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Should scientists be turning gay sheep straight?
An ongoing US experiment to turn “homosexual” rams straight by altering their hormone levels has sparked the ire of both gay activists and animal rights groups. The work is reportedly being carried out at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. New Scientist wrote about research on gay sheep in Oregon back in 2002.
If one out of every 10 rams prefers to mount other rams than ewes, we are not talking about an uncommon trait.
By altering the brain hormone levels, scientists have stemmed this homosexual tendency in the rams and made them prefer females. Researchers say that the project aims to explore ways of increasing herd productivity – they stress it does not seek to cure the animals of homosexual tendencies.
This is not the first study to explore the biology of homosexuality. Scientists have looked at hormone levels in rats that prefer their own sex and, more recently, at how temperature can affect the sexual orientation of flies.
Some people worry that the sheep research will eventually give rise to pre-natal tests that enable couples to determine the likely sexual orientation of their offspring.
But I think that a perhaps more obvious outcome of this type of research might be hormone treatments for homosexual individuals who feel desperate to become heterosexual. To me, however, the idea of a hormone patch for homosexuality sounds unhealthy, unnecessary and truly queer. What do you think?
Roxanne Khamsi, Online reporter
www.newscientist.com/blog/sh...science/
An ongoing US experiment to turn “homosexual” rams straight by altering their hormone levels has sparked the ire of both gay activists and animal rights groups. The work is reportedly being carried out at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. New Scientist wrote about research on gay sheep in Oregon back in 2002.
If one out of every 10 rams prefers to mount other rams than ewes, we are not talking about an uncommon trait.
By altering the brain hormone levels, scientists have stemmed this homosexual tendency in the rams and made them prefer females. Researchers say that the project aims to explore ways of increasing herd productivity – they stress it does not seek to cure the animals of homosexual tendencies.
This is not the first study to explore the biology of homosexuality. Scientists have looked at hormone levels in rats that prefer their own sex and, more recently, at how temperature can affect the sexual orientation of flies.
Some people worry that the sheep research will eventually give rise to pre-natal tests that enable couples to determine the likely sexual orientation of their offspring.
But I think that a perhaps more obvious outcome of this type of research might be hormone treatments for homosexual individuals who feel desperate to become heterosexual. To me, however, the idea of a hormone patch for homosexuality sounds unhealthy, unnecessary and truly queer. What do you think?
Roxanne Khamsi, Online reporter
www.newscientist.com/blog/sh...science/
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