On June 8, 2017, Facebook Live featured a prominent Catholic priest, James Martin, S.J. He was promoting his book Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. Father Martin said:

That’s the way God created you. I think almost every psychologist and biologist and scientist would agree on that; and certainly LGBT people will tell you that’s the way they always felt – that they had been created that way.

Lady Gaga agrees. She gave this theory its anthem with the 2011 hit “Born This Way.” Activists have codified this claim into a dogma. The origins of homosexuality are now “settled science,” we’re told. One researcher boldly declares: “[W]e’re born this way. Let’s deal with it.” One of the most adamant devotees of the “born gay” theory is Mark Joseph Stern. He covers law and LGBTQ issues for “Slate.” He stated unequivocally:

In study after study, biologists have found that homosexuality, at least in men, is clearly, undoubtedly, inarguably an inborn trait.

Others rely less on scientific studies. Instead they attribute their homosexuality to the will of God. When Apple CEO Tim Cook famously “came-out,” he said: “I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me… .”

Did God Make Me Gay?

In some Catholic quarters, the “born gay” theory is accepted and taught. There’s even an LGBT Catholic on-line video series “Owning Our Faith.” It’s a film project sponsored in part by the New York City parish of St. Paul the Apostle, the motherhouse of the Paulist Fathers. In it, one of the men interviewed stated:

God doesn’t make junk — we are His creation. And we might not fit into some traditional box of human relationships, or marriage, but our energies are real, our reality is real, and it’s not just a matter of accepting us, you have to, or tolerate us, you have to encourage us to be who we are. We are God’s creation, and to deny that is to deny that He knows what the hell he’s doing.

Of course, this isn’t just a Catholic problem. Media reported on the reaction of a Mormon church when a 12-year-old parishioner came out in front of the congregation. They weren’t enthused. But the mother of the girl said:

Savannah wants the Church to know that she isn’t bad, that God loves her, and she is gay because she was born that way.

From Fake Science to Bad Constitutional Law

In his documentary Religulous, atheist commentator Bill Maher flatly states: “Nature made gay people.”

The “born gay” argument formed the basis for the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision. It legalized same-sex marriage. In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote:

Far from seeking to devalue marriage, the petitioners seek it for themselves because of their respect — and need — for its privileges and responsibilities. And their immutable nature dictates that same-sex marriage is their only real path to this profound commitment.

This idea is catching on. A 2015 Pew Research Center poll reported that 41 percent of Americans think that “people are born gay or lesbian.”

Science Offers No Answer

But there is nothing like “settled science” on this issue. Even the pro-LGBT American Psychological Association had to concede that:

There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors.

Despite the lack of science the LGBT community insists that only one answer isn’t bigoted. When asked if homosexuality was a choice, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin answered honestly: “I don’t know. …” The Human Rights Campaign, gay-advocacy group, pounced, called his answer “appalling.”

The origins of homosexuality are now “settled science,” we’re told.

To those who believe that they were “born gay,” it’s an indelible part of their identity. CNN anchor Don Lemon once said: “I was born gay, just as I was born black.”

Call the Cops

Gay lobbyists have fought hard to enforce this orthodoxy. They want to suppress and even outlaw therapy sought by people who don’t want to be gay (“reparative therapy”). See The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act of 2017.

Gay lobbyists have fought hard to enforce this orthodoxy. They want to suppress and even outlaw therapy sought by people who don’t want to be gay.

I’m glad that no such law was in place when I looked for help. As a disaffected and disheartened “gay” man, I went in search of help. I found very few willing to listen. People I knew through the LGBT community told me that I was suffering from “internalized homophobia.” That I hadn’t truly accepted my identity. A few outside therapists and physicians were willing to listen to my story. One of them was Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a pioneer of reparative therapy. And a target of staggering hatred among outraged gay activists. When he passed away, the good doctor was reviled as an “arrogant hate-mongering demagogue.”

That’s the price people pay when they violate the unscientific orthodoxy about homosexuality. They’re vilified. Shunned. And soon they may be prosecuted.

Born Gay But Not Male or Female?

We’re now all supposed to march together and say in unison that gays are “born that way.” But at the very same time we can’t say that about … boys and girls. We must believe that one’s sexual desires are genetic and set in stone, but biological sex is fluid and fleeting. It can change with a person’s feelings. And this is still supposed to be “science.”

In parts two and three of this series, I’ll examine how strange that is, in light of my own struggles and my conversion to Jesus Christ.

Joseph Sciambra is author of Swallowed by Satan: How Our Lord Jesus Christ Saved Me from Pornography, Homosexuality, and the Occult.