curing homosexual sheep

[Guest guest]

The Sunday Times

December 31, 2006

Science told: hands off gay sheep

Isabel Oakeshott and Gourlay

Experiments that claim to cure homosexual rams spark anger

SCIENTISTS are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of gay

sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding

out homosexuality in humans.

The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the

hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more

inclined to mate with ewes.

It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a

treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be

homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the straightening procedure on

humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be,

worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.

The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at

the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an

outcry. a Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon

nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have

called for the project to be abandoned.

Navratilova defended the right of sheep to be gay. She said: How can it

be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic

and cruel experiments? She said gay men and lesbians would be deeply

offended by the social implications of the tests.

But the researchers argue that the work is valid, shedding light on the

broad question of what determines sexual orientation. They insist the

work is not aimed at curing homosexuality.

Approximately one ram in 10 prefers to mount other rams rather than mate

with ewes, reducing its value to a farmer. Initially, the publicly

funded project aimed to improve the productivity of herds.

The scientists have been able to pinpoint the mechanisms influencing the

desires of male-oriented rams by studying their brains. The animals

skulls are cut open and electronic sensors are attached to their brains.

By varying the hormone levels, mainly by injecting hormones into the

brain, they have had considerable success in altering the rams

sexuality, with some previously gay animals becoming attracted to ewes.

Professor Roselli, the Health and Science University biologist

leading the research, defended the project.

He said: In general, sexuality has been under-studied because of

political concerns. People dont want science looking into what

determines sexuality.

Its a touchy issue. In fact, several studies have shown that people who

believe homosexuality is biologically based are less homophobic than

people who think that this orientation is acquired.

The research is being peer-reviewed by a panel of scientists in America,

demonstrating that it is being taken seriously by the academic

community.

Potentially, the techniques could one day be adapted for human use, with

doctors perhaps being able to offer parents pre-natal tests to determine

the likely sexuality of offspring or a hormonal treatment to change the

orientation of a child.

Roselli has said he would be uncomfortable about parents choosing

sexuality, but argues that it is up to policy makers to legislate on

questions of ethics.

, a neurology professor at Northwestern University near

Chicago, said: Allowing parents to select their childrens sexual

orientation would further a parents freedom to raise the sort of

children they want to raise.

Critics fear the findings could be abused.

Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Bioethics at Glasgow Caledonian University,

who has written to the researchers pressing them to stop, said: I dont

believe the motives of the study are homophobic, but their work brings

the terrible possibility of exploitation by homophobic societies.

Imagine this technology in the hands of Iran, for example.

It is typical of the US to ignore the global context in which this is

taking place.

Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said: These experiments echo

Nazi research in the early 1940s which aimed at eradicating

homosexuality. They stink of eugenics. There is a danger that extreme

homophobic regimes may try to use these experimental results to change

the orientation of gay people.

He said that the techniques being developed in sheep could in future

allow parents to play God.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the pressure group,

condemned the study as a needless slaughter of animals, an affront to

human dignity and a colossal waste of precious research funds.

The tests on gay sheep are the latest in a long line of experiments

seeking to alter the sexuality of humans and animals.

Gnther Dorner, a scientist in the former East Berlin, carried out

hormone-altering tests on rodents in the 1960s in the hope of finding a

way to eradicate homosexuality.

In 2002, Simon LeVay, an American neurologist, claimed to have

discovered that homosexual and heterosexual men had physically different

brains. His tests on the corpses of gay men who had died of Aids were

widely criticised.