Update:
In an amazing twist, it’s been revealed that the “twins” on the billboard are actually just one guy who is an out and proud gay man.
Previously:
If you drive down highway I-95 in Richmond, Virginia, you will pass a billboard that features two men, one dressed in a suit and the other in a white T-shirt, and reads: “Identical twins: One gay. One not. We believe twin research studies show nobody is born gay.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
The group behind the sign is Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), a nonprofit organization that works “to educate, support, and advocate for individuals and parents on the issue of same-sex attraction, and to increase others’ understanding and acceptance of the ex-gay community.”
On its website, the group cites two studies that deny the existence of a “gay gene,” one of which was conducted in 2000 with participants who were twins and is now heavily disputed, even by the study’s main researcher.
A spokesperson for Lamar Advertising Company, which owns the billboard, told LGBTQ Nation that PFOX’s stance “is not a reflection of our company’s views.”
“It is in the best interest of our company and the communities we serve to accept advertising copy openly,” said Allie McAlpin, Communications Director for Lamar. “We do not accept or reject copy based upon agreement or disagreement with the views presented.”
LGBTQ Nation points out that is isn’t the first time PFOX has promoted its message in Richmond.
In October 2013, the group lobbied the state legislature to cease funding “gay-transvestite centers at Virginia’s public universities,” claiming state funds were being inappropriately used to “indoctrinate” youth into changing their faith.
The billboard is scheduled to remain up until January 4.
Related stories:
Matt Moore, The “Ex-Gay” Activist With A Grindr Profile, Is Back
New “Christian” Documentary Depicts Tombstone For Gay Past Of Ex-Gay Man
It’s “Ex-Gay” Awareness Month! Here Are Five Former Homos And What They’ve Been Up To Lately
orcanyc
It’s the South, they are crazy enough said!
Stache99
What simple minded idiots. They’re not clones. Twins do have a higher then normal chance of (52%) of both being gay but it’s not a rule anymore then twins having the same fingerprints. There’s allot of variables when it comes to genetics.
Dr. Mo
@Stache99: Identical twins ARE essentially clones. Particularly when it comes to genomic DNA.
Regardless, twin studies are some of the most powerful evidence FOR a biological basis for homosexuality.
Stache99
Come to think of it they might want to reconsider this new Sciency stuff. They always try to make it fit and end fucking it up. Trotting out the few twins they can find like this says nothing more then what’s already known.
It actually says that opposite. Being gay is genetic. 52% is extremely high and would most definitely show a correlation.
Stache99
@Dr. Mo: Clones would be exactly the same. There would be no difference at all.
“Each one of us started out as a fertilized egg. In the case of identical twins, two people arose from the same egg. After the egg was fertilized, it split in two – so identical twins are the same sex. They often have nearly the same height, weight and hair color. But look closer, and you’ll find differences in twins. Common differences revolve around features like birthmarks, moles, hair patterns and teeth development. Look below the skin, and you’ll find even bigger differences in their personalities.”
http://earthsky.org/human-world/identical-twins-fingerprint
Ladbrook
Even if true, which it isn’t, who cares why someone is gay? Why we’re gay is irrelevant. We are fighting for equality, not for a spot in a biology textbook.
This billboard is hate speech. It might as well say “no one is born Jewish.” Burn it down. Seriously, BURN IT DOWN.
dvlaries
While I don’t argue that it isn’t repugnant, hope can also be assessed in such a desperate tacit by a group that knows they’re defeated. One wonders whether the money would have been spent this way had marriage equality not come to Virginia last October 6.
I travel I-95 to Richmond two or three times a month and haven’t noticed it yet. Had I, I’m sure I would have scoffed initially, then slyly smiled at such a pathetic gesture.
Ladbrook
@orcanyc: No offense intended (seriously), but this is not a southern issue, it’s a national issue. Homophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism are not limited to the south. As a southerner, I’m getting a bit tired of this trope. It’s lazy.
Again, sorry, I’m not attacking you, just the whole “it’s the south!” silliness that never seems to get applied when crazy people do crazy things in NY, Philly, Chicago, or anywhere else that all us southern in-breds apparently haven’t invaded just yet.
Desert Boy
I have a huge fetish for twins.
[email protected]
I live in Richmond and I’m embarrassed that ‘outsiders’ have stained our community with this billboard. I do not personally believe that this reflects the opinion of the Richmond metro area.
Jacovisio
If kinda funny that people who don’t regularly believe in science all of a sudden do when they can twist it around to appear to support their argument.
Stache99
@Jacovisio: Yup. Then we get Jesus riding dinosaurs and reinterpretations of the age of the earth. Pound that square peg into the round hole per say.
For you and I it’s comedy gold. However, were not exactly their target audience either ie gullible sheep.
Stache99
@Jacovisio: Their answer to evolution is creationism. Evolution cannot be allowed to exist though. Conflicts way too much with adam and steve..I mean adam and eve.;)
onthemark
Nobody is born Christian either, they have to be baptized and have their heads filled with crazy hateful nonsense.
Having said that, I wish we would get away from the weird notion that if only we can prove there’s a “gay gene” it will somehow guarantee our civil rights. More likely it would just make the anti-abortion nuts change their minds about abortion (at least for us!).
Black people definitely ARE born black, but that’s never guaranteed their civil rights.
Women definitely ARE born female (except for trans), but that’s never guaranteed their civil rights.
Personally I hope the cause of gayness is far more complex than just a gene or two, and we never totally figure it out.
Even if gayness were 100% a choice (which I don’t believe either), then we’d get into church-y gibberish like how “maybe it’s okay to BE gay, just don’t act on it,” etc. In a secular society, people have rights even if they make choices that annoy the majority.
Dr. Mo
@Stache99:
Which is exactly the case with identical twins. Genetic differences are minute, limited mostly to mitochondrial DNA. And the mitochondrial genome is not exactly known for its rich variation.
Identical twins are clones of each other no matter how you dice it.
Stache99
@Dr. Mo: Just about every site on the web disagrees with you then.
“A general stereotype about identical twins is that they are clones.
Identical twins share the same DNA – but do not have identical DNA. When the egg splits into two halves to form identical twins, the DNA may not divide equally between the two cells. The basic concept is similar to when you cut an apple in half, the two halves may not look the same.”
http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/identicaltwins.htm
boxjelly
@Desert Boy: me too! and it doesn’t help that I’m a Gemini, lol
Garrett
They are getting desperate.
Dr. Mo
@Stache99: Nah, they do. Because it’s true.
Verbatim:
“Do clones ever occur naturally?
Yes. In nature, some plants and single-celled organisms, such as bacteria, produce genetically identical offspring through a process called asexual reproduction. In asexual reproduction, a new individual is generated from a copy of a single cell from the parent organism.
Natural clones, also known as identical twins, occur in humans and other mammals. These twins are produced when a fertilized egg splits, creating two or more embryos that carry almost identical DNA. Identical twins have nearly the same genetic makeup as each other, but they are genetically different from either parent.”
http://www.genome.gov/25020028
Stache99
@Dr. Mo: “Identical twins have nearly the same genetic makeup as each other”.
According to this even with clones there’s differences. Otherwise, you’d have 100% straight or 100% gay twins. It does explain the 52% well though as in high probability.
passingthru
Who cared? You can’t rid the world of stupid people. Let them throw their money away on idiotic signs that do nothing. It’s amazing how dense people can be.
ThisChrisGuy84
As a proud gay man AND a proud Virginian (Charlottesville, VA) this article made me sick with disgust and animosity for the city of Richmond.
Such idiocy and bigotry…it’s really sad. I only wish the world could get rid of stupid people. 🙁
Captain proton
We really need to step up recruitment in that state
transiteer
Just shows that uninformed ignorant people have money to waste. They doing a flat earth one next?
Dr. Mo
@Stache99: You are conflating two very different concepts.
Two individuals that are 100% genetically identical can have PHENOTYPIC variation. Expression of the genome is complex and responds to both internal and external environments.
In school we are taught genetics by means of the Punnet square. This is an ultra-simplistic version of genetics where one dominant allele is always expressed and a recessive one rarely is, unless in the absence of the dominant allele. Reality is far more complex. Most loci don’t have clear dominance of an allele. And most traits, particularly complex traits such as behaviors, are not under control of one gene. Complex traits are multigenic, with many contributing genes having pleiotropic interactions (one gene contributing to outcomes in more than one trait), with complex additive allelic effects that don’t resemble dominance/recesiveness in any way.
You are missing the forest for the trees. The fact that concordance rates of sexuality for identical twins (clones) is 2X the rate of concordance for dizygotic twins is one of the most powerful pieces of evidence for a genetic, heritable component to sexuality.
Stache99
@Dr. Mo: Yup. I can see the forest very much thank you and identical twins are still very different in fundamental ways ie NOT the same. If you disagree fine. I’d also be willing to bet most parents of twins would disagree with you too.
Stache99
Its recently been reported that the guy on the billboard is in fact gay and doesn’t have a twin. Liars for Jesus is about he best you can say.
Yes Homo
Christians have a lot invested in the “born gay” argument. If people are born gay, that means God made them that way. If God made them that way, that means there’s nothing sinful about being gay. If there’s nothing sinful about it, they’d have to have to love gays as they are instead of trying to denounce or fix them. You know, like Jesus would’ve done. Radical, right?
Captain Obvious
Meh, it’s Virginia. People act like just because a few major cities are supposedly very accepting that it means all of the US is. This is by far the most closeted state I’ve ever lived in and I was born here.
Nearly every guy who’s ever hit on me in this state has had a girlfriend. The rest are very coy because they’re afraid of getting punched in the face or hit with a lead pipe when their back is turned(this actually happened to a guy for cross-dressing).
It’s not just because it’s the south either, I faced blatant homophobia in Los Angeles. The “fight” for gay rights is probably the laziest I’ve ever seen because it’s so involved on the internet that day to day homophobia is never really combated in real life. Hiding in gay ghettos isn’t how you change opinions either.
vive
How ironic that they are trying to turn people straight by pasting up pictures of hot gay clones (pun intended) for us to slobber over.
vive
@Dr. Mo, no, identical twins are in fact not usually precise clones, as a two-minute expedition to Wikipedia will confirm. There are usually some small genetic differences, and then there are many epigenetic differences due to environmental factors. For one thing, they don’t even have the same fingerprints, never mind identical brains.
But does it matter if we are born gay or not? In a free society, it shouldn’t. Even if someone is completely bisexual, he should still have the freedom to choose (a) same-sex partner(s) and be free from legal discrimination.
Ladbrook
NBC12 – Richmond, VA News
Ladbrook
@Ladbrook: I was attempting to post a link to a recent interview with the model on the billboard. Well guess what!? He’s not gay AND he’s not a twin. Plus – he hates PFOX and the billboard’s message. Gotta love it.
You can watch the vid over at joemygod.blogspot.com Enjoy!
Dr. Mo
@Stache99: You continue to misuse scientific terms with very precise meanings. At the organismal level, particularly when you get to mammals, “clones” are individuals with identical or near identical genomic DNA. Inbred mice are clones, and yet you see quite a bit of individual variation. Identical genomic DNA can still result is slightly different phenotypes.
Stache99
@Dr. Mo: As my dad use to say. “you can dazzle them with brilliance or baffle them with BS”. You seem to like the latter.
Dr. Mo
@Stache99: Or you are not properly equipped to understand the difference.
I do genetics for a living. And I charge a pretty penny for it, too =]
vive
@Dr. Mo, it is not just the phenotypes. They don’t even have identical genomic DNA. Look it up.
Dr. Mo
@vive: Only on a technicality, which is the appearance of mutations early on in development. But it doesn’t really matter. Most mutations are insignificant. They are silent, point mutations on regions of the genome that are not expressed.
Verbatim from the page of the National Human Genome Research Institute:
“Natural clones, also known as identical twins, occur in humans and other mammals. These twins are produced when a fertilized egg splits, creating two or more embryos that carry almost identical DNA. Identical twins have nearly the same genetic makeup as each other, but they are genetically different from either parent.”
http://www.genome.gov/25020028
jason smeds
Who cares if we’re born or not? I don’t. So long as our sexuality as men is genuine, that’s the main thing.
jason smeds
The problem with the “we are born gay” strategy adopted by many gay-identifying men is that it suggests that our genes can be manipulated to reverse our sexuality. It gives fuel to those weirdos who wish to experiment on us.
Dgrin
I’m a twin and my brother and I couldn’t be more identical yet very different all at the same time. we were raised together and we do share a lot and have almost the same life experiences but from two completely different points of view. In many ways we look the same, talk and think alike and have almost the same morals and life values yet we are both two really different individuals in our own special way. We don’t and could never have the same taste in sexes, music, movies, foods, dress style, lifestyles(as in I’m more an athletic healthy freak and he’s a smocking,alcohol&junk food kind-a-guy), etc. So even though at the surface we (used to) look really much alike we are not and could never be the same person and do the same life choices. So this notion is bogus. At the end of the day making fun, ostracizing and punishing a person for a silly thing like the fact he prefers to eat spinach than broccoli is ridiculous and shouldn’t be such a big deal that is being made out to be. Also I used to be scared of him ever finding out about me cause my brother just like every other guy was a tiny bit of an intolerant homophobic but ever since I came out to him I witnessed a big change in his view of the matter which I feel it’s his own way of supporting me which makes me really happy to have him as a brother.
jwtraveler
@jason smeds: Who does it suggest that to, besides you of course?
babyowl66
Well, there is no accounting for taste…let alone ignorance. Some simply chose to stay ignorant and use god/the bible as the excuse.
Amanda33
@babyowl66: Well, if you want to go back to the mid-twentieth century eugenics movement, the Nazis experimented on homosexuals to search for and eradicate a gay gene (doctors like Mengele did a lot of twin experimentation in particular to study genetics, much of it trying to change eye color and the like). Eugenics were popular in the U.S. until the movement became associated with Nazism (tho admittedly in the U.S. it was more racial and economic; California alone had 20K forced sterilizations from ~1909-1963). ~Trivia of the daaay
kat facepunch
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/twin-from-nobodys-born-gay-billboard-i-am-gay-and-im-not-a-twin/
YogaMom
@Ladbrook: It matters because Christians cannot believe that someone is damned to hell for the way God made them; it has to be a choice to sin. Therefore, people NEED to choose to be homosexual, or else that makes the Christian a bigot.
MeddlinMegs
A) Identical twins do not have the same genes.
2) Kill the billboard with fire!
C) Even if it was a choice, saying they can’t get married is a violation of the 1st Amendment. People choose to be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, et cetera.
4) Identical twins: 1 has cancer, 1 doesn’t. That twin must’ve chosen to have cancer.
Do I make myself clear? Feel free to tell me if I’m “wrong”.
Marvellis1
And nobody is born straight. Sexuality is a continuum, bisexuality is a norm. Straight does not exist; it is a conception of our culture. One needs to come out as gay, or be closeted. This sign is homophobia on parade.
toddaplod
So, this is a billboard of a gay dude being portrayed as both a gay dude and a straight dude for some religious organisations agenda?
Sorry, I look at this and my first thought was ” so Dr Mengele is still alive and hacking open twins?”
As a straight identical twin (yes, out and proud twin), I was disturbed that these religious types ar allowed to do this research on twins.
Growing up as a twin, especially an identical twin is hard.
People ask what it’s like. I dunno.what is it like to not be a twin?
People constantly compare and contrast you against your twin in EVERY situation.
You can’t walk down the stree without hearing ” get back to the circus, freaks”
And now they are hacking us open to try to figure out whether we are dispositioned to be gay?
Sorry, I don’t care where people stick their junk.its none of my business.
Is there some secret research facility that steals twins in the night a and harvests them? Why are people turning a blind eye to this?
I can understand why the guy on the billboard is a “mono-dude” (I just made that up to describe non twins. Feel free to use it). If there was a set of twins, they would be more easily identified and taken to one of these twin research camps you have been telling me about.
When will this madness end???
jhawes08
As a Christian, I can say that we don’t all have the same idea that being gay is a choice, or biology, or any of that other nonsense. Personally, I believe we are all born the same and equal, and that Jesus and God love us all. I don’t preach, I won’t convince you that I’m right and the only way is Christianity, and I won’t tell you that you’re wrong if you’ve chosen something else. In the entirety of the New Testament, Jesus never says a single thing against gay people. He loves EVERYONE. He preaches that God loves everyone too. If you go by the Old Testament as law and fact, along with hating gay people, you’d also HAVE to dress modestly at every moment. You can never alter your skin with piercings and tattoos. You have permission to get the slave girl pregnant, if your wife can’t have children. You must slaughter animals for sacrifice, pretty much constantly, to make God happy. You can’t pick and choose the parts you want just to make your ignorance seem more important. I believe in Jesus and the simple notion that we are all equal. All Christians are not bigoted, ignorant, or shaming.
jhawes08
@jhawes08: Sorry, that last line should be, “NOT all Christians are bigoted, ignorant, or shaming.
alananichole
I would just like to say that I’m from Virginia and we are not all shitty. I’m Pansexual (yes it’s an actual sexuality) and my boyfriend of 3 years is transgender. Just because we’re from the south doesn’t mean we hate gays. There’s gonna be hate wherever you go. It sucks, but that’s life.
FuryouMiko
@Stache99: Do you have a case study for that? I’m a sociology student and it would really help my essay.
Sluggo2007
It’s the Bible Belt. What do you expect? I work in customer service. It’s amazing how stupid the people who call from below the Mason-Dixon line are. I mean, the DUH kind of stupid! Incredible! I can’t imagine how these people get through life!
watergirl
@Dr. Mo: THANK YOU Dr Mo for being the only educated voice on this topic! The average person doesn’t have enough education on the topic of genetics to even understand whatever simplified Internet-sourced information they’re reading and you are the only person commenting on this topic who obviously knows what they’re talking about. That being said, we’re clearly all in agreement on the main point of the article and I’m not trying to make anyone feel stupid. That discussion was just making me crazy and I was so glad to read comments from someone who is educated!
ocrt
At http://www.religioustolerance.org/proofs-homosexuality-not-caused-by-genes-2.htm, I wrote a rebuttal to the identical twin argument against a genetic cause of sexual orientation. It mentions that if one identical twin has:
– Multiple sclerosis then the chance of the other twin having MS is 25%.
– Schizophrenia is 49%
– A homosexual orientation is about 50%
– Bipolar affective disorcer if 60%
– Huntingtion’s disease then the chance of the identical twin having it is 100%
What makes these differences is the allels (version of different genes) have different penetrance factors. Not all are like 100% like PFOX and an enormous percentage of other religious and social conservatives believe.
vive
@ocrt: “if one identical twin has [] a homosexual orientation [then the chance that the other is homosexual] is about 50%.”
Yes, what most people, including those who put up this billboard, don’t seem to get is that this confirms that genetics has a LARGE influence on homosexual orientation, because 50% is much larger than the prevalence of homosexuality in the general population (something less than 5% according to most recent research).
Since it is 50%, not 100%, it also indicates that environment and/or chance factors during development have some influence on sexual orientation, which tends to upset people who have a lot invested in the “born that way” idea. I have for a long time argued that it is a mistake to base rights on accidents of birth – it is simply unjust for someone to have more rights based on whether he is born on U.S. soil, for example, and in a free society it is unjust to deny people the right to choose a sexual partner or partners of any gender.
RoyalVex
Good thing Jango Fett was not gay or else the entire clone trooper army made on the Planet Kamino, would be whiny and stubborn…
Gitfiddlmasta
@Yes Homo: “If people are born gay, that means God made them that way. If God made them that way, that means there’s nothing sinful about being gay.”
That is not 100% true, IF (big if) people are born gay then God made them that way. Its the same with deformities and life threatening diseases, God made them that way. Its part of living in a fallen world. Everyone is born with sin, God doesn’t want us to sin. It is our choice as humans whether to sin or not, but everyone (including me) is a sinner.
“love gays as they are instead of trying to denounce or fix them”
That goes back to everyone is a sinner Christians included, God says to love everyone. Part of loving someone is that you want the best for them right? Some people think “fixing them” is the solution. I think us Christians just need to be there for them if they are in doubt.
Stache99
@Gitfiddlmasta: Well, actually God didn’t make anyone because he didn’t/doesn’t exist. It’s nothing but a bronze age fairy tale for weak minded people..Jesse Ventura.
I always find it hysterically funny that Christians will unquestionably believe something that has “0 proof” yet will be the first ones to deny science where things are backed up with hard facts. When they do use Science they always fuck it up because Science is about truth and not BS lies that they’re used to.
Jamie1976
“…it’s been revealed that the “twins” on the billboard are actually just one guy who is an out and proud gay man.”
BULLSHIT. If that was the case, he would not have signed on to be a part of this anti-gay campaign. PERIOD.
Stache99
@Jamie1976: Models typically sign releases to their photo’s. When that happens they can be used pretty much anywhere for anything within reason.
Jamie1976
@Ladbrook: You dumb twit…he says it plain as day that he IS GAY, but is NOT A TWIN! Read things thru and understand them BEFORE you post and make yourself look like an ass.
Jamie1976
@Stache99: I see that now. It should be illegal to use a person’s likeness in such harmful and deceitful ways, especially without their prior written permission. ILLEGAL, I tells ya!
Stache99
@Jamie1976: That only works with Celebrities. I have personal experience with this and why I tell others to understand this when that photographer takes your pic. It may come back to bite you on the ass and there’s nothing at all you can do about it.
Jamie1976
@MeddlinMegs: “4) Identical twins: 1 has cancer, 1 doesn’t. That twin must’ve chosen to have cancer.”
Wouldn’t it be more likely that the twin WITHOUT cancer chose to not have cancer? I mean, come on…who would choose to have cancer?! Just sayin’.
Gitfiddlmasta
@Stache99: I would just like to to say that last comment was not directed to you, also your comment has nothing to do with the topic of the article…
That being said I would like to point out your statement on “0 proof”. Have you heard of faith? Faith is a belief that is not based on proof. I have faith that God is real.
You say Science is backed up with hard facts? Could you provide me observable “facts” that prove that Science is the truth? See I think it takes faith for both Science and Religion! I just think Science is the fairy tale for weak minded people;)
vive
Gitfiddlmasta: “Could you provide me observable “facts” that prove that Science is the truth? See I think it takes faith for both Science and Religion!”
There are plenty of proven scientific facts. The computer on which you typed your nonsense works based on science, not faith.