Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture?

“That’s so gay”.

I’m sure you’ve heard these before — words and labels used to deprecate another person, especially when they’re considered “different”, or stray slightly from the standard societal norms. This attitude of discrimination and prejudice against a person’s idiosyncrasy has become all too common in a socially conservative and religion-driven society like Malaysia.

It’s unfortunate to see how we suffer from the dead forms and conventions that clutter our culture.

As the saying goes, ignorance breeds contempt, and I was guilty of this. Being a former ignorant bigot, I used to condemn the LGBTQ+ community, looking down on them with utter disgust. How can a person choose to be gay? As it turns out, apparently it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Innumerable books, articles and research have slowly proven that being LGBTQ+ is not a lifestyle choice, but rather, it is a part of who they are.

“A poet’s work is to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep”.

— Salman Rushdie

After doing some reading, I thought I’d document my findings on LGBTQ+ in this blog entry, typically on homosexuality, since it is the most common. I understand that this is a provocative topic and not all will approve of it, so I can only wish my readers to be open-minded and hopefully this will be an eye-opening read for everyone.

What is LGBTQ+ ?

Over the years, numerous terms to describe gender identity have come up that it’s hard, even for myself, to keep up.

LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and “plus,” which represents other sexual identities including pansexual, asexual and omnisexual. It’s the accepted and inclusive way to refer to the queer community, who can be grouped by one common theme: the fact they don’t identify as straight or cisgender.

Homosexuality describes a person who is sexually attracted to people of their own sex. Lesbians (for women) and gays (for men) fall under this platform.

The word homosexual is a Greek and Latin hybrid, with the first element derived from Greek homos, “same” (not related to the Latin homo, “man”, as in Homo sapiens), thus connoting sexual acts and affections between members of the same sex.

The first known appearance of homosexual in print is found in an 1869 German pamphlet by the Austrian-born novelist Karl-Maria Kertbeny, published anonymously, arguing against a Prussian anti-sodomy law.

The word ‘lesbian’ initially refers to a person hailing from the island of Lesbos in ancient Greece. Sappho, a renown female poet who lived in that island during the 6 BC, claimed to have written many love poems addressed to women and girls — sometimes requited, and sometimes not (as probably we all can relate to).

“Sweet mother, I cannot weave,

Slender Aphrodite has overcome me with longing for a girl”.

— A poem by Sappho

Sappho is thought to have written close to 12,000 lines of poetry on her love for other women. Of these, only about 600 lines have survived. As a result of her fame in antiquity, she and her land have become emblematic of love between women.

History of Homosexuality

Unbeknownst to many, homosexuality has been around for many centuries across all parts of the world, including famous historical public figures and literary writers such as Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickenson, Abraham Lincoln, Michelangelo, Aristotle, Eleanor Roosevelt, Emperor Tiberius and Emperor Galba, to name a few.

Furthermore, a significant number of human cultures have viewed homosexual relations as not only legitimate but even socially constructive, ancient Greece and the Roman empire being the most notable example. In fact, homosexual relationships were accepted and a common practice during this period.

The ancient Greek epic poem, The Iliad does not mention that Thetis had any objection to her son Achilles’ relations with Patroclus. Queen Olympias of Macedonia was one of the most temperamental and forceful women of the ancient world, and even had her own husband, King Philip, assassinated. Yet, she didn’t have a fit when her son, Alexander the Great, brought his lover Hephaestion home for dinner.

The most widespread and socially significant form of same-sex sexual relations in ancient Greece was between adult men and pubescent or adolescent boys, known as pederasty.

The ancient Greeks did not conceive sexual orientation as a social identifier as modern Western societies have done. They did not distinguish sexual desire or behavior by the gender of the participants, but rather by the role that each participant played in the sex act, that of active penetrator or passive penetrated. This active/passive polarization corresponded with dominant and submissive social roles: the active (penetrative) role was associated with masculinity, higher social status, and adulthood, while the passive role was associated with femininity, lower social status, and youth.

During the Roman empire rule, prominent citizens sought out slaved men, prostitutes and entertainers to fulfil their sexual desires. Enslaved boys would sometimes be castrated in an attempt to keep them docile and immature for the pleasure of their dominant male lovers. The Roman emperor Tiberius is said to have trained young boys whom he called pisciculi (‘little fish’) to accompany him when he went swimming, to “lick and nibble him”.

Fast forward to the 21st century, we have witness the emergence of homosexuality from numerous public figures, be it the business, sport, education, science and technology or entertainment industries etc. The once-taboo topic has now tiptoed its way to gain popularity, as more and more individuals become comfortable in professing their sexuality, thus creating a global ripple effect. Since the reign of Barrack Obama’s presidency, many have come to embrace and accept homosexuals as part of the society, with the establishment of equal rights and opportunities for this group of people — marriage equality being one of them.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for most parts of the world.

Thus, this begs the question: If homosexuality has been in the background for many years, why are these groups of people still receiving so many backlashes and mistreatments in the society?

Homosexuality: Why So Much Hate?

Over the years, homosexuality is always linked with a negative connotation. It usually resembles a promiscuous lifestyle or having wild, unprotected sex resulting in the stigmatized AIDS. Some even believe that being gay is a mental illness and the notion that homosexuals are fighting for equal rights is perceived as absurd.

However, homophobia only starts to slowly seep in during the rising of Christianity, and only got worse in Renaissance. In cultures influenced by the Abrahamic religions (Jews, Christianity, Islam), the law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law or a crime against nature. It is simply “unnatural” to be homosexual. Several bible verses even forbids homosexuality:

“Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable”. — Leviticus 18:22

“If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads”. — Leviticus 20:13

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God”. — 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

In Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, the author Yuval Noah Harari explained that culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.

In truth, our concepts “natural” and “unnatural” are taken not from biology, but from Christian theology. The theological meaning of “natural” is “in accordance with the intentions of the God who created nature”. Christian theologians argued that God created the human body, intending each limb and organ to serve a particular purpose. To use them differently than God intends is unnatural. However, we have debunked this conundrum with the theory of evolution. In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin introduced natural selection, and elaborated how we have evolve in order to serve our purpose in adapting to the present environment. In other words, the way we use our bodies are always in constant flux. There is not a single organ in the human body that only does the job its prototype did when it first appeared hundreds of millions of years ago.

Homosexuality: An Endless Debate

Up till this day, the juxtaposing debate on homosexuality continues: Nature or nurture? Inborn or lifestyle choice? Normal or abnormal? Natural or unnatural?

In his engaging book, We Are Our Brains: From the Womb to Alzheimer’s, the Dutch physician and neurobiologist Dick Swaab explained how we are programmed in the womb for life after birth. Our brains are shaped by a combination of genetic background and programming in-utero, whereby our characteristics, talents and limitations are, to a large extent, already determined.

Our genetic background and a host of factors that shaped our early brain development limit us in many ways.

All the research indicates that we acquire our feeling of being male or female (gender identity), our sexual orientation, and our level of aggression while still in the womb. Later, our sex hormones activate the brain systems that are programmed before birth, and our sexuality and aggression are manifested. This intrauterine programming is influenced by the hereditary information passed on by our parents. Many structural and functional differences have now been found between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men that must occur early on in the development and can no longer be changed by the post-birth environment.

Homosexuality: How Did It Happen?

Does same-sex sexual behaviour have a genetic basis? To answer this, we can turn to twin studies. If we compare genetically identical twins with non-identical twins, pairs of identical twins are more likely to share a trait (height, eye colour or sexual preference) than non-identical twins are, which serves as a prove that some form of genetic component is at play. And indeed, in the case of sexuality, we do find that identical twins are more likely to share sexual preferences than non-identical twins.

However, it’s difficult to separate whether traits are caused by genetics or the effects of such things like the pre-birth environment. There are a few hypotheses formulated to understand the motives behind this behaviour:

The first hypothesis suggest that the genes involved in sexual orientation may encode for other things too. The reproductive losses due to homosexuality are then offset by other positive benefits to the individual. It’s been suggested that alleles (the possible variations in a gene, for example blue or brown eyes) encoding for homosexual behaviour could be beneficial in terms of an individual’s ability to form social bonds and build alliances. For our hunter-gatherer ancestors, the social benefits of bonding with other members of the hunting party is crucial for survival. According to lead author Diana Fleischman, sexual behaviour hasn’t always been just about reproducing (in contrast to religious beliefs) — it’s also about forming and maintaining social bonds. And there’s certainly evidence in other species, demonstrating that recreational sex isn’t limited to just humans. Great apes, for example, have historically engaged in homosexual behaviour as a way of forging new friendships. Homosexuality is, in a way, like a catalyst to help emotionally connect groups of people together.

The second hypothesis is known as the inclusive fitness hypothesis, or commonly known as the “helpful uncle” hypothesis. Under this hypothesis, even though homosexual individuals are less likely to reproduce themselves, their siblings and relatives are still capable. Hence, with the help of their homosexual relatives, they are able to raise more children than they would have without that help. Since these relations share some of the homosexual’s genes, these genes are passed on to the next generation, maintaining them in the population.

The next hypothesis for the maintenance of homosexual alleles is called over dominance. Under this scenario, an individual with two copies of a homosexual allele suffers a fitness penalty due to their homosexual behaviour. However, an individual carrying both a heterosexual and a homosexual allele would have a fitness advantage over an individual with two homosexual alleles. That advantage that people with two different types of alleles have, maintains the homosexual allele in the population even though those with two copies of the homosexual allele reproduce less frequently.

The final hypothesis is sexual antagonism. This suggests that, while an allele might confer a fitness cost in one sex, for example in males, resulting in homosexuality — in the opposite sex, this same allele confers a fitness advantage, thus increasing a female’s reproductive capability, resulting in them to reproduce more and thereby maintaining the allele in the overall population. 

The exact evolutionary reason behind the presence of homosexuality might not be particularly clear, but one thing has been agreed upon: these hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and it’s quite possible that all these theories can interplay with one another.

Homosexuality: Nature’s Adaptive Response?

Diversity is nature’s secret weapon. Nature prescribes homosexuality in specific times and places, giving this group special traits for the people around them flourish. The recipe for a successful human culture is a synergy of many different ingredients — it wouldn’t be ideal if all males were gay, or if all males were warriors, we’d always be at war.

During fetal development, a severely stressed pregnant mother can disrupt the sexual differentiation of an unborn child’s brain. When a pregnant woman experiences stress, the brain of a female fetus will become more male and vice versa. This is because their raised levels of the stress hormone cortisol affects the production of fetal sex hormones. A recent study revealed that 37% of gay males reported their mothers suffered severe prenatal stress compared to only 3% of heterosexual males’ mothers. This also appears to be an adaptive response. A girl will be able to cope better in later life if she’s robust and competitive, while a boy who isn’t macho is less likely to get into conflict with alpha males in that stressful environment. This is an excellent survival strategy in the short term, enabling fetus to adapt to difficult circumstances that it anticipates immediately after birth. Over a period of millions of years, unborn children have been exposed to threats of this kind. Occasionally, a baby possesses a mutation that enables it to adapt better to the problems facing it, and this favourable mutation then spreads throughout the population.

A recent groundbreaking study from UCLA observed 37 pairs of identical male twins, whereby one was homosexual and one heterosexual, and 10 sets of twins in which both males were homosexual. The study found that the presence of specific epigenetic marks in nine areas of the human genome could predict homosexual preference with up to 70% accuracy.

This epigenome is sometimes described as “molecular switches”, which can turn on or silence individual genes in DNA. Scientists believe epigenetic differences can be influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors — from chemical exposures to parental nurturing. To give an example, for a male, your chances of homosexuality increases in proportion to the number of previous baby boys who have inhabited your mother’s uterus. Thus, for every older biological brother you have, your chances of being born gay go up 33%. This is due to a mother’s immune response to male substances produced by boy babies in the womb, a response that becomes stronger with each pregnancy.

Gender Identity: I Feel ‘Male’, I Feel ‘Female’

Gender identity refers to a person’s internal, deeply held sense of their gender. In simpler terms, it’s the feeling of being male or female.

Our gender identity and our sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual) is fixed in our brains while we’re still in the womb. The circuits for our sexual behaviour, which are established early on in development, are subsequently activated during puberty.

Our sex organs differentiate in the first months of pregnancy, while sexual differentiation of the brain takes place in the second half of pregnancy. The presence or absence of testosterone makes the child develop male or female sex organs between the sixth and twelfth week of pregnancy. The brain then differentiates along the male or female lines in the second half of pregnancy, due to male baby producing a peak of testosterone or a female baby not doing so. It’s in that period that the feeling of being a man or woman — our gender identity — is fixed in our brains for the rest of our lives. Since these processes are separate, it’s impossible to determine, in those rare cases when children are born with indeterminate gender, whether the brain has developed along the male or female lines.

“We must remember that all our provisional ideas on psychology will one day be explained on the basis of organic substances. It seems then probable that there are particular chemical substances and processes that produce the effects of sexuality and permit the perpetuation of individual life”.

— Sigmund Freud, On Narcissism

Although our characteristics, potentials, and limitations are to a great extant determined in-utero, it still does not mean that our brains are “complete” after birth. A baby’s brain continues to develop if provided with affectionate, secure and stimulating surroundings. It is shaped by a constant process of learning as well as by native language acquisition and the imprint of religious beliefs. Our character — that is, our innate qualities — emerges more and more strongly in the course of early development. What we learn is stored in our memory systems, which provide some ongoing plasticity. Moreover, after early development, society can influence our behaviour, but our character can’t be changed. It’s not for nothing that the word character comes from Greek word meaning “engraved”, like the symbol stamped on a coin.

And just as in the womb, the issue is not about brain versus environment, but rather, the strong interaction between the two. The earlier the environmental influences come into play, the stronger and more lasting their effects will be.

Environmental factors are crucial to brain development, but contrary to what was thought in the 1960s and 1970s, it isn’t so much the social environment after birth as the chemical environment before birth that’s the most influential, and the earlier the stage of development, the greater its impact.

“I am inclined to agree with Francis Galton in believing that education and environment produce only a small effect on the mind of anyone, and that most of our qualities are innate”.

— The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

Gender-based Behaviours: Boys Should Act ‘Manly’, Girls Should Act ‘Ladylike’

Sexuality is a shorthand for everything related to sexual behaviour: sexual acts, desires, arousals — the entire experience that is deemed sexual. One part of sexuality is sexual orientation, or who you’re sexually attracted to. Most people identify as heterosexual, meaning they’re attracted to people of the other gender. While this is the most common orientation, significant numbers of people are homosexual — attracted to people of their own sex or gender. But these are really only poles on a continuum, with plenty of people being attracted to both their own or other genders, as in bisexual or pansexual. And some people are asexual, whereby they do not experience sexual attraction at all.

One of the stereotypical differences in sexual behaviour between boys and girls that’s often said to be socially conditioned is the way in which they play. Little boys are wilder and more active, prefer to play with cars or pretend to be soldiers; while girls prefer to play with dolls. Toy preferences isn’t forced on us by society. In fact, it is programmed in our brains in order to prepare us for our roles in later life, namely motherhood in the case of girls, and fighting or more technical tasks in the case of boys.

Apart from gender, scientists find evidence that there is a sexuality component to it too. For example, boys who grow up to be gay are known as androphilic, which means they are attracted to males. And the majority of females are also attracted to males — so most females are androphilic and a small percentage of boys will grow up to be androphilic. Cross-culturally, androphilic men are more feminine in terms of their interests: they’re more interested in social role-play, helping their mothers, associating with girls as young children or in dressing up as girls. This suggests to us that sexuality and gender have interplaying components in them, whereby gender is beyond just the social role, but it is also correlated with sexuality. This explains why males and females end up with certain patterns. So, when you have a male who’s attracted to males, he ends up with a little bit more of the female pattern and vice versa for girls.

Between the late 1940s and early 1950s, Alfred Kinsey, also known as the father of sexual revolution, devised the “Kinsey scale”, which went from 0 to 6, with 0 signifying exclusively heterosexual and 6 exclusively homosexual.

Studies of twins and families show that sexual orientation is 50 percent genetically determined, but the genes in question haven’t yet been identified.

Hormones and other chemical substances importantly affect the development of our sexual orientation too. Girls with the adrenal gland disorder, congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are exposed to high testosterone levels in the womb, hence making them more likely to become bisexual or homosexual.

Between 1939 and 1960, around two million expectant mothers in the United States and Europe were prescribed the synthetic estrogen known as diethylstilbestrol (DES) in the belief that it would prevent miscarriages (it didn’t). DES turned out to increase the likelihood of bisexuality and homosexuality in the daughters of women given the drugs. Pre-birth exposure to nicotine or amphetamines also increases the likelihood of lesbian daughters.

Although it’s frequently assumed that development after birth plays a huge role in affecting our sexual orientation, there is no proof of this whatsoever. Children brought by lesbian mothers aren’t more likely to be homosexual. Nor is there any evidence at all for the misconception that homosexuality is a “lifestyle choice”.

Brain Differences Across Sexualities

In the last few decades, researches conducted have uncovered various differences in the brain between heterosexuals and homosexuals.

In 1990, neurologists Michel Hoffman and Dick Swaab found that the brain’s biological clock are twice as large in homosexual men as in heterosexual men.

In 1992, Allen and Gorski found that the structure on top of the hypothalamus that connects the brain’s left and right temporal lobes is larger in homosexual men.

Scans have also revealed functional differences in the hypothalamus with regards to sexual orientation. A study by Ivanka Savic of the Stockholm Brain Institute involved pheromones, the scented sex hormones that are given off in sweat and urine. Pheromones influence sexual behaviour unconsciously. A male pheromone stimulates activity in the hypothalamus of heterosexual women and homosexual men, but doesn’t provoke a response in heterosexual men. It seems that male scents doesn’t turn them on. Lesbian women were found to react differently to pheromones than heterosexual women. Savic also showed that heterosexual women and homosexual men had more extensive functional connections between the amygdala and other brain areas than heterosexual men and homosexual women, proving that brain circuits function differently according to sexual orientation. Functional scanning also showed changes of activity in other brain areas. In the case of heterosexual men and homosexual women, the thalamus and prefrontal cortex responded more strongly to a photograph of a female face, while in the case of homosexual men and heterosexual women these structures responded more strongly to a male face. In other words, sexual orientation is determined by many structural and functional differences on the brain, all of which develop in the womb during the second half of pregnancy. This goes to show that they aren’t caused by the behaviour of dominant mothers, who are the traditional scapegoats in this context.

I mean, lets be honest, who doesn’t have a “dominant mother” growing up?

Homosexuality In The Animal Kingdom

“Homosexuality is God’s way of insuring that the truly gifted aren’t burdened with children”.

— Sam Austin, composer and lyricist

Homosexual behaviour has been observed in around 1, 500 animal species, ranging from insects to mammals. Behavioural scientists have also shown that homosexual behaviour in animals is often used to make peace with enemies or to obtain the help from others against possible attackers. Primatologist Frans de Waal has found bonobos to be completely bisexual, a perfect 3 in the Kinsey scale. Wherever possible, bonobos solve problems in the group by sexual means, through both heterosexual and homosexual behaviour. De Waal has found that same-sex practices are displayed by other primates, too, such as macaque monkeys, in addition to bull elephants (who mount each other), giraffes (“necking”), swans (greeting ceremonies), and whales (mutual caressing). He classifies such behaviour as examples of bisexuality rather than homosexuality, since it only manifests itself in certain periods. However, a preference for same-sex copulation has been reported in a bird in the swamps of New Zealand, a female antelope in Uganda, and cows. In Montana, psychologist Anne Perkins discovered that 10 percent of rams choose to mount on other males, instead of on the female ewes. She revealed chemical differences in the hypothalami of these rams that indicated altered interaction between hormones and brain cells. Structural differences were also found in the hypothalami of these homosexual rams, similar to the ones found in the case of humans. Overall, it is evident that natural selection is clearly responsible for these varieties of animal behaviours and sexualities, as mentioned above.

Social and Psychological Impacts Affecting Homosexuals

It’s no secret that homosexuality remains a discreet subject and in most countries, these groups of people are treated as outlaws of society, forcing them to conceal their sexual identities and remain closeted. Stories of discrimination, physical, emotional or sexual violence, and social ostracism are common among the gay community, which then jeopardize their mental health and affects their social status.

The outmoded and long-established notion that we’re completely free to choose our sexual orientation, and that homosexuality is therefore a wrong choice, is still causing a great deal of misery.

Every conceivable thing that could be devised has been tried to rid people of their homosexuality: gay conversion therapy by churches, hormone treatments, castration, and treatments that influence libido rather than sexual orientation. Electroshock therapies  have been performed, as well as epileptic insults. Prison sentences have proved equally ineffectual, as seen in the sad case of Oscar Wilde. Testicular transplants have been tried out, leading to a “success story” in which a homosexual man pinched the nurse’s bottom after the operation. Psychoanalysis has also been conducted, of course, as well as giving homosexuals apomorphine, a drug that induces nausea, in combination with homoerotic images, as a form of aversion therapy. Brain operations have also been performed on homosexual prisoners with a view to reducing their sentences if the treatment proved effective. Naturally, the men all said that it was effective. The Nazi notion, as expressed by Hitler himself, that homosexuality was as infectious as the plague led to the unimaginable in Germany: first voluntary castrations, then compulsory castrations, and finally the systematic murder of homosexuals in concentration camps.

From 1940s up to the 1960s, homosexuality was seen as an offensive act and a crime. Most Americans are repelled by the mere notion of homosexuality. In 1967, CBS News survey reported 2 out of 3 Americans “look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear”. Suspected lesbian bars were frequently raided and women arrested. Homosexuals were fired from their workplace, they lost custody of their children or evicted from their homes by landlords because they were gay. They also suffered from hate crimes and many other forms of discrimination.

In 2016, a study was done among LGBT university students in ASEAN countries to discover the associations between minor stress with poor mental health and addiction behaviour among these groups. The results were staggering: Out of 153 over 3,262 eligible participants, 23.5% were severely depressed, 31.4% had PTSD symptoms, 40% had suicidal ideations, 35.33% had suicide attempts, 28.6% were hazardous or harmful alcohol users, 14% had used illicit drugs in the past 12 months and 46.4% engaged in pathological internet use.

East Africa is a region known for its intolerance towards the LGBT people. In Kenya, 89% of people who come out to their families are disowned. Homosexual act is a crime and can lead to incarceration. Those who publicly announce their homosexuality receive death threats, since being gay is against their religious beliefs. In fact, killing homosexuals is seen as a religious obligation.

According to social conflict theory, our society is traditionally built around heteronormativity. This is the idea that there are only two genders: that gender corresponds to biological sex, and the only natural and acceptable sexual attraction is between these two genders. Heteronormativity makes heterosexuality seems like it’s directly linked to biological sex, but heterosexuality is just as much a sexual construction as any other sexuality. It’s defined by dominant sexual scripts, privileged by laws, and normalized by social practices like religious teachings, so it comes  be understood as natural in a way that other sexualities are not. Queer theory challenges this naturalness and especially shows how gender and heterosexuality are tied together. Heteronormativity is based on the idea of two opposite sexes that naturally fit together, like poles of a magnet. So by this logic, men pursue and women are pursued; men are dominant and women are submissive. But according to sociologists, all this is socially constructed. The sexes aren’t opposites, they’re just two of them at both ends of the spectrum, along with the whole array of variations between them. However, the idea of opposite sexes make heterosexual seems natural to us. So you can see how sex, gender and sexuality are linked, and all are socially constructed.

The Gay Revolution

In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) published its first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Regarded as the bible for psychiatrists worldwide, the DSM consists of a list of psychiatric disorders which psychiatrists would refer to as a guide. That year, homosexuality was classified as a disorder, but then, subsequent researches were conducted to test the validity of this claim. As results from such research accumulated, it was concluded that classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder is inaccurate and that the DSM classification reflected untested assumptions and clinical impressions from unrepresentative samples, who comprise of patients seeking therapy and individuals whose conduct brought them into the criminal justice system.

In recognition of the scientific evidence, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from the DSM in 1973, stating that “homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities.” In 2010, the APA states that “sexual orientation is not a choice that can be changed at will, and that sexual orientation is most likely the result of a complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors… is shaped at an early age… [and evidence suggests] biological, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person’s sexuality.”

During the 20th century, homosexuality started to make headlines. In America, gay bars were mushrooming in major cities but were frequently raided by the police because being gay was still illegal in every state except Illinois. One of the bars was the popular Stonewall Inn in New York city.

One the morning of June 28, 1969, which also happened to be the day of Judy Garland’s funeral (a gay icon of the LGBT community), the patrons of the Stonewall Inn decided to take matters into their own hands. A black transgender woman named Marsha P. Johnson and her friend, Sylvia Rivera, were credited with leading the uprising that started the modern gay rights movement, and putting the “T” in LGBT. Now, every November, the “Ts” and their supporters recognise Transgender Awareness Week.

In the early 80s, the world was affected by the AIDS epidemic, with the gay community being hit the hardest as this group became the subject of prejudice. AIDS became known as a “gay disease”. In fact, AIDS was originally called GRID, which means Gay-related Immune Deficiency. As a result of this discrimination, many gay people were denied access to treatments. The public perceived the politicians as being apathetic for the plights of these AID victims. To tackle this issue, the LGBTQ community had to take their own stance. Activist groups such as ACT UP, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Lesbian AIDS Project and The Names Project emerged and refused to quell. This newly empowered gay community had one goal, which is to “come out”. In a time when many homosexuals were still closeted, these activist groups created a movement where LGBT can be comfortable to embrace their sexuality. Their mindset was: if more people came out, they would be seen for who they are and not just as a stereotype.

In 2003, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize marriage equality. 12 years later, it was legal in all 50 states of America. 

Other countries started to follow suit. Today, the legalization of marriage equality is available in 28 countries, including Taiwan, Ecuador, Spain, Netherland, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico and United Kingdom.

In 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised homosexuality by declaring Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code unconstitutional in respect to consensual homosexual sex between adults.

Status Quo of Homosexuality in Malaysia

Malaysia is listed as one of the 72 countries that criminalizes homosexuality. The act of sodomy is banned under the penal code and the Syariah Criminal Offences Act 1997, penalising homosexual lifestyle and activites. The Malaysian penal code 377A, 377B and 377C are categorised as “sodomy” laws, since carnal intercourse is seen as opposing the order of nature. These laws are used to mete out punishments, which includes 20 years of imprisonment and whipping. Upon further research, however, this law was actually borrowed from the Indian penal code which was adapted from British laws when India was under the British colonial rule. Then known as “buggery”, these laws were originally penned in Britain in the mid-1500s. This happened while British society was heavily influenced by Judeo-Christian values. But since then, Judeo-Christian values on sexuality has become a lot less influential globally while in Malaysia, Islamic values gained prominence.

Conclusion

“There’s this illusion that homosexuals have sex and heterosexuals fall in love. That’s completely untrue. We all want to be loved.”

— Boy George

I hope this has been an enlightening and mind-provoking read for everyone. Before casting our personal judgements on anyone, it’s always wise to take a step back, re-evaluate and be more empathetic towards a person’s situation or circumstances.

It is out of the question, that the science of homosexuality is still in its infancy, and that there’s a whole area yet to uncover in the realm homosexuality. However, thanks to the advancement of science and technology, I think we are on the right track in slowly decoding some of these puzzling mysteries.

With all that, however, I know one thing is for sure — you cannot simply pray the gay away.

REFERENCES

Harari, Y. N. (2019). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Random House UK.

Swaab, D. F., and Hedley-Prôle Jane. We Are Our Brains: from the Womb to Alzheimers. Penguin Books, 2015.

Berkrot, B. (2015, October 9). Experts Cautious about Study Predicting “Gay” Orientation. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-cautious-about-study-predicting-gay-orientation/

Homosexuality. (2020, May 12). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality

Homosexuality in ancient Greece. (2020, May 14). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Greece

Bloodworth , A. (2018, March 15). What is LGBTQ+? What does the plus stand for and is anyone left out? Retrieved from https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/03/15/what-is-lgbtq-what-does-the-plus-stand-for-and-is-anyone-left-out/

HARTMAN, S. (2015, June 26). A look at CBS News’ 1967 documentary: “The homosexuals.” Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-far-weve-come-since-the-1967-homosexuals-documentary/

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