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defending the “right” of sheep to be gay? no! lets straiten them!

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December 31, 2006

Experiments that claim to ‘cure’ homosexual rams spark anger

SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.

The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.

It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening” procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay. She said: “How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments?” She said gay men and lesbians would be “deeply offended” by the social implications of the tests.

But the researchers argue that the work is valid, shedding light on the “broad question” of what determines sexual orientation. They insist the work is not aimed at “curing” homosexuality.

Approximately one ram in 10 prefers to mount other rams rather than mate with ewes, reducing its value to a farmer. Initially, the publicly funded project aimed to improve the productivity of herds.

The scientists have been able to pinpoint the mechanisms influencing the desires of “male-oriented” rams by studying their brains. The animals’ skulls are cut open and electronic sensors are attached to their brains.

By varying the hormone levels, mainly by injecting hormones into the brain, they have had “considerable success” in altering the rams’ sexuality, with some previously gay animals becoming attracted to ewes.

Professor Charles Roselli, the Health and Science University biologist leading the research, defended the project.

He said: “In general, sexuality has been under-studied because of political concerns. People don’t want science looking into what determines sexuality.

“It’s a touchy issue. In fact, several studies have shown that people who believe homosexuality is biologically based are less homophobic than people who think that this orientation is acquired.”

The research is being peer-reviewed by a panel of scientists in America, demonstrating that it is being taken seriously by the academic community.

Potentially, the techniques could one day be adapted for human use, with doctors perhaps being able to offer parents pre-natal tests to determine the likely sexuality of offspring or a hormonal treatment to change the orientation of a child.

Roselli has said he would be “uncomfortable” about parents choosing sexuality, but argues that it is up to policy makers to legislate on questions of ethics.

Michael Bailey, a neurology professor at Northwestern University near Chicago, said: “Allowing parents to select their children’s sexual orientation would further a parent’s freedom to raise the sort of children they want to raise.”

Critics fear the findings could be abused.

Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Bioethics at Glasgow Caledonian University, who has written to the researchers pressing them to stop, said: “I don’t believe the motives of the study are homophobic, but their work brings the terrible possibility of exploitation by homophobic societies. Imagine this technology in the hands of Iran, for example.

“It is typical of the US to ignore the global context in which this is taking place.”

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said: “These experiments echo Nazi research in the early 1940s which aimed at eradicating homosexuality. They stink of eugenics. There is a danger that extreme homophobic regimes may try to use these experimental results to change the orientation of gay people.”

He said that the techniques being developed in sheep could in future allow parents to “play God”.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the pressure group, condemned the study as “a needless slaughter of animals, an affront to human dignity and a colossal waste of precious research funds”.

The tests on gay sheep are the latest in a long line of experiments seeking to alter the sexuality of humans and animals.

Günther Dorner, a scientist in the former East Berlin, carried out hormone-altering tests on rodents in the 1960s in the hope of finding a way to eradicate homosexuality.

In 2002, Simon LeVay, an American neurologist, claimed to have discovered that homosexual and heterosexual men had physically different brains. His tests on the corpses of gay men who had died of Aids were widely criticised.

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any thoughts or discussions r most welcome, the implications of this technology r interesting, so r the politics

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please forgive me for this observation.... but you appear somwhat obsessed with homosexuallity....

majority of your posts and thread pertain to such. i mean each to their own, and if you finding your feet/coming out so to speak, be proud. congrats brother ;) but dont feel bad about it due to sterotypes or religous bias.

but hey, i could be WAY off the mark for all i know and probably am, just making an observation brother.

mmmm gay pride lipstick ay?

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Please this thread isnt about me, i dont want to start flamming homo's becuase your taunting me,

oh what the hell

This article is awesome!! We can CURE homosexuality! And asif they should stop this science from advancing, all those people in the closet that dont want to be gay cos its wrong can find themselves a way to cure what plagues them, and allow them to live fulfilling lives.

Tis good this tis very good

amulte, how long til i can sign up for treatment do you think?

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LOL im no expert LOL

Tho there is that daily show episode that might be able to help you ;) theres subliminal tapes and all one guy even 'shakes' out the 'gay'.

but yes, please forgive my observation if it offended you, im not trying to taunt you dude, heheh if i was..... LOL i think id be banned LOL if i have a been or want to pisssomone off, its rather blaintent LOL id openly say 'im trying to piss you off' LOL

bad habit of mine is honesty, gets me in trouble at times LOL no beef, just an observation.

personally i find the avarar tripyy LOL tho the nick change?? hmmm to call ones self narcisistic and go on about 'gays'....well enough said. IF you are, just come out dude, no one will judge you, even if your bi, seriously noone cares and youd be happier once you accept it. IF not, then why the fuss? each to their own, live and let live, love thy neigbhour.... i could go on all day with bible qoutes about how one should accept others.

just know i have no beef with you no matter what you think, as i always say, each to their own. Peace&Love and hey, maybe a little empathy. (HUGS TEPA - AKA Narcissism)

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classic example of reaction formation.

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amulte stop calling me a closet f... p... ho.... homosexual already.

Im not bi either so dont get hyped about having a dual closet opening together cos it aint happnin

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amulte stop calling me a closet f... p... ho.... homosexual already.

well i wasnt caling/accusing you of anything, see the word IF. sall good tho.

Im not bi either so dont get hyped about having a dual closet opening together cos it aint happnin

AWWWW, dammit an i thought the whole "kiss me im irish" thing would work a treat on ya ay?

dangit back to the darwin board i guess LOL

hey, thats a pretty trypy typo, Darwin..ism... LOL

nah i aint pokin fun brother, just playin it LOL

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This is funny

seeing as we cut off the nuts of most male lambs anyway

could be handy on a stud farm though

but what are the long term implications?

if we assist then we may be masking the gene rather than eliminating it

therefore by using patches you might actually amplify these 'gay genes' over a number of generations - as making homosexuals marry and have kids in days not long gone did.

the irony may be that by accepting and allowing public homosexual union and marriage in society - you are actually rapidly breeding it out. whears when you suppress it proliferates. food for thought for anti gays :lol: clunk. try and squeeze that logic tween the doors of blind hate

We dont understand why nature allows homosexuality yet. but the fact that it does means it isnt a lethal mutation for a population

it must have some possible benefit or it would have been bred out eons ago

it is after all something of a vestigial/primitive psychological trait. when sex was invented it would have all been homosexual

sexual differentiation is a later development

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i think this reliance on evolution fixing 'useless' traits is a little sad.

i bring up the example of...ummm... humans, and an insidious argument such as this.

we (humans) are hardly the peak of 'evolution', if anything we are weaker than a lot of animals physically. we are fraglie, affraid, prone to self defeat, greedy...

seriously, enough with this 'pedigree' talk and telling ppl what u think is unnatural... everything that is possible in this world should be accepted as 'right' in it's own right, yr world is small too and obviously flawed in it's incapacity to coexist with peaceful intent so how about a bit of self evaluation, huh?

there are plenty of other forums on in the web that encourage such biggoted conversation so maybe u can check them out... this is a unique forum with an obvious objection to the view u hold and it is a waste of mental function to even the scales constantly...

which reminds me, i have better things to do.

x peace

edit - rev, this is not aimed at u, if it seems as though it is.

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thats cool

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Well science says that its a envitonmental/chemical insult to the fetus.

If some want to think otherwise than science and instrumentation will prove otherwise.

What would I care to have as a lesbian competitor or a male/female surrogate.

More of a social knee jerk reaction against the lepers.

A easy target but only for propaganda purposes.

And that works both ways.

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If we begin to say that whatever occurs is in fact natural and has a natural legitimacy, then the science of medicine and psychiatry reveals itself as a normative exercise shaped by political and social concern.

Why should we not attribute such natural legitimacy to pedophiles, serial killers and drug addicts?-as well as gays, aspergers and schizoids?

Maybe eventually our society will be so encumbered and entranced by such objectivisations that we are unable to defend ourselves from errant elements- that we allow to destroy ourselves as though through some sort of internal disease.

Gayness may not be a problem, but the arguments used to defend it are. Gayness has gained its acceptance through fighting the norms of legitimacy over the last 150 years.

There is nothing natural about accepting gayness because there is nothing natural about acceptance.

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I find it amusing, the intellectual cop-out people use trying to define things as natural or unnatural and defining morality based on that, its just another example of intellectual laziness and manipulations of argument and dogma to justify ones desires or wanton hatred.

Everything that has, does, or can exist is natural in that it arises through natural processes from natural causes and conditions and is effected by natural laws. Serial killers and neutron bombs are just as natural as honey or a wild strawberry.

I partially agree with Thelema, blind acceptance based on dogmatic indoctrination is harmful. However right and wrong are completely independant of natural or the mythological "unnatural". Morality should be determined by examination of the subjects effect to the doer and others. Lets say two gay men who are in love have sex in their bed room, a fundie, skinhead, or some other confused party may say this is 'bad' and 'unnatural'. Having established that nothing is unnatural this only leaves their argument of 'bad'. In that the guys had sex consensually and out of view of the psychologically fragile or easily offended and they loved each other and therefore were engaged in more than mere hedonism it clearly did not hurt themselves, the objecting party might argue he was hurt by the fact that people do that in private but in reality this harm he experiences is self induced by bigotry and a lack of genuine philosophical examination.

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