You Decide

… that many people believe that denying marriage licenses to homosexuals is not discriminatory?

The question of whether homosexuality is a choice or a naturally occurring phenomenon has been hotly debated. And although several studies have pointed to an innate “gay gene” among homosexuals, many regard the findings as inconclusive, arguing instead that stressors such as childhood sexual abuse often trigger homosexuality.

The notion that homosexuality is a “condition” has given rise to various “ex-gay” or “reparative” efforts that seek to transform homosexuals into heterosexuals through psychological or spiritual counseling. For years, researchers have viewed these efforts skeptically. More recently, though, high-profile researchers such as Columbia University’s Robert Spitzer have acknowledged their efficacy.

In a well-publicized study, Dr. Spitzer, a professor of psychiatry and the university’s chief of biometric research, investigated whether people who identified as gay could, through reparative therapy, become predominantly heterosexual. Although only a few of the study’s subjects reported a complete transformation, the majority of participants in the five-year study reported that they were now predominantly attracted to members of the opposite sex.

“Like most psychiatrists, I thought that homosexual behavior could be resisted, but sexual orientation could not be changed,” Dr. Spitzer told a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. “I now believe that’s untrue—some people can and do change.”

These sorts of findings have prompted many critics to argue that unlike, say, minority racial status (but perhaps similar to a religious belief), homosexuality is a behavioral, not an essential, quality. Homosexuals are not, therefore, being discriminated against when the state refuses to grant them marriage licenses. Rather, lesbians and gays opt out of their opportunity to marry.

Gays can still get married; they just can’t marry anyone of the same sex.