While gay marriages have been variously performed, overturned, and sanctioned — most recently in Spain — the question lingers: What makes you gay? And, more importantly, why does that matter?  

A recent article published in The Boston Globe summarizes the theories relating to homosexual behavior; it is entirely unresolved whether homosexuality is determined on the cellular or genetic level, in the social sphere, or in related hormonal developments and reactions, or a myriad of determining factors.  

Scientific breakthroughs aside, one reason to determine the source of homosexuality would be to further social acceptance. Should homosexuality be explained as an inborn characteristic, certain biases would lose their foundations. The ambiguously named Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization, spawned the book Getting It Straight, in which the organization claims that should there be research that proves that homosexuality is an innate characteristic that precedes any nurture, such a discovery “would advance the idea that sexual orientation is an innate characteristic, like race; that homosexuals, like African-Americans, should be legally protected against ‘discrimination;’ and that disapproval of homosexuality should be as socially stigmatized as racism. However, it is not true.”

It was only in 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association scrapped homosexuality from its list of mental disorders; in an ideal world, a scientific explanation of homosexuality would melt away the profoundly illogical prejudices that can accompany discussions related to homosexuality.

Mimi Hanaoka