Gay Genes

Recently Congress just voted to ban discrimination based on genetic predispositions for illnesses.

What?

So I can be predisposed to cancer and you won’t fire me but, but if I’m gay you can?! Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this bill is important. But it IS true that you are going to cost your company money paying your medical bills for your illness, when being gay harms no one and costs nothing to the company. I think it just goes to show what a grip the Fundamentalist Christians have on our country when it is so impossible to give people basic human rights. I can understand not wanting us to be involved in marriage, a institution largely considered to be religious based, but to not provide us with just basic human rights?

In addition, what if you believe that being gay is in your genes? I am then predisposed to be gay because of my genes – I mean, it may put being gay in the realm of an illness or disease, but at least then I won’t get fired or discriminated against! Some people say that if we try to line up being gay with genes that they will try to “fix” it. Well the day of gene therapy is far ahead in the future, and being gay is such a complex mix of genes and environment that it will probably never be “fixed” by gene therapy. So, maybe this can be used to the advantage of pushing forward the GLBT ERA, considering that most of the evidence leans towards there being a genetic predisposition to being gay. It seems like a double standard to me – if you are predisposed to an actual physical illness then that is okay, but if you are predisposed to be attracted to a certain gender, then that isn’t and you’re still going to be fired because of it. Are we going to pick and choose which genes are “okay” and which are “covered” by this law?!