In a recent touching Tedx Talk, Dr. James O’Keefe gives a passionate, deep, and personal insight on homosexuality.
O’Keefe, the Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, enlightens the crowd with his discussion on how science can explain the presistence of homosexuality. He says it continues to show as a minority trait, because both gay men and women are essential for the survival of the human race.
He continues with, “Viewed in the light of evolution, homosexuality seems to be a self-defeating and none reproductive strategy, right? The LGBT community has 80% less children than heterosexual couples. Homosexuality is a DNA trait that very well may go extinct in a few generations. They are also a community that’s preceived as being extremely promiscuous.” However, in Dr. O’Keefe’s own words: “Homosexuality isn’t just about sex, it’s about survival – the family’s survival.”
He carries on and shares the story of his own son’s coming out, which was the exact moment that made him to try to understand the science that makes a person attracted to the same sex. He tells the many audience members that being gay or lesbian isn’t a fluke in mother nature, but a important part of it. “If this was a genetic error, natural selection should have long ago culled this from the gene pool. Homosexuality actually increases a family’s ability to survive as a whole. Homosexuality gives advantages to the group by specialized talents and unusual qualities of personality, so actually a society that condemns homosexuality, in fact harms itself.”
But the quote that stood out the most was: “There’s this illusion that homosexuality wants nothing but sex and heterosexuality wants love. But this isn’t true. We all want to be loved.” Of course, that love can come from so many different places, i.e family and acceptance. There are many LGBT youths that get bullied on a daily basis because of who they love and what they identify as. O’Keefe expresses that “A nationwide study confirmed that LGBT U.S teenagers are twice as more likely to be bullied and 5 times more likely to attempt suicide, which means 29% of gay teens have tried killing themselves.”
So, why aren’t LGBT people more accepted in their own homes? Why is it that more LGBT youth live in constant fear? Many say that the LGBT community isn’t a creation of science or mother nature, but we are. What’s against mother nature is prosicuting LGBT people and making them feel wrong and unwelcome.
Please check out the video of Dr. O’Keefe’s Tedx Talk below and let us know your thoughts:
Until next time!
xoxo
