Which is in itself a defect, the correction of which is allowable.
It's the same reason why it's possible to interfere in a planet's civilization to correct a previous violation of the Prime Directive.
Do you think they have cured cancer in the Star Trek universe?
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Which is in itself a defect, the correction of which is allowable.
It's the same reason why it's possible to interfere in a planet's civilization to correct a previous violation of the Prime Directive.
The question is whether they found a "cure" for homosexuality.
Perhaps the relavent word there is "serious." Bashir was born, well, stupid. And LaForge was born blind. So what qualify in their society as a "serious birth defect" may be pretty steep.
But isn't that restoring people back to "the way they were' at some point, and not changing people into a genetic state they never were?
That why there are no gays in Star Trek.
Well if it is biological - and I definitely think there must be a biological component - then future people will probably find a way to reverse it or prevent it, something that many young gay people now would certainly want. Its just interesting to think what will happen in the future if someone does find a way to change someone's sexuality and find a "cure" for homosexuality
The position of the gay community is that being gay is genetic, however the exact gene sequence responsible has never been identified. In my own case of being transgender, psychologists and physicians describe us as experiencing a medical condition called gender dysphoria, my particular genetics have resulted in a unusual brain architecture.
Owing to not being standard, this could be called a birth defect, although I don't.
Should a future medical "advance" both identify the gene structure than produces a gay person and also a way to alter a gay persons genetic code to replace this with the one of a heterosexual, then unfortunately they would be able to "cure" gayness.
Identifying the sequence alone could also result in targeted abortions.
Young people like to fit in with the crowd, it's safe there. Even those who enjoy being a little bit different, and stand out, don't like being too far outside. It can be cold and lonely there.
It isn't just young gay people who sometime wish they were more inside the group, that they could be magically changed, from the person they actually are.
Even in today's society, they hide and conceal, I did at first.
Well if it is biological - and I definitely think there must be a biological component - then future people will probably find a way to reverse it or prevent it, something that many young gay people now would certainly want. Its just interesting to think what will happen in the future if someone does find a way to change someone's sexuality and find a "cure" for homosexuality
Well as we saw in DS9, genetic manipulation for that reason would be illegal in Trek. However from a real-world perspective, we know that ever since babies with Down's Syndrome have been detectable in utero, the percentage of people with Down's Syndrome has been plummeting, because parents in the western world typically abort unborn Down's babies. Should the 'gay gene' (or its equivalent) become a condition that can be recognized in utero, homophobic assholes might choose to abort their unborn children because they do not want gay offspring. My hope is that by the time this technology exists, the world will have been cured of homophobia- I mean, homophobia is already incredibly unfashionable, and while it will certainly always exist in some form or another, I suspect that homosexuality will be utterly normalized in the western world within two generations- certainly nobody in my generation bats an eye at it, and if they do they're usually bogans. Should abortion of 'gay-probable' babies become a thing (certainly many, many babies are aborted in India and China simply because they are female), hopefully some form of legislation would step in to curb it- can't wait for that political battle! But I guess you wouldn't want to be born into a homophobic family anyway.
Ironically, for all homophobes claims of homosexuality being 'unnatural', it turns gayness may have a reason for existing in the natural world- it turns out that being the youngest of many brothers is a predictor for male homosexuality- the more older brothers you have, the higher the percentage change there is of being born gay. This indicates that there may be a 'function' to homosexuality- nature has assumed that the firstborn brothers have continued the genetic line, so it creates 'carers'- men who will not reproduce, but can assist with the family unit.
A controversial theory, but there is some evidence behind it. So the 'curing' or elimination of gay people through abortion may actually be a net loss to society- certainly I feel as though it would be.
I would hope that there would be extremely few abortions in Trek, women and men would both take the responsibility of birth control/protection very seriously and accidental pregnancies would be limited. And of course I hope our future eventually becomes something like their future although hell knows what's going to happen on this kerazy world.
I would hope this also, but not all abortions come from unintended pregnancies. In the western world many fetuses are aborted for medical reasons like a problem with the fetus or the baby, and in India and China a large portion of abortions are children aborted because they are female and females are considered a burden on the family (this is also why there is a 'girl drought' in India/China).
The old Freud theory that the social influence (or pressure) of an older brother upon his younger brother will cause said brother to develop a homosexual orientation.
Or the somewhat later alternative that the mother's body somehow keeps track of how many male live births she has produced, and that there is a increasing likelyhood with each subsequent birth of a male child, that they'll be gay.
Yeah, that explains it.
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That is the most absurd thing I have heard today.
Back on track, I wonder if AIDS exists in the 23rd-24th centuries?
Back on track, I wonder if AIDS exists in the 23rd-24th centuries?
I'd say that has also been well'n'truly cured. Otherwise Kirk would have caught it at some stage.
Of course AIDS doesn't exist in the 24th century...
Regarding the brother thing. It is true that the youngest of several brothers is generally shorter and less masculine than his older brothers, it is a biological thing. However its hardly the explanation for homosexuality in general considering there are plenty of brotherless gay people.
Regarding the brother thing. It is true that the youngest of several brothers is generally shorter and less masculine than his older brothers, it is a biological thing. However its hardly the explanation for homosexuality in general considering there are plenty of brotherless gay people.
And yet it is a real phenomenon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_birth_order_and_male_sexual_orientation
Regarding You Will Fail's comment, it only affects the ODDS you will be gay- it does not dictate that all first-born males will be straight.
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