Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Cong. Dennis Kucinich, former senators John Edwards and Mike Gravel each told lesbian moderator Melissa Etheridge that homosexuality is genetic. According to scientists, this is incorrect.

Floyd Godrey, a therapist from Mesa who works with those trying to overcome same-sex attraction, says that homosexuality results from emotional deficits. It is neither innate or a matter of choice.

Dr. Simon LeVay’s research in 1991 centered on finding the difference between homosexual and heterosexual brains. The brains studied were from 41 cadavers; 26 of these from people who had died from AIDS related diseases. What may have been measured was nothing more than the effect of AIDS upon the brain. LeVay admitted: "My study doesn’t actually even address whether one is ’born that way.’"

Dean Hamer, a molecular biologist and a homosexual, is alleged by the ultra-left media to have proven scientifically that homosexuality is genetic and that homosexuals are born that way. In 1993, he announced to the world that Xq28, found on the maternal X chromosome, was the genetic address for the GAY-1 gene. He also found that just 18 percent of the homosexuals he studied did not inherit the same portion of Xq28, nor could he identify any sequencing in that region whatsoever. His sampling was very small (40 families that included at least two homosexual brothers) and the results were unreliable enough to render his study inconclusive. Subsequent studies disproved any claim of genetic ties to homosexuality.

In the Bailey/Pillard study, 52 percent of identical twin brothers were homosexual; 22 percent of the fraternal twin brothers and 11 percent of the adoptive brothers were homosexual. If sexual orientation is genetic, then each set of identical twins, which both possess identical DNA, would share an "orientation" much closer to 100 percent of the time. What the Bailey/Pillard study actually proves is that homosexuality is not purely genetic.

Furthermore, the national genome project identified all human genes and failed to find a homosexual gene. The scientific community does not recognize anything genetic about homosexuality. However, the media, homosexual activist organizations and many leftist politicos still tout falsehoods about “innate causes” of homosexuality. If genetics were a reality, then homosexuals may have a legitimate claim to civil rights; however, no such thing exists and one’s sexual behavior is not grounds for special rights in the form of hate crimes, marriage, adoption or domestic partner benefits.

Not only did last week’s homosexual debate perpetuate scientific falsehood, it also exposed Democrats to new polling that shows voters are turned off by candidates supporting the homosexual agenda. It is unlikely that leftists will have the courage and good sense to give it up any time soon when there are ignorant masses willing to swallow claims based on bad science and which serve as a crutch with which to oppose conservatives.

In a letter to a parent appearing in United Families International’s newsletter The Family Times, Godfrey describes same-sex attraction as a “condition” and not a “state of being.” It is something some people feel, but it is not who they are.

Godfrey writes: “Sexual orientation is changeable. One of the greatest myths ever developed in our society is that sexual orientation is genetically determined. This belief has grown to monumental proportions.”

Persons struggling same-sex attractions often feel trapped by shame. They are lonely and isolated. This condition has little to do with sex, Godfrey says. “The feelings are a symptom of underlying emotional wounds and deficits. These emotional issues become strong enough to draw sexuality into them. When these issues are identified and resolved, the same-sex attraction diminishes and gives room for the development of opposite-sex attraction.” A professional therapist can help the person work through the many issues involved. People may not be able to choose to stop the feelings, but they can choose to get help.

Godfrey said, “Real change can occur through education, love and support of family and friends and professional intervention.”

Dennis Durband is publisher and editor of The Arizona Conservative, is also a freelance writer and webmaster and a longtime journalist.