The largest study to date on the genetic basis of sexuality (2019)
People latched onto the idea that sexuality is genetically determined because it seemed like the only viable way to defend themselves against rampant religious bigotry and oppression. It was a rope dangling into the well you were trapped in, and the well was filling with acid, but if you could just manage to climb that rope then you&#x27;d make it out. The reasoning went something like &quot;if I can prove that sexuality is genetically predetermined then it means that I didn&#x27;t choose to be this way&quot;. As if genetic predestination were the only possible reason to grant protection to a class. Some people fairly quickly saw the problem with this defense and expanded it to include other uncontrollable elements of childhood development, again leaning on the &quot;if I didn&#x27;t have a choice _then_ it has to be ok&quot;. As if choices were still somehow the problem.<p>But that&#x27;s always been a fucked up idea. It shouldn&#x27;t matter whether it was predetermined or otherwise not in your control. If it&#x27;s constructed then it&#x27;s constructed. If it&#x27;s not then it&#x27;s not. People shouldn&#x27;t be oppressed for their sexuality full stop, regardless of reason.<p>I think the idea of genetic predestination might have been a short-term useful crutch in the past but I hope that we&#x27;ve begun to progress beyond needing people to explain themselves.