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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-2524408.html

Science told: hands off gay sheep
Isabel Oakeshott and Chris Gourlay

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.

As with plenty of what Science can and has brought us, scientists have somehow attained a certain power of “playing God”. You can make a carbon copy of yourself, and rip the liver out of your doppelganger in order to save yourself. If you, by the wonders of nature, are unable to produce offspring with your spouse (or maybe dislike sex), you can make a baby manually. Moreover, you can genetically engineer your baby by adjusting intelligence levels and manipulate the physical features before fertilization. Amongst the many things scientists seem to toy around with sex quite a bit. From being able to switch adult genitalia, we have progressed to choosing the sex of our children, to being thrown with the prospect of choosing the child’s sexual orientation. Or more like removing sexual orientation since this term is used only when having to mention homosexuality and other orientations that don’t flow with the mainstream. There is a global trend towards gay equality but if they implement this experiment on humans we will be a world that refutes diversity. I’m a non-believer of God, but I’m sure there’s a reason why we’re not uniform and machines — we can’t and shouldn’t be pre-programmed, reformatted, nor defragmented.

Imagine, say 20 years from now, these programmed kids will be asking their parents: How come those two men/women are getting it on? And their parents would tell them of how people before the kids’ generation were born with defects that could not be reprogrammed, whilst these kids, version 1.0 of the new generation were produced with meticulous calculations of beauty and intelligence genes, with the removal of any homosexual tendencies, can be modified at any time with any new developments, lets say a too-slow-to-orgasm bug fix, or a foreplay-knowhow plugin, and thus upgrade to 2.0 beta version, etc.

One fine day a smart kid will find that it can relate to a computer so well, you’ll find him fucking the computer USB ports. Haha, new tendency for you to remove.