Natural

There's another thread of argument that pops up periodically in the contemporary debates about homosexuality: the argument from nature.  In my reading it has taken one of two forms:

1. Human beings are just another form of animal.  In the animal kingdoms, there are instances of homosexual behaviour.  Homosexuality is therefore natural, and not to be shunned in humans.
2. Homosexual people have an attraction to members of their own sex from a very early stage.  They are therefore most likely born with these urges, rather than choosing them freely.  Genetics is the most likely explanation for homosexual urges, and consequently for homosexual behaviour.  Therefore, homosexuality is just as natural as heterosexuality, and is not to be treated differently.

These arguments underpin arguments in favour of equality, and against discrimination, that are so often advanced in the same-sex marriage debate.  For that reason, it is important to challenge such assertions, and the conclusions sought to be drawn from them.

The argument from animal biology

The chickens come home to roost

In past decades, one of the arguments against homosexuality was that it was unnatural - not found elsewhere in the animal kingdom.  Homosexuality must therefore have been a result of human depravity or sin, or else mental illness, because it was not natural.  Of course, when zoologists started to find instances of homosexual behaviour in other animal species, the argument was turned on its head and is now advanced by some as an argument in favour of homosexuality.  If homosexuality is natural (or at least, not uncommon) animal behaviour, and if humans are simply another species of animal, then we should expect to find it amongst humans.  We therefore should not treat homosexual individuals differently from heterosexual individuals.

There are two problems with this conclusion.

The argument is not reversible

The argument from nature cannot simply be reversed, because some instances of homosexual behaviour is found in some animal populations.  In its original form, people argued that homosexuality was a departure from the norms found in nature - such a great departure that no other species practiced it.  That position is clearly unsustainable today, given that homosexual behaviour has been found in some populations of some species.  However, the basic position is unchanged - homosexuality is still a departure from the norm.  This logic applies, whether the norm is taken as the vast majority of species where there is no observed homosexual behaviour, or the majority of populations and individuals which display no homosexual behaviour, even though it is present in their species.  The "old form" of the argument is clearly weaker, because the departure from the norm is more widespread, and therefore less remarkable.  But is is still a departure, and it is still significant, when one considers the vast majority of animal species.

This objection to the argument is the weaker of the two I want to advance, because it is possible that more instances of homosexual behaviour might be found in the animal kingdom.

The stronger objection follows.

Hidden assumptions and value judgments

The argument from the state of the animal kingdom hides assumptions and value judgments.  This may be most clearly seen with a few examples:

• Baboons organise in male-dominated troops of up to 200 baboons.  The males control the females, violently when necessary.  Subordinate males cooperate with dominant males in exchange for occasional access to females and mating rights.  Competition between baboon troops can lead to open warfare between troops.
• Female macaques mate with as many as four different males each season.
• Female Black widow spiders will occasionally eat the male after mating, although this does not occur every time.  There is significant attrition of the offspring, due in part to cannibalism.
• Unrelated Gorillas, living together in a troop, tend to have weak social bonds and will commonly act aggressively toward each other.  Although females often initiate sexual access and intercourse, female gorillas can be forced to mate with multiple males.  Infant gorillas are at risk of being killed by unrelated adult male gorillas.

Of course, no-one holds up this typical animal behaviour as a model for human behaviour.  Such behaviour is simply not appropriate, not right, for our society.  

And there it is - the flaw in the argument from animal biology.  There is some hidden value judgment operating.  Some value judgment that says that this animal behaviour should be acceptable in humans (say, homosexual acts), but not that (say, pack rape).  That value judgment does not come from nature - so where does it come from?

The argument from genetics

This can be simply dealt with.  The argument runs that homosexual people do not choose their urges or orientation.  They do not choose to be attracted to people of the same sex as them.  Yet those urges are there, they are part of the make-up of that person, part of their DNA.  And if that is so, then it must be right to act on those urges and attractions, and wrong for society or another person to discriminate on the basis of such behaviour.  The argument is one of genetic predetermination: you just can't fight genetics.

To my mind, it is an insufficient answer to this argument to say that no "gay gene" has been discovered - the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  (Of course, without the discovery of such a gene, the argument that genes determine sexuality is necessarily weaker.)

No, the real answer to the argument is this: just because there is a genetic pre-disposition to certain behaviour, does not mean that the behaviour is right.  Again, some examples will demonstrate the point:

• Some people are born with a short fuse.  They get angry rapidly, and respond violently.  Should they be excused on a claim that they are genetically predisposed to violence, and are just acting within their nature?
• Some people are "naturally" greedy - should they be excused when their greed impacts on the claims of another person?
• Some people are born with a tendency to stray - to look for the next relationship or sexual conquest while in the current relationship.  Are they excused by genetics?
• Some people are inherently less honest than others. Should we create a sliding scale of what is acceptably honest behaviour, with reference to parentage and race, perhaps?
• Some people are born with a tendency to addictive behaviour (alcoholism or drug dependency).  Do we expect them simply to give in to genetics?

Clearly, no-one reasonably expects such genetic claims to justify antisocial or immoral behaviour of this sort.  So why the special case for homosexual tendencies?  Again, it is apparent that there is another scale of values working here, under the camouflage of either of the arguments from nature.  And if that is the case, why resort to any sort of argument from nature? 

No-one seriously holds up the animal kingdom as the standard of right conduct, whatever side of the homosexuality debate, whatever ones sexual orientation.  We should all have the decency and respect for each other to truly say what is at the heart of our case, rather than resorting to zoological or genetic window dressing.