SO WHY AM I NOT GAY?

     According to the latest research, I should be a lesbian! Yes, take a look at my index finger, which is significantly shorter than my ring-finger. This denotes an excess of male hormones when I was developing in the womb. Consequently (they say) I should have developed homosexual tendencies.

Desperate to "prove" that homosexuality is a natural condition present in the genes and developed in the womb, researchers have come up with a theory that beats all the others hands-down (sorry!).

The report was posted in the journal "Nature" by Prof Marc Breedlove, of the University of California, Berkeley, who studied the finger lengths of 720 adults attending a street fair in San Francisco. Men generally have a slightly shorter index finger in proportion to their ring finger; women tend to have equal index and ring fingers. However, some women show a masculine trait of much shorter index finger size.

Since it is believed that male hormones in the womb are responsible for the development of fingers and genitalia, the Professor concluded that the ratio between the index finger and the fourth finger is a measure of how much male hormone a child is exposed to in the womb. Men and women with somewhat shorter index fingers in proportion to their ring fingers are more likely to be gay, he claims.

One difficulty that immediately springs to mind is that MEN should not have been adversely affected by the level of male hormone in their mother's womb! But the Professor is saying that his theory applies equally to women and men.

Prof Breedlove says a link between homosexuality and higher male hormone levels was "a surprise". He said: "I think our culture regards gay men as feminine. But I believe it's time to rethink this assumption that gay men, or even most gay men, are feminine.."

So --- Prof Breedlove seems to be saying that a high level of male hormones in the foetal development of girls predisposes them to be lesbians; and a similar level for boy children also disposes them to be gay - but in a masculine way!.

Undeterred by this seeming contradiction, the report confidently affirms that sexual orientation is determined in the womb, adding its biased opinion to the work already done on linking genes to sexuality.

However, the supposed "gay gene" may not even exist, according to an investigation published recently. The research of Dr Dean Hamer, of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland in 1993 that appeared to suggest a genetic component to homosexuality, has been followed up by Dr George Rice and colleagues at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and Stanford Medical School, California, who announce in the journal 'Science' that the gene is not linked to male homosexuality. "We found no evidence for linkage," Dr Rice says.

He and his colleagues say that the homosexual brothers in the original survey shared no more genetic "markers" than would be expected between any two brothers, who share about half their DNA on any given chromosome.

And so the struggle continues. But since the word of God plainly demonstrates that homosexuality is a trait that can be either chosen or rejected, even those born with an excess of male hormones or "gay genes", if they exist, are still responsible for their actions in choosing to adopt a homosexual lifestyle.

It may possibly be that some girl children develop a more masculine physique and disposition (we all know of tomboys!) but their sexual orientation is still a matter of CONSCIOUS CHOICE. Having a shorter index finger is no justification for being gay - and I speak as a short-fingered woman who just celebrated 25 years of marriage!