see as a threat.
I only ask people that people let the babies live and let them be fabulous!
Relevant Sources (more may be added later if I find good information)
Born This Way – Lady Gaga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S_vclBlGZo
I Was Born This Way – Carl Bean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aprpKDrJd70
RPLA health-hub Intersex
https://www.instagram.com/p/C77XuQaPctN/
Born This Way: The Science Behind Being Gay (LGBT+ Documentary) | Real Pride
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnXUb0zTNuE
Rainbow Pro-Life Alliance
https://www.rainbowprolife.org/
Every Body (documentary of intersex people and what happened to them)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQAK2vJ5ti4
Chastity White Rose 