Genetic Disorders Like S.A.D. Deserve Treatment, Not Acceptance

by George Kocan

I refuse to use the g-word [gay], in this discussion.  I prefer SAD (Sodomy Attraction Disorder) because it describes a pathological condition in clinical and descriptive terms.  The g-word is clearly prejudicial and self-serving.  I, therefore, refer to a person suffering from SAD, a ‘SADist’ or a SAD person.

SADists have boldly proclaimed that SAD is inherited.  The first person to do so was Magnus Hirschfeld, a SADist who lobbied to abolish laws prohibiting SADism in Germany in 1898 (1).  He claimed that scientific evidence proved that SAD was inborn and irreversible.   I do not know what evidence he had in mind.  Nevertheless, since then, behavioral genetics has advanced greatly.  The science has shown that a great deal of human and animal behavior results from genetic influence.

However, the SADists have played a trick on the public.  By asserting that SAD has a genetic basis, they have diverted the topic into a discussion about nature vs. nurture.  In my view, this is all wrong.  It does not matter that SAD is genetic.  It is still a disorder and pathology and requires treatment.  Many disorders afflicting the human condition have a genetic basis and are difficult to correct.

Color blindness is a disorder.  It has no cure, although science understands the genetics very well.  Phenylketonuria is a genetic disorder that involves a defective enzyme, which is unable to metabolize the amino acid phenylalinine (2).  Physicians treat it by controlling the patient’s environment, by restricting phenylalinine in the diet.  Schizophrenia is a psychological and behavioral disorder.  Specialists have concluded that it has a genetic component (3). Although they have not found a cure, they have not removed it as a disorder from their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychological Disorders, as they have SAD.

Researchers have found a genetic link to alcoholism (4).  Twin studies and adoption studies strongly suggest that alcoholism runs in families.  Alcoholism provides a useful model for SAD.  At least two components contribute to alcoholism, the genetics and the environment.  A person can be born an alcoholic but never develop the disease, if he never comes in contact with the alcohol.

Alcoholism has a moral dimension as well.  A genetic predisposition to alcoholism does not free a person from the obligation to act in a responsible manner.  He has an obligation to avoid alcohol rather than indulge in it, just because it makes him feel good.

The field of behavioral genetics has found that most personality traits have a genetic basis, even criminal behavior (5). Political opinions also seem to have a genetic basis (6).  So, the possibility exists that not only does SAD have a genetic basis but so do other behaviors associated with SAD.

A suicide rate higher that that of normal persons seems to be associated with SAD (7).  If true, this could very well be a result of the influence of SAD genetics.  Genes are not limited to a single effect.  Biologists have recognized multiple gene effects and called them ‘peiotropisms’(8).
If students of behavior are to take the gene theory of SAD seriously, they must allow for the probability that SAD genes cause suicide and influence many of the other destructive behaviors that plague SAD persons.  Notorious SAD serial killers come to mind, such as John Wayne Gacy, who murdered some 33 young men and hid their bodies in his basement; Jeffrey Dahmer, who ate his victims and stored their remains in his refrigerator; Andrew Cunanan, and others.  The widespread use of narcotics and other psychoactive drugs in the SAD “community” may result from a genetic influence.  The extreme exhibitionism and narcissism displayed at SAD “pride” parades may also have a genetic basis.

Such manifestations of a personal and social pathology should motivate behavioral scientists and mental health providers to intervene in the development of SAD and find therapies to moderate its effects.

ENDNOTES:

1. Engel , Randy 2006. “The Rite of Sodomy: Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic
Church.”  New Engel Publishing.
2. See Wikipedia entry on phenylketonuria.
3.  Schizophrenia:  (http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7484/158?etoc)
4. Alcoholism: (http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/IoP/PRT/alcohol.htm)
5. Personality traits: (http://www.personalityresearch.org/bg.html)
6. Political opinion: (http://neuro-conservative.blogspot.com/2005/06/genetics-of–      politics.html)
7. SAD suicide rate: (http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayteens/a/gaysuicide.htm)
8. Multiple gene effects: (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-341X(195912)15%3A4%3C518%3APATGVA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7)

George Kocan is a writer based outside Chicago, Illinois. He can be reached through Americans For Truth at americansfortruth@comcast.net.