Counterbias: Death by Bush and Fruit Flies

Death by Bush and Fruit Flies

June 27 2005
Counterbias.com
Mel Seesholtz

Corwyn (Cory) William Zimbleman of Tucson, Arizona (formerly of Champaign, IL), was born on April 18,1952. He died on June 10, 2005. What killed Cory at such a young age? From his obituary:

An avid atheist, he studied the bible and religion with more fervor than most Christians. He had strong political opinions and followed Amy Goodman's radio broadcast "Democracy Now." Alas the stolen election of 2000 and living with right-winged Americans finally brought him to his early demise. Stress from living in this unjust country brought about several heart attacks rendering him disabled.

Sally Baron of Stoughton, Wisconsin was 71 years-old when she died on August 18, 2003. She’d been struggling to recuperate from heart surgery. Her obituary also included George W. Bush: “Memorials in her honor can be made to any organization working for the removal of President Bush.”

Would Sally Baron have approved? Absolutely, said her children. Daughter Maureen Bettilyon said her mother “thought he [Bush] was a liar. I think his personality, just standing there with that smirk on his face, and acting like he’s this holy Christian, that’s what really got her.”

Joe Baron said his mother “just didn’t trust that a big corporate guy [Bush] was going to be doing what was best for her. She just really didn’t trust him.”

How could anyone trust George W. Bush? From the “uniter” campaign lie to the “let’s go to war” WMD lie, from trying to gut Social Security to trying to make the Constitution a document that proscribes rights rather than guarantees them, George W. Bush is a disaster. How many untimely deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are the direct result of this smirking cowboy’s lie-based policies? How many “sexually-unacceptable” Americans (except porn stars) are denied equality in the United States as a direct result of this smirking cowboy’s hypocritical lie-based programs? How many former allies would now rather partner with China than the U.S. as a direct result of the messianic smirking cowboy’s lies and policies?

Meanwhile, the other Bush in-power continues to invade and exploit the Schiavo family’s personal tragedy for his own political gain. Perhaps that’s not so surprising. The Bush boys sold their political souls to the leaders of the Christian Right. Jeb and George are now their indentured domestic servants, but a critical foundation of the Christian Right’s House of Lies is in serious trouble, thanks to fruit flies.

A study by Drs. Barry J. Dickson and Ebru Demir of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences published in the June 3, 2005 issue of the scientific journal Cell showed definitively that sexual behavior in fruit flies is genetically governed. The first logical question is “Does that finding have relevance to sexual orientation in humans?” The next logical question is “How long before the Christian Right attacks the first question?”

While I can’t (definitively) answer the first question, I can offer an answer to the second. Eighteen days later James Dobson’s media machine posted its response: “Gay Activists Twist Fruit Fly Study: Despite what you may have heard in the media, a report on the sexual genetics of fruit flies has no bearing on human experience.”

Finding definitive evidence that sexual orientation is genetically linked is a death knell for the Christian Right’s vicious anti-gay campaign. Why? It’s simple.

If sexual orientation is genetic, then the Christian Right’s fundamental argument that homosexuality is only a “perverted lifestyle choice” goes out the window, along with their credibility.

If sexual orientation is genetic, then “God made homosexuals that way” and, unless “God” screwed up, homosexuality is part of His plan and all the self-righteous demagogues like Jerry Falwell, Louis Sheldon and James Dobson will be exposed as the hate-mongering bigots they are.

They will also no doubt lose a lot of the money pouring into their “ministries” to fight homosexuality. The same holds true for those running the for-profit dangerous con games of “ex-gay” ministries and “reparative therapy” programs.

Love in Action, Inc. is an “ex-gay ministry.” They run the “Refuge Program” camp for teens in Tennessee. It offers a two-week program for $1,500 and a six-week program for $4,000, according to their web site. The following line from Dyana Bagby’s article about Refuge – and a 16-year-old involuntary inmate named Zach who recently blogged what goes on there – documents the “ex-gay” fraud, as well as the psychological damage it inflicts: “Rev. John Smid, Love In Action’s executive director, who is married to a woman and claims to have left behind ‘the homosexual lifestyle,’ if not same-sex attractions” (italics mine).

“If not same-sex attractions”? That’s called “repression,” Rev. Smid, and repression is definitely not a “healthy lifestyle”… or an honest one.

Wayne Besen, who tracks the “ex-gay” movement and is the author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, called these programs “significant child abuse.” And just for the record, ex-gay “reparative therapies” have been known to include electric shock treatments and exorcisms.

Child Services at the Tennessee Department of Health has begun an investigation of Refuge over allegations of child abuse at the facility. K. Daniele Edwards, a spokesperson for Child Services, confirmed an investigation is underway. Although she could not comment on the particulars that must remain confidential at this point, she did say she believed the Love in Action program would require licensing by the state. Love in Action is not licensed by the Tennessee Departments of Health, Mental Health, Human Services, Child Services, or Education.

With every new example of the Christian Right’s destructive anti-gay fanaticism and with every new independent scientific study, the death knell can be heard more clearly. The Refuge fiasco made that clear, as did the latest work of Dr. Qazi Rahman, a psychobiologist at the University of East London, and Dr. Glenn Wilson, a personality specialist from the University of London. Among their findings, there is no evidence that people could “learn” to be gay and ever-growing evidence that homosexuality has a genetic basis. This study adds to more than a century of similar studies with similar results. (The cover story of the July 5, 2005 issue of The Advocate magazine provides a timeline for the “106 years of ‘Born that way.’”)

Does the DNA programming of fruit flies tells us anything about our own? At the very least, the fruit fly study proves that in the real world, genetics do indeed govern sexual behavior. Fruit flies are a long way from human beings, but DNA is our common blueprint.

Rest in Peace, Cory Zimbleman and Sally Baron. Millions agree with you. We’re doing our best to return honesty and civility to the public discourse, treat all people with dignity and respect, wipe that smirk off the cowboy’s face and prevent an American theocracy.