Some people worry that if science finds a “gay gene,” expectant parents may try to abort or genetically change their child’s sexual orientation. But who knows? The results could be fabulous.
Kevin Kelly’s audience-award winning short Gay Baby looks at one dad’s discomfort upon learning that his newborn son will be a ‘mo. It’s heartwarming and a little silly, but if there’s one unbelievable thing about this film, it’s that a manager would remind his employee to leave work early—that’ll never happen.
Ellen
This was a nice film. I would hope that fathers of gay children could love their sons for who they are, just as I hope mothers of lesbian children will love their daughters.
Pedro
I’m gay and if I were having a gay kid, I’d probably at least try to change its orientation if at all possible. I’d imagine there would probably be an uptick in abortions if people could in fact test for the “gay” gene…
quiet listener
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8405804
read this… please. Yes, it is interesting to look at people’s reaction to such a thing, but it is such a fabricated construct… also there has been a gene previously found that was labeled “the gay gene” but the validity of labeling it as such as very questionable. Not to generalize, but the media when reporting on such things is so uninformed, or rather uninterested in becoming fully informed. In this situation it seems the filmmaker just wanted to create the hypothetical w/o consulting the actual reality of such a situation. There’s both genetic and epigenetic matters to consider as well as the fact that genes that may predispose one to certain conditions do not usually mean 100% likelihood. One would hope that potential parents would be accepting and that there wouldn’t be a negative selection against such a gene, but there could be more negative selection if they were misinformed about it’s effects on the potential child.
Hyhybt
So much harder that it’s better never to be born?
The world is becoming a better place. Better to keep at improving it than on only having children who fit in as it is… particularly when it won’t be as it is by the time they’re grown anyway.
Hyhybt
Sorry, that was meant as a response to “(the) Rooney”.
(the) Rooney
@Hyhybt: It’s pretty easy to live in the world. Without shitty religions like Christianity that turn human beings against each other, it wouldn’t be so bad at all. It was Christianity that gave us scientific racism in Europe, and hundreds of years of wars that finally engulfed the whole planet in two world wars, with the nuclear bomb and the nuclear standoff since then. I don’t want to bring children into a world like that. Usually the people who want to have children are fascists whose mission in life is to implant their ideas in the next generation. Christian-fascism needs the next generation to conquer what the previous one couldn’t, to establish the utopia on Earth. The Christian-fascist goal is to eliminate all differences and to make everyone exactly the same. It’s the most extreme form of mental illness.
Pedro
@(the) Rooney: Umm…you’re complaining about fascists having other baby fascists while making it clear you refuse to reproduce…what’s the point exactly? And I know you live in the West and are therefore Western-centric, but get a good history book and read about what life for the average plebe was like in the near or far East and you’ll soon realize that the whole planet has a very fucked up history and millions upon millions upon millions of innocent souls were born to suffer and die. Christians weren’t doing anything unique…Humans as a race suck.
Hyhybt
@(the) Rooney: Aside from everything else, saying you don’t want to bring *any* child into the world because it’s horrible in general is very different than saying you’d abort if you found out the kid would be bisexual.
qolak
Well that is a dad’s worst nightmare: his daughter becoming a whore or his son becoming a homo, or both hee hee
Pedro
You are either a complete whack job…or extremely uninformed…Christianity didn’t make the world any worse than it was before…The Romans fed people to wild beasts in the name of entertainment, the Greeks killed each other at funeral games…The Chinese loved the old fashion flailing…The world is and has always been a cruel place…And where are all these happy non Christian countries you speak of…? China, India, Nepal…Where are all these happier non-Christians…
marcus
@(the) Rooney:
agreed
did you also here about that small church in kentucky that banned interracial marriage this week??!!!??!!
Henry
“Pedro’s” belief that the human race sucks is a sign of how deeply caught in the Protestant brainwashing he is. Protestants brainwash themselves into believing the worst possible scenarios of life on earth so they can make those scenarios a reality. This is especially, but not solely, true of Calvinists. The profound and alarming evil of Protestant Christianity affects every level of society.
Hyhybt
@(the) Rooney: That you do not see your life as worth living is sad, but that’s yours to decide. If you want to blame Christianity for that, go ahead. But the generalization that (all or most) people in Christian countries are miserable and (all or most) in non-Christian countries are happy is simply absurd. Especially when you base the latter on how well a small sample of them smile for the camera.
(the) Rooney
@Hyhybt: No, it’s really not that different. I was just providing more detail about how the world is not bi-friendly. It’s basically that way because of Christianity.
Pedro
@Henry: …I’m Catholic…
sic!
I wouldn’t care about sexual orientation of my child. I would just want him/her to be a very happy and healthy human being.
(the) Rooney
Pedro, Christianity made the world dozens of magnitudes worse than it was before. The most cruel things done in ancient times pale in comparison to the things done as a direct result of Christian doctrine. The Assyrian Empire did some of the worst things known to man in the ancient world. They were especially cruel to their political prisoners, judging in terms of how they tortured them. However, they never enslaved a people just because of the color of their skin. This has only happened in Christian countries. World War I and II only happened in Christian countries. The Holocaust, which was the insane slaughter of six million innocent Jews, only happened in a Christian country, and it only COULD happen in a Christian country. Paul nearly lost his mind because a single innocent person was put on a cross. Here now millions of people are losing their minds because things unthinkably more evil than that have happened, all in the parts of the world where Christianity took root.
Pedro
@(the) Rooney: You are obviously anti-Christian and that is your right…I really have no desire to get into some long argument with you…So you’re right. Christianity is the worst of the worst, all others are better. Without Christianity, we would all be as free and enlightened as they are in all those non-Christian countries…Oh how I wish I were living in one of those highly developed and advanced civilizations where people are treated so much better than they are in the West.
(the) Rooney
Pedro, you have no desire to get into a long argument because you know Christianity can’t be defended. Your so-called highly developed, advanced societies produce the most disgusting mind rot. The reason is because development occurs individually, not nationally, which is where the Christian-fascists go wrong. Speaking of mind rot, you know they don’t believe in young earth creationism in Africa or China, and if they happen to believe something like it, they can easily be disabused of it. They don’t believe it’s sane to kill off some of the most talented, intelligent people in their own countries, like Britain drove Alan Turing to his death even though he was instrumental in cracking Nazi German war codes. They don’t think it’s sane to demonize intellectuals like Hitler did when he said intellectuals might need to be killed off en masse in the future. Christianity is evil, and I’m glad I know it. I escaped the brainwashing and I hope I can lead other people to escape it too.
Hyhybt
@(the) Rooney: Sometimes, an argument is not worth entering because the other side is clearly in the right. Sometimes it’s not worth entering because there are no good arguments. Sometimes it’s simply because the person you would be arguing with is beyond reasoning, whether because they’re off the deep end or have simply closed their ears.
You are welcome to see yourself in any of those categories you wish.
o
@Hyhybt: Sometimes, little green Martians stop by to swim in your cereal bowl, but you can’t see them, and it only happens sometimes.
Pedro
@(the) Rooney: Okay, I’ve got to get busy making a living, but I have to ask, are you really touting the wonders of China and the African continent, when it comes to individual rights and liberties….really? Well, that’s certainly one way to look at things…adios mi enmigo!
Chad
Just abort them, right? After all it is a woman’s right. Isn’t that the nonsense argument gays use to support “freedom to kill”. Abortion is just as wrong as discrimination against gays. Alas the two paths meet!!!
the other Greg
Let’s hope science does NOT find a “gay gene” and it’s much more complicated than that.
If they do find a gay gene, the nutbag anti-abortion Christians will immediately change their mind about abortion, the next generation of gay people will never be born, and that will be that — no more gay people, ever!
Robert in NYC
If I knew my unborn child was going to be a right wing religious wacko, I’d abort too. Religious belief is a chosen lifestyle, nobody comes into this world that way. I hope a gay gene is never found. I don’t want to see another form of genocide emerging which is what could well happen, but then the right wing religious fascists would have a hard time deciding to abort becaue they’re against a woman’s right to abort anyway even if the life of the mother is threatened. The Roman cult in particular would be in a real bind.
the Rooney, how would you feel if a law were enacted to get rid of bisexuals along with gays, both living and unborn because society doesn’t want them? Be careful what you wish for. Are you single or married? There are many straight single people in this world who can’t find partners. What next, get rid of straight unborn children because you don’t want them to be lonely? If you’re married,then you already have a partner and shouldn’t be cheating with men on the side.
Robert in NYC
No. 26, exactly my point too! A right wing religious wacko’s dream, no more gay people ever. Get rid of them in any way possible including those already born. The GOP I’m sure would embrace it with open arms.
Robert in NYC
No. 26, exactly my point too! A right wing religious wacko’s dream, no more gay people ever. Get rid of them in any way possible including those already born. The GOP I’m sure would embrace it with open arms if the tea party scumbaggers demanded it.
Aunt Sharon
@the other Greg: Ah, but it might even be worse! The gene could be recessive, in which case you’d have to abort any “straight” babies who simply carry it. Since such a gene isn’t 100% determinative, wouldn’t it be safer to observe postpartum development, and kill off the kids who show gay traits? Wait! We’re almost there now!
Cam
@Pedro: said…
“I’m gay and if I were having a gay kid, I’d probably at least try to change its orientation if at all possible. I’d imagine there would probably be an uptick in abortions if people could in fact test for the “gay” gene…”
_____________________
Would you also abort a baby that was a woman? Or had big ears? How would you feel if people aborted babys for being too Latino?
Seriously, you have a MASSIVE dose of self hate.
Stephen
I was about to freak out… Saying that the gay kid can’t be a major league ball player… WTF?!? And all the stereotypes? This is really horrible!
Then I saw the end. Well played.
Pedro
@Cam: I never said that I would want the child aborted..First of all because I wouldn’t be able to force the surrogate to have an abortion under the law…Secondly, I was raised Catholic and probably could never bring myself to consent to aborting a living human baby. I would, however, rather my child be heterosexual because, his/her life would be much easier. He/she would probably have a better chance of having a happy, wholesome life(statistically speaking), which as a parent, I would wish wholeheartedly for my child.
btseven
Oh, that was just a whole lot of fun to watch!
Tyler
On a lighter note, that blonde guy is cute.
MARTIN
lovely