Biology Shouldn’t Matter
Steve Greenberg’s plea for gay rights (“A Place for Gays and Lesbians in Orthodoxy,” January 13) includes a quote from “a beloved leader of Modern Orthodoxy” who wrote, “How can we deny a human being the expression of his physical and psychic being? Is it not cruel to condemn an individual for doing that which his biological and genetic make-up demand that he do?”
A plea for gay rights should not be grounded in the genetic origins of homosexuality. There are genetic etiologies for many forms of behavior that are totally unacceptable and, in fact, criminal — such as pederasty, alcoholism, and perhaps even serial killing. The fact that these behavioral abnormalities and disorders have a genetic basis may explain them, but certainly not condone them.
Homosexual rights need not resort to a genetic etiology for acceptance. Whether congenital or acquired, how two consenting adults choose to live their private sexual lives is not society’s business; and should two adults of the same sex opt for a life together through marriage, there is no good reason to deny them this right, whether this behavior has a genetic basis or not!
Carl N. Steeg
New York, N.Y.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
