Identities have etiologies and consequences. Given the ascendence of what is called Queer Identity it would behove us to take a deep dive. Note that the term Queer used here refers not to gays, lesbians, or bisexuals per se. The term Queer used here refers to “Queer Identity,” specifically a social identity that supersedes anything as pedestrian as sexual preference. A Queer Identity goes above and beyond simply being gay or lesbian. It is a group identity that needs frequent reinforcing. It needs tribal badges, community centers, university studies departments, and lots of flags. Some followers have a need to feel discriminated against. That makes sense, given that discrimination is the highest form of validation within the oppressor-oppressed framework that gave birth to this identity. But all this reinforcing just reflects the lack of any substance. Human sexuality is just human sexuality. To categorize its many permutations, and assign special meaning to all but the most dominant one, only serves to reinforce the notion that sexual orientation matters. If you can’t separate human sexuality from the idea of Queer you have drunk the Kool-aid.
This kind of emotional investment resides internally. As all identities do. And like most identities it has an external source. Children form their identities based on the environment they grow up with. Adults build upon that with cues taken from the larger society. If one receives a consistent message that homosexuals are different enough to be labeled “queer,” and one is homosexual, then of course one will identify with the idea of “queerness.” Humans are wired this way. It can’t be helped. Therefore anyone who identifies as Queer is actually quite normal. They are just people doing what people do: believing they are who they are told they are. They are not guilty of anything. The guilty parties are those who promote this identity for a paycheck, as in academia, and those who use it for political gain, as in the American Left. These people of influence should know better. And they probably do. But the advantages that come from propagating the fiction of Queerness is just too good to pass up. More importantly, in many circles, it is the safe choice. People just want to avoid conflict.
Defenders of the Queer Identity will claim the word “queer” is a taking back of a term previously used to denigrate. In certain contexts that might be true. Think comedy. But for an identity? No other minority does this. Black people don’t identify with the n word to “take it back.” They use it for inside jokes. They rightfully lay claim to have exclusive use of the word-a rational way to take it back. Yet they are wise enough to know that a basis for identity it should never be. Of course there are no (n word) community centers. Likewise we homosexuals could use the q word for inside jokes. As we do with the f and d words. But no. We are supposed to make Queer our identity and expect others to see us that way too. This is not empowerment. This is capitulation to the heteronormative standard. Think about it. The claim that anything outside of the heteronormative standard is by definition “queer” (i.e. substantially different) serves to separate us from the mainstream more than we otherwise would be. Since when does something that has existed throughout human history and is observed almost universally in all species any way “queer?”
Yes we homosexuals feel different than the heterosexual mainstream. In the larger culture around us straight people are far more visible than gay people. This profound feeling of being different makes the Kool-aid of Queer feel particularly apropos. But societies do this for everything, not just sexuality. That a particular condition of the myriad of human conditions gets less than equal coverage is not intentionally unjust. It just reflects the nature of society. We may be correct to point out underrepresentation. And efforts to change that are not without merit. But culture has always, and will always, reflect the experience of the majority. Those with greater numbers get more air time so to speak. So what? It matters not. One learns to handle the insecurity of being a minority. There may be injustices. But we will carry on secure in the knowledge that while some may view us as profoundly different we know we are, in fact, not that different. To insist we are significantly different and expect others see us that way makes it far more difficult to secure and keep civil rights. The blowback we are experiencing is a direct result of Queer Identity.
Alas, this feeling of being profoundly different, at the heart of all our troubles, is hard to shake. Once invested in it as the most important part of one’s identity it becomes near impossible to escape. It is not just this ascension of this identity that gives sexuality far more attention than it rationally deserves. It is also the nature of this kind of difference. On the surface it appears to be some kind of aberration because homosexuals don’t reproduce. So there must be a cause of our homosexuality, right? Let’s make our way through this political minefield. On the one hand it would be nice to have proof it is not a choice. That would quiet the fervor from religious fundamentalists. On the other hand, a definitive cause would give birth to treatment-a horrible prospect that only those unable to understand how humans can be wired differently from themselves would deem acceptable. Thankfully, for every study that attempts to show homosexuality is “caused” by either nature or nuture, or some particular combination thereof, there is another study that completely refutes that. The most rational approach to this question of “cause” is, in fact, to understand why we ask it in the first place. If we can explore why this kind of human difference makes us so uncomfortable we can begin to understand where this question comes from. It comes from noncompliance to social norms. Humans are wired to dislike nonconformity. Understanding this within yourself helps to manage the uncomfortable feelings.
But for those who still can’t let this question go, here is the most likely answer: whatever causes homosexuality is the same thing that causes heterosexuality. Both sexual orientations have sex because it feels good. Mother nature may be gaming for reproduction but that is not the reason most individuals have sex. Desires are no doubt tied to genetics and therefore the object of affection is no doubt also tied to genetics. Let’s dig deeper and consider the field of epigenetics, the study of how gene expression is affected by environment. There is likely a gene for attraction to females and there is likely a gene for attraction to males. While everyone most likely has a bit of both, most males likely have more of the former and most females likely have more of the latter. Each gene exists within an environment, from utero through puberty and beyond. Genes either get up regulated (which promotes expression) or down regulated (which inhibits expression) by their environment. Health experts are fond of saying that for many modern diseases it is genetics that loads the gun and lifestyle that pulls the trigger. Epigenetics matter.
It has long been known that a statistically significant percentage of gay men have older brothers. It has also long been known that a second male fetus changes the hormones of the mother. Thus the in utero environment is different for second and subsequent male fetuses. This in utero environment for subsequent male fetuses might act to down regulate attraction to females and up regulate attraction to males. Now throw in natural selection. For millions of years humans lived in small tribes. It only takes one male to father many offspring. If subsequent males experience an in utero environment more likely to make them homosexual then the tribe benefits from reduced mating conflict. More harmonious tribes have an evolutionary advantage over less harmonious tribes.
It makes sense then that male homosexuality may be an evolutionary adaptation that promotes tribal cohesion and cooperation. Ask any straight guy competing for the affections of a female if he would mind if other potential suitors were gay. He would most likely welcome it! Lesbianism also offers a potential tribal advantage. Less female interest in males would reduce sexual activity with highly desirable males-males that already had an advantage propagating their genes. The result would be more genetically diverse offspring from a wider cohort of males, conferring an evolutionary advantage to the tribe. What we know to be consent didn’t always exist. Nor was there any understanding of sexual preference per se. Tribal females more interested in each other than in males, and tribal males more interested in each other than in females, probably garnered no attention or contemplation. What little evidence there is suggests that same sex activity wasn’t seen any particular way for most of human existence. Judgement didn’t arrive until religions with a supreme being, and that supreme being’s commandments, took hold.
So for those who can’t shake the need for a “cause,” there you have it. The interplay between epigenetics and natural selection. That all of us have the genetics to be attracted to both males and females, with each gene up regulated or down regulated to various degrees, helps explain all the points along the hetero to homo spectrum. This ability to be attracted to both sexes need not be a problem unless society makes it so. Alas, society will always make it so because that is the nature of society. Rules and norms dictate “reality.” Males are supposed to be attracted to females and females are supposed to be attracted to males. Desires for the “wrong” sex need not be explored. Desires for the “right” sex will need to be explored. Totally understandable. Some discover they only have desire for their own sex and learn to accept it (or not). Lucky are those who live in enlightened societies that encourage exploration and acceptance wherever one lands on the spectrum.
Unlucky are those who live in strict heteronormative societies. The stricter the heteronormative standard the more likely the explanation for homosexuality will be “born in the wrong body.” The worst of these societies are found in the Islamic world. In some Islamic countries those found to be gay or lesbian are given a choice to either be stoned to death or transition to the opposite sex. Our heteronormative standard in the west isn’t reinforced via religious barbarity. Our heteronormative standard in the west is reinforced via identity politics. Transitioning isn’t required per se. But it is encouraged for those so inclined by some “experts” who accept the surface logic of “being in the wrong body.” Trans people themselves have no blame here. Blame lies squarely on “experts” who can’t see past the heteronormative standard. Instead of helping patients question overly narrow male and female constructs, they confirm the narrow constructs in order to validate their patient’s “wrong body” hypothesis. How much more helpful it would be to explain that real men can enjoy makeup (yes, they really can) and real women can enjoy sports (yes, they really can). If the biological men who scream “we are real women” were truly enlightened they would be screaming “we are real men” because real men can enjoy make up and skirts. Are you able to see that? The power of normative standards makes seeing that difficult. Queer ideology makes it virtually impossible.
So what exactly is and is not queer then? Sexual attraction, regardless of whether it is same sex or opposite sex, isn’t “queer.” Sexual attraction is just epigenetics in action. Evolution doing its thing. Nor is having, or enjoying, a particular trait any way queer. That a particular trait might be attributed to the opposite sex says nothing about the individual and says everything about society’s norms. Yet Queer says that certain attractions, and certain traits, are “queer” if they don’t “match” the “correct” biological sex. There is in fact nothing at all queer about these things. What is actually queer is the slavish devotion to heteronormative standards, and the reinforcement thereof, that a Queer Identity perpetuates.