A dog that moos?
The new advertising effort designed to convince Americans that gayness is determined pre-birth features a dog named Norman who moos like a cow. Don’t know any dogs that moo, do you? Sounds like a good start for a Dr. Suess book though.
I will say that it is a slick website. However, the borndifferent.com designers need a better science advisor.
Here is what they say about identical twins and homosexuality:
“If one twin is born gay, there is a higher chance (52%) that the other will be gay as well.”
“Since identical twins share DNA, this tells us that genetics plays a part in sexual orientation.”
“That means some people are born gay.”
Leaving aside the faulty logic, the website quotes a decade old study that has been widely criticized. A newer more representative study in the year 2000 found that 11% of male identical twins and 14% of female twins shared homosexual orientation.
This website also waddles out Julio and Fabio the new penguin pride icons. According to the website, these two penguins “mate exclusively with each other.” Have the borndifferent folks forgotten about Silo and Roy? Silo and Roy are chinstrap penguins who used to be in love but Silo is now “ex-gay.” Just last year after I wrote about Silo’s conversion, spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Roberta Sklar said in the New York Times: “There’s almost an obsession with questions such as, ‘Is sexual orientation a birthright or a choice?’ And looking at the behavior of two penguins in captivity is not a way to answer that question.”
Someone call the born different folks. They must have missed the memo.