Dobson on Gay

From Larry King Live:

KING: We discussed this before in the past, but not recently: Do you still believe that being gay is a choice rather than a given?

DOBSON: I never did believe that.

KING: Oh, you don't believe it.

DOBSON: I don't believe that. Neither do I believe it's genetic. I said that...

KING: Then what is it?

DOBSON: I said that on your program one time and both of us got a lot of mail for it. I don't blame homosexuals for being angry when people say they've made a choice to be gay because they don't.

It usually comes out of very, very early childhood, and this is very controversial, but this is what I believe and many other people believe, that is has to do with an identity crisis that occurs to early to remember it, where a boy is born with an attachment to his mother and she is everything to him for about 18 months, and between 18 months and five years, he needs to detach from her and to reattach to his father.

It's a very important developmental task and if his dad is gone or abusive or disinterested or maybe there's just not a good fit there. What's he going to do? He remains bonded to his mother and...

KING: Is that clinically true or is that theory?

DOBSON: No, it's clinically true, but it's controversial. What homosexual activists, especially, would like everybody to believe is that it is genetic, that they don't have any choice. If it were genetic, Larry -- and before we went on this show, you and I were talking about twin studies -- if it were genetic, identical twins would all have it. Identical twins, if you have a homosexuality in one twin, it would be there in the other.

KING: Right.

DOBSON: So, it can't be simply genetic. I do believe that there are temperaments that individuals are born with that make them more vulnerable and maybe more likely to move in that direction, but it usually is related to a sexual identity crisis.

Well, let's see -- no, the causes as Dobson describes them are not "clinically true." That's a variation on Freudian theory (developed by Freud's followers, not by Freud, who admitted he had no clue as to the causes of homosexuality) that has been discredited for quite some time. It's also a gross oversimplification. What the hell is a "sexual identity crisis," anyway?

My own theory is simply that, like so many other human conditions, homosexuality is the result of a series of conditions and events, starting with a genetic pre-disposition and cascading through the events and circumstances of an individual's development. (And the way human genetics works, the search for a "gay gene" is futile -- as we are learning, there is a series of influences that genes exert on each other, which is why, I think, Kinsey finally came up with his scale -- there are degrees of orientation, as seems to be borne out by the range of behaviors.) Some people are able to repress their same-sex desires. Others don't bother. Some just can't. I think that's the logical result of predisposition and conditioning. The only "sexual identity crisis" happens when following one's natural orientation is not held out as an option.

And please note, it's been a long time since I've followed this topic closely and a lot of research has been done in the meantime, but everything I've seen tends to support my thinking. And I, at least, am willing to say that I don't know for sure, not having the kind of mindset that relies on absolute truth handed down from absolute authority.

As to what motivates people like King to give demogogues like Dobson air time -- well, they created him, so now they can make use of him. I guess. Won't do to have a legitimate discussion of something like this. That would be too much like Dick Cavett.