Being gay is no conscious decision - expert

Pieter Cilliers and Robert Hamblin listen to Prof Michael Pepper from the University of Pretoria giving a lecture entitled The science of our times.

Pieter Cilliers and Robert Hamblin listen to Prof Michael Pepper from the University of Pretoria giving a lecture entitled The science of our times.

Published Feb 17, 2014

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Pretoria - For many people, being gay is not a choice. Science, at a molecular level, has shown that environmentally-induced “variations” in the expression of one’s genes (epigenetics) before birth, can lead to variations from perceived societal normality that the affected person is not responsible for.

This was the topic of Professor Michael Pepper’s public lecture on sex determination and gender identity at the Atterbury Theatre recently.

Pepper is a world-renowned scientist, director of the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and a professor in the Department of Immunology at the University of Pretoria.

The lecture was the third in a series of public lectures entitled The Science of our Times.

Pepper said because the factors that caused variations in gene-expression were present before birth, that was not a conscious decision and was out of the affected person’s control.

The variations are caused by chemical changes to the human genome, which can be acquired through environmental factors or inherited from one’s parents.

“Because nature is not perfect, there are variations in some of the processes that ultimately determine who and what we are,” said Pepper.

Pepper explained how an egg cell was fertilised in the mother’s womb and how it developed into an embryo. He also explained how each cell had strands of DNA and how DNA was organised into chromosomes. There are more than 25 000 genes in each person’s DNA.

Epigenetics is the process in which chemical changes are made to genes, which leads to them being switched on or off (this is called gene expression and gene repression).

Sometimes epi-marks (the chemical changes responsible for changes in gene expression) from the unborn child’s parents are not properly erased – and this can lead to “variations” in the person’s genetics.

“Variations” do not refer to mistakes, but rather to differences from what is perceived to be the norm by society.

Such variations can lead to high cholesterol, cystic fibrosis, diabetes or homosexuality.

High cholesterol is invisible (it cannot be seen) even though the consequences can be dramatic (for example heart attacks).

Visible variations (which can be seen) include body weight and height, and skin colour such as albinism.

“Only when a variation causes distress or suffering or significantly affects the individual’s personal, social or occupational life can it be considered a disorder or a disease,” Pepper said.

 

Some variations are of no consequence to the individual, but others, such as homosexuality can seriously affect an individual.

“If these variations are visible to the outside world, the people are pushed to the fringes of society and discriminated against,” Pepper said.

As part of understanding the challenges homosexual and transgender individuals face, Pepper invited Robert Hamblin, a photographer from Cape Town, and Pieter Cilliers, a renowned media figure, to share their experiences with the audience.

Hamblin, previously known as Adele Hamblin, underwent gender reassignment surgery (a sex change), after he struggled with his female gender for several decades.

Cilliers wrote a book, entitled Pilgrim, about his struggle to accept his homosexuality.

Pepper said it could be considered “miraculous that we even function at all” because of the vast possibility for variations and mutations in gene expression.

“Because the development of biological sex is a complex process, there is more room for variation. Most people (60 to 70 percent) fit the blueprint within what society considers to be the range of normality,” said Pepper.

During the first trimester of pregnancy, the embryo’s physical sex is determined.

Its gonads and internal and external reproductive organs are formed.

The embryo’s gender at this stage is then considered to be either male or female.

It can happen that an individual has reproductive organs that cannot be distinguished as being male or female (intersex/hermaphrodite).

However, the embryo’s psychological sex determination (the masculinity or femininity of their psyche) is only developed during the second trimester, after the sex organs have formed.

If anything happens to the embryo during the second trimester, such as lack of the effect of the hormone testosterone, this can lead to a feminine psyche which in turn can affect the person’s sexual orientation.

Therefore, it is very possible to have a male child with a female psychological sex and vice versa.

Gender is a societal construct, and Pepper highlighted that a person’s sexual orientation is determined independently of their gender identity.

“The fact that someone has male genitalia doesn’t mean that their brain and psyche are masculine,” said Pepper.

Being attracted to individuals of the same sex is not only found in humans.

Many species in the animal kingdom have been documented as exhibiting some form of same-sex behaviour, and this has been well-documented in approximately 500 species, including domesticated sheep.

Ten percent of rams that refused to mate with their female counterparts did however mate with other rams.

It has been calculated that between 8 and 10 percent of the population of any given species, including humans, display same-sex behaviour or are homosexual.

Despite research showing homosexuality as an unintended genetic variation, that the person cannot control or be held responsible for, seven countries around the world have legislation that includes the death penalty for homosexuality.

Eighty countries have anti-homosexuality laws.

Last year, the highest court in Australia overturned a law allowing same-sex marriages.

The South African constitution in Section 9 states: “The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.”

This makes it illegal by law to discriminate against a homosexual person.

“Yet we still have instances of corrective rape in our country,” Pepper said.

 

Transgender Robert Hamblin:

He was born a girl, Adele, in 1969.

“My experience of life was not as a girl but, I did not have the tool little boys had,” he said.

When he hit puberty, Hamblin said he realised his female body did not fit him.

“I looked at men and thought I’d like to be that. I looked at women and I knew that was not what I was,” he said.

When he travelled to the US as an adult, he met a transgender man and realised he wanted to undergo gender reassignment surgery at the age of 35. The entire process, including constructing a penis for him and undergoing hormone therapy, took two years.

“For the first time I felt joy. I connected with my humanness and felt safe,” he said.

He does not necessarily have a sexual orientation, but is attracted to men or women who have a female psyche.

 

Homosexual Pieter Cillers:

He grew up near Rustenburg in an Afrikaans family.

His father was a metalwork teacher and his mother a secretary.

“There was nothing in my early years that could have led to my homosexuality. I had a normal childhood,” he said.

He realised he was attracted to men when he fell in love with a boy named Andries in high school.

“I wanted to rest my head on his shoulder,” he writes in his autobiography Pilgrim.

In an attempt to rid himself of his “affliction”, Cilliers studied to be a minister.

“I realised though that religion could not take it away,” he said.

A psychiatrist and two years of aversion shock therapy also did not help.

“I tried everything to become heterosexual. I tried going out with a lot of women, I tried religion and I tried the aversion therapy. Everything I tried could not change my sexual orientation,” he said.

Cilliers finally accepted his sexuality after he was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a condition that causes facial paralysis.

His book was released in May last year.

Pretoria News

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