There are two dictionary definitions of “homosexuality”: “sexual desire or behaviour directed towards people of one’s own sex” and “the state of being sexually attracted only to people of one’s own sex.” We’re focusing on that second meaning (and the related definition of “bisexuality"). This idea of only being attracted to the same sex was not generally recognized until the late nineteenth century.

 

Before we apply Scripture to anything we need to understand what we’re applying it  to - “homosexuality” and “bisexuality”. If same-sex orientation is fixed as something you’re born with, to force all gay people to only choose between heterosexual marriage or no sex and marriage, is likely to lead to harm for most of them. If so, this should certainly give us pause for thought before accepting a traditionalist interpretation of Scripture because a harmful outcome is the direct opposite of the good outcome we would usually expect from following Scripture (see e.g. Deuteronomy 6:24).

 

But does “homosexuality” in this second meaning even exist and if so what causes it?

 

Save for possibly one verse, the Bible tells us nothing about “homosexuality” in this second meaning, because it wasn’t then known to exist. In Matthew 19:11 Jesus possibly included gay men when referring to “eunuchs born thus from their mother’s womb” and who therefore didn’t seek to marry. If so, this gives Scriptural support for “homosexuality” being fixed before both. However, he says nothing either way about same-sex sex or marriage.

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My own, limited, experience suggests to me there’s a distinction between two types of people who engage in homoerotic sex:

 

• those only interested in pursuing romantic relationships with the opposite sex (heterosexuals) but who sometimes indulge in sexual acts with people of the same sex

•  those romantically and sexually drawn to people of the same sex, regardless of who, if anyone, they have sex with.

 

My own interpretation of the statistical evidence is that probably about 5% of people are gay or bisexual (see part 5 of my main Made Gay? section). But evidence indicates about 6.5% of heterosexuals have had “homosexual” sex. Therefore, the majority of people today who have had “homosexual” sex are actually straight!

 

Many evangelicals today still take the view I used to until 10 years ago about what usually causes homosexuality: parental upbringing – especially a poor relationship with your father. This view came from the 19th century “father of psychology”, Sigmund Freud. However, like most of his theories it has long since been disproved as myth without any evidential basis behind it. Decades of rigorous scientific studies (including identical twins studies) have found no credible evidence that people’s sexuality is caused by their early childhood relationships, including with their parents. The evidence also conclusively shows that children raised by gay same-sex parents are no more likely to turn out gay than those raised by two straight parents.

 

Studies of certain animals, including sheep and penguins, have found a small minority of them mate only with a partner of the same sex. It’s been found that this is caused by certain neurological and hormonal influences happening in the womb, including the size of certain brain nuclei.

 

Ethically, it’s harder to study the biological causes of homosexuality in humans. However, since about 1990 there’s been an explosion of scientific research into this. The findings point to biology as nearly always being the cause of our sexuality and mostly before we're even born.

 

There is no “gay gene”. Instead, research has found various factors affect our sexual make-up, many of them interacting and influencing each other and some playing a bigger or lesser role or no role at all in different individuals. Scientists now consider our sexuality is caused by a complex interplay of factors beyond our control - neurological, genetic, epigenetic, hormonal, chromosomal, and biological environmental influences. Social influences appear to play no part in male same-sex attraction and only a rare, minor part for females.

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Many of those causes appear to be epigenetic - factors outside our DNA sequence that affect the way our genes talk and behave, including things affecting the fetus inside their mother’s womb. For example, it seems if a particular nucleus at the base of the fetus doesn’t get enough testosterone by 12 weeks after conception, estrogen stops it getting to the size/density typically seen in males. This can cause that nucleus to function as partially female, potentially causing male same-sex attraction. The opposite can happen in some females causing female same-sex attraction. 

   

Chromosomal, genetic and hormonal variations are what causes a small but significant minority of people to be intersex - born with biological characteristics of both sexes. About 1.7% of people have some intersex trait, of which about  0.5% have mixed sexual or reproductive organs. (This scientific fact does not change despite a Presidential order declaring that people are either male or female from conception!)

 

Intersex is not the same as transgender, but it’s very likely that very many who identify as transgender or non-binary do so because they are biologically intersex in some way. It’s also likely that for many gay, lesbian or bisexual people, a contributor to their sexual orientation is because they're slightly intersex in some way,  e.g. physically a person may appear fully female but chromosomally might be partly male causing them to be sexually attracted to other women rather than men.

 

Most gay or bisexual people are not biologically intersex. However, the scientific evidence shows that nearly always what causes their same-sex attraction is that in some way they have a little more of the opposite gender thrown into their biological mix. The scientific consensus is that these things are nearly always hard-wired into us, impossible to change and primarily occur before we’re even born.

 

Should these variations in our gender and sexuality - caused by complex biological processes through which God “knit us together ​[mostly] "in [our] mother’s womb” - be celebrated? As something that makes each of us “fearfully and wonderfully” and uniquely different?

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Next stop ... press here for our exploration of the New Testament "clobber" texts.

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