Born Gay - created by advertising consultants - now the story has changed
“There are a lot of lesbians who subscribe to the ‘born this way’ narrative, in part because it’s become almost an obligatory story. If you support gay rights then you have to believe that.”
After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s.
We know now that that book was the most effective public relations strategy for the gay-rights movement, and it was then known as the gay-rights movement. It hadn’t expanded in the ways now reflected in terms of the initials LGBTQ and that expanding number of consonants. But we also need to look at the fact that this book written by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen was not only an argument for how the gay-rights movement should make its case, it’s actually in retrospect exactly how the movement did make its case.
In chapter after chapter, Kirk and Madsen indicated how the gay-rights movement would have to change its argument and therefore change the story that Americans understood about the morality of sexual behavior and the origins and the very existence of the idea of sexual orientation.
Back in their book, they argued that homosexuals would advance their cause by arguing explicitly that they were born that way. They offered very candid public relations advice. And, by the way, the authors were public relations consultants. That’s not an accident. They wrote, and I quote, remember this book was published in 1989,
So it’s interesting to note that these two authors even back in 1989 acknowledged that sexual orientation was more complex than the arguments that the gay activists would make, and that’s even how they refer to themselves. They went on to write very explicitly,
That tells you something about the intellectual and cultural conversation on these issues back in the end of the 1980s, but one of the things that this book makes very clear is that the vast majority of Americans had not even heard of the idea of sexual orientations even by the year 1989. But they would hear about it a great deal thereafter, and the argument that would be put forth not only those who identified as part of what they then called the gay-rights movement, but by the cultural elites in terms of academia Hollywood, the totality of entertainment, the mass media. They all told the story over and over again.
Now as Christians think about this, even before we look further at the USA Today article, we have to come to understand that there is something to the category of sexual orientation.
Back in their book, they argued that homosexuals would advance their cause by arguing explicitly that they were born that way. They offered very candid public relations advice. And, by the way, the authors were public relations consultants. That’s not an accident. They wrote, and I quote, remember this book was published in 1989,
“We argue that, for all practical purposes, gays should be considered to have been born gay–even though sexual orientation, for most humans,” they concede, “seems to be the product of a complex interaction between innate predispositions and environmental factors during childhood and early adolescence.”
So it’s interesting to note that these two authors even back in 1989 acknowledged that sexual orientation was more complex than the arguments that the gay activists would make, and that’s even how they refer to themselves. They went on to write very explicitly,
“To suggest in public that homosexuality might be chosen is to open the can of worms labeled ‘moral choices and sin’ and give the religious intransigents a stick to beat us with. Straights must be taught that it is as natural for some persons to be homosexual as it is for others to be heterosexual: wickedness and seduction have nothing to do with it.”
That tells you something about the intellectual and cultural conversation on these issues back in the end of the 1980s, but one of the things that this book makes very clear is that the vast majority of Americans had not even heard of the idea of sexual orientations even by the year 1989. But they would hear about it a great deal thereafter, and the argument that would be put forth not only those who identified as part of what they then called the gay-rights movement, but by the cultural elites in terms of academia Hollywood, the totality of entertainment, the mass media. They all told the story over and over again.
Now as Christians think about this, even before we look further at the USA Today article, we have to come to understand that there is something to the category of sexual orientation.
There’s something to the understanding that most human beings, most adults and adolescents, simply don’t know where some of their own sexual thoughts and inclinations may come from. But one of the things that we also know is that there’s been a concerted effort to try to argue that it is basically innate, it’s predetermined, it’s probably biological or genetic, and in any sense it is supposed to remove the entire category of morality from the entire discussion.
That’s the stunningly successful part of the fact that they told the story over and over again, that the story was driven so deeply and widely throughout the entire culture.
But we’re talking about this issue today not so much to look backwards, but to look at the present and forward. What we’re looking at today is the fact that the newspaper USA Today understands that this story is changing, that the very people who were telling the story and driving the story are now changing the story, and USA Today is right. That is significant.
The article continues by citing Jane Ward, a professor of gender studies at the University of California at Riverside. She said,
But she goes on to say,
That’s the word she uses. And for some people, it’s something they claim ownership of over time. The USA Today article then goes on to say it’s not a hard choice between “born this way” or “I chose this way.” They cite research published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest in which we are told researchers wrote that,
“Whether sexual orientation is a choice is a poor phrase for advancing our understanding of sexuality. We choose our actions,” according to the researchers, “not our feelings.”
But the fact that the story has been told and that the story is being revised comes down to this statement in the USA Today article,
“The story we’ve long been told is that a combination of genes (such as xx or xy chromosomes) and early exposure to sex hormones (such as testosterone or estrogen) make us who we are. They influence the formation of ‘male brains’ and ‘female brains,’ and that same process, it’s been said, also shapes ‘gay brains’ and ‘straight brains.’… biological factors,” according to this story, “drive our sexual desires, our personalities, what toys we play with as children, what jobs we choose when we become adults.… Gay and straight. Male and female. We’re just wired differently.”
Then Dastagir writes,
“As the patchwork of studies that make up this story receive more and more scrutiny, holes appear.”
But we’re talking about this issue today not so much to look backwards, but to look at the present and forward. What we’re looking at today is the fact that the newspaper USA Today understands that this story is changing, that the very people who were telling the story and driving the story are now changing the story, and USA Today is right. That is significant.
The article continues by citing Jane Ward, a professor of gender studies at the University of California at Riverside. She said,
“There are a lot of lesbians who subscribe to the ‘born this way’ narrative, in part because it’s become almost an obligatory story. If you support gay rights then you have to believe that.”
But she goes on to say,
“There’s now almost 50 years of scholarship on how people come to understand their queerness.”
That’s the word she uses. And for some people, it’s something they claim ownership of over time. The USA Today article then goes on to say it’s not a hard choice between “born this way” or “I chose this way.” They cite research published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest in which we are told researchers wrote that,
“Whether sexual orientation is a choice is a poor phrase for advancing our understanding of sexuality. We choose our actions,” according to the researchers, “not our feelings.”
But the fact that the story has been told and that the story is being revised comes down to this statement in the USA Today article,
“The story we’ve long been told is that a combination of genes (such as xx or xy chromosomes) and early exposure to sex hormones (such as testosterone or estrogen) make us who we are. They influence the formation of ‘male brains’ and ‘female brains,’ and that same process, it’s been said, also shapes ‘gay brains’ and ‘straight brains.’… biological factors,” according to this story, “drive our sexual desires, our personalities, what toys we play with as children, what jobs we choose when we become adults.… Gay and straight. Male and female. We’re just wired differently.”
Then Dastagir writes,
“As the patchwork of studies that make up this story receive more and more scrutiny, holes appear.”
So the story that we were told is the real story of human sexuality and especially sexual orientation is now a story that USA Today tells us, and we note tells us now, is full of holes.
By the way it’s really interesting to note that the holes in the story are being pointed out by researchers who were largely making the new arguments that the LGBTQ movement is making. These arguments include the fact that there are many who don’t want to say they were born this way, who actually want to champion a certain form of personal autonomy, to make very clear that they did not merely find this sexual orientation imposed upon them. They very willingly and gladly identify in terms of the sexual orientation they now claim.
And also there is the new issue of fluidity. This was explicitly identified as heresy in the story that was told by the gay-rights activists in the 1990s and beyond. But that heresy has now become something of a new orthodoxy and that has become very, very evident once again in the expanding consonants that make up the LGBTQ movement.
There are several observations from a Christian biblical worldview that are really important here. As I said earlier, there’s no reason for Christians committed to that biblical worldview to deny the existence of something like sexual orientation. But there’s every reason for Christians to understand that this cannot be merely a matter of some kind of biological determinism.
And also there is the new issue of fluidity. This was explicitly identified as heresy in the story that was told by the gay-rights activists in the 1990s and beyond. But that heresy has now become something of a new orthodoxy and that has become very, very evident once again in the expanding consonants that make up the LGBTQ movement.
There are several observations from a Christian biblical worldview that are really important here. As I said earlier, there’s no reason for Christians committed to that biblical worldview to deny the existence of something like sexual orientation. But there’s every reason for Christians to understand that this cannot be merely a matter of some kind of biological determinism.
The Scripture doesn’t speak of us that way. Rather, the Scripture speaks of the totality of everything that makes us a human individual of being affected by and essentially corrupted by sin. And that corruption is going to show up in many different ways. It’s going to show up in the fact that there will not be a single human being who will stand on the day of judgment without sin. And that means in terms of humanity’s sexual sin as well.
A second thing Christians have to understand is that there is absolutely no biblical category whatsoever for arguing that our sexual behavior is in any way determined by factors outside of ourselves, that human sexual behavior is something that the Scripture makes very clear is our personal responsibility.
A second thing Christians have to understand is that there is absolutely no biblical category whatsoever for arguing that our sexual behavior is in any way determined by factors outside of ourselves, that human sexual behavior is something that the Scripture makes very clear is our personal responsibility.
Thirdly, there is no rationale in Scripture whatsoever, there’s no room in Scripture at all for arguing that somehow we can claim a sexual orientation that can be in conflict with the clear teachings of Scripture.
The biblical worldview can certainly accommodate and understand the claim that every single human being north of puberty experiences sexual impulses that are unbidden. They are uninvited. But the Christian biblical worldview having understood that that’s the reality then turns in the power of the Gospel to say, but that cannot be the end of the story.
The biblical worldview can certainly accommodate and understand the claim that every single human being north of puberty experiences sexual impulses that are unbidden. They are uninvited. But the Christian biblical worldview having understood that that’s the reality then turns in the power of the Gospel to say, but that cannot be the end of the story.
A sovereign, omnipotent, gracious, and loving Creator made us in His image, gave us the gift of sexuality, boundaried that gift of sexuality within the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and makes very clear our moral accountability for every dimension of our lives, including our sexual lives. He has shown us the way that is right and good, and furthermore, he has called us to faithfulness and to obedience. Those categories in Scripture are abundantly clear.
But in terms of the larger culture, the important thing to recognize here is just how effective this story was. It’s important for us now to know the very people who were making the argument, who were telling the story, that very movement is now changing the story, but changing it only after the story had such a dramatic and apparently lasting impact upon the culture, changing the argument, shifting the ground from morality to “born this way,” turned out to be an act of cultural, revolutionary, public-relations genius. It never was the true story in terms of how we should understand it. It certainly was never the complete story, and now USA Todayannounces the very people who were telling the story are now changing the story.
But in terms of the larger culture, the important thing to recognize here is just how effective this story was. It’s important for us now to know the very people who were making the argument, who were telling the story, that very movement is now changing the story, but changing it only after the story had such a dramatic and apparently lasting impact upon the culture, changing the argument, shifting the ground from morality to “born this way,” turned out to be an act of cultural, revolutionary, public-relations genius. It never was the true story in terms of how we should understand it. It certainly was never the complete story, and now USA Todayannounces the very people who were telling the story are now changing the story.
