Sing You Home: A Novel Read online

  “So none of these esteemed scientists have been able to conclusively prove that a person is born gay?”

  “No,” the psychologist says. “It’s certainly not like skin color, for example. You can’t do anything to change your skin color—Michael Jackson notwithstanding. But sexual orientation isn’t all nature. There’s a hefty dose of nurture tossed in as well.”

  “That brings me to your most recent article, ‘Beyond Love: Why Same-Sex Marriage Harms Children.’ Can you tell us what led you to write it?”

  “There’s copious evidence that it is in a child’s best interest to be raised by two heterosexual parents,” Dr. Newkirk says. “Lesbian partners may indeed be wonderful mothers, but they simply cannot be fathers.”

  “Can you elaborate?”

  Dr. Newkirk nods. “There are four primary reasons why it’s critical for a child to be loved by both a mother and a father. First, the attachment a parent of each sex has to its child—though equally important—is significantly unique. A mother’s unconditional love and a father’s conditional love complement each other and influence the way a child grows up. A relationship with both sexes in a child’s formative years allows the child to interact with the world more easily in later years. Second, it’s a well-established fact of child development that there are different stages of growth psychologically. For example, although babies of both sexes at first respond better to the care of a mother, at a certain point, to hone his masculine identity, a boy must detach from his mother and identify with his father instead, to learn how to channel his aggression and control his emotions. The father relationship is important to the growing young lady, as well—it becomes a safe place to have her femininity validated. Without that father figure in her life, she is more likely to satiate a hunger for male attention in a way that makes her sexually adventurous in inappropriate ways.”

  “And the third reason?” Wade prompts.

  “Same-sex relationships have been documented to cause sexual confusion in children, and promiscuity. The message sent is that all choices are equally desirable, that it doesn’t matter who you marry. For this reason young people raised in same-sex-relationship households tend to be both sexually active and sexually indiscriminate.”

  “You mean they’re more likely to form homosexual relationships themselves?”

  “Exactly. Think of ancient Greece, for example. Homosexuality ran rampant—not because of a gay gene but because society condoned it. Condoning this kind of behavior only leads to a proliferation of the behavior.”

  “And the final reason same-sex marriage is detrimental to children?”

  “Because it paves the way for even more socially unacceptable relationships. Polyamorous couplings, for example. Can you imagine the emotional ramifications suffered by a child who has a single father but multiple mommies? With whom would that child bond? And if we extrapolate from this—imagine what happens when those marriages disintegrate and then there are remarriages—well, conceivably there could be children with two fathers and six mothers . . .” She shakes her head. “That’s not a family, Mr. Preston. That’s a commune.”

  “Let me ask you, Dr. Newkirk, do your objections stem from an inability of a homosexual couple to provide love to a child?”

  “Absolutely not. Certainly homosexual couples can create just as loving an environment as heterosexual couples. However, kids need more than love. They need the complementary experiences of having a male and a female parent for guidance, instruction, and psychological development.”

  “Naysayers will ask what your evidence is,” Wade says.

  Dr. Newkirk smiles. “Five thousand years or so of parenting, Mr. Preston. Putting children into a newfangled social experiment could be absolutely devastating to the next generation.” She looks over at Zoe. “I have nothing but compassion for homosexuals who want to raise a family. But I can’t allow my compassion for them to trounce the needs of innocent children.”

  “As a result of all your research, Dr. Newkirk, do you have an expert opinion as to which home would be a more fit and proper placement for these pre-born children?”

  “Yes, I do. I firmly believe that these children would be much better off in the home of Reid and Liddy Baxter.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Wade says, and he turns to Angela Moretti. “Your witness.”

  “You say homosexuality isn’t genetic, right, Doctor?” Angela begins.

  “There’s no evidence to support that.”

  “You said the Bailey and Pillard study isn’t valid because not every identical twin who identified as gay had a gay twin, correct?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Are you aware that, even though identical twins share many identical traits, there are certain biological factors that differ between them? Fingerprints, for example?”

  “Well—”

  “And, Doctor, you discounted the LeVay study because it hasn’t been confirmed yet with a similar study.”

  “That’s right,” the psychologist says.

  “Are you familiar with the research done on the eight percent of domestic rams who are solely interested in having sex with other rams?”

  “No.”

  “Well,” Angela Moretti says, “in fact researchers discovered in those rams a bunch of neurons in the hypothalamus that were smaller than they tended to be in heterosexual rams. In fact, the findings were very reminiscent of Simon LeVay’s study. Doctor, you also criticized Dean Hamer’s research because it hasn’t been replicated, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does that mean that at some point the study might be replicated?”

  “Naturally I can’t predict the future.”

  “Are you aware of the Swedish study that identified the differences in the way the brains of straight men and gay men responded to male and female pheromones, which suggested a strong physiological component to homosexuality?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Do you know that scientists in Vienna have identified a genetic switch for sexual orientation in fruit flies? And that, when they tampered with the switch, female fruit flies ignored males and instead tried to mate with other females by mimicking the mating rituals of male fruit flies?”

  “I was not aware of that, no,” the psychologist admits.

  “And did you know, Dr. Newkirk, that there’s currently a two-point-five-million-dollar study underwritten by the National Institutes of Health to do genetic screenings of a thousand pairs of gay brothers, in order to better understand the genetic component of homosexuality? You and I both know that government rarely muddies its hands in research regarding sexuality, Doctor. Wouldn’t this suggest that even an esteemed institution like the NIH is validating the biological basis for homosexuality?”

  “Anyone can have a hypothesis, Ms. Moretti. Research, though, doesn’t always back it up.”

  “Then how about Dr. William Reiner, at the University of Oklahoma,” Angela asks. “Are you aware that he’s studied hundreds of cases of children born with sexual differentiation disorders—such as a baby boy with an undeveloped penis or no penis at all? Typical protocol has involved surgery to castrate the infant, who is then raised as a girl. Did you know, Doctor, that not a single one grew up to be sexually attracted to males? That the majority of those gender-reassigned babies transitioned back to being males, because they were sexually attracted to women? I’d say that’s a very clear example of nurture not trumping nature, wouldn’t you?”

  “Counselor,” the psychologist says, “I assume you are familiar with Darwin’s principle of natural selection?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then you know that it’s an established scientific belief that the primary goal for all species is to pass along the strongest genes to future generations. Since homosexuals produce only twenty percent of the offspring that heterosexuals do, wouldn’t this gay gene you’re suggesting have long been wiped out by natural selection?” She smiles. “You can’t play the biology card if you can’t just