I am a big proponent of access to genetic testing to screen out embryos that have serious chromosomal abnormalities. But I find this possible “breakthrough” to be morally indefensible and horrifyingly reminiscent of the Nazi eugenics program. I also have to take exception to the author’s characterization of the “gay gene” as a “mutation” and hope such a test never becomes available as it would further the inane notion that homosexuality is a deviation from the norm and an affliction to be avoided:

Within a few years, parents may be able to screen embryos and foetuses for the “gay gene”, according to a Columbia University bioethicist. Robert Klitzman, whose most recent book is Am I My Genes?: Confronting Fate and Family Secrets in the Age of Genetic Testing, told New Zealand media that genetic tests for homosexuality could be developed along with tests for autism, Alzheimer’s disease and various types of cancers.

“This would mean people could decide they do not want a child because it is going be gay, or that they want a child that is gay. So over the next few years as we develop more genetic testing, as the price goes down so it becomes very affordable to do this, these will be questions that millions of people will face,” Klitzman said.

He said there are now technologies to screen babies for thousands of conditions. “We can screen foetuses for many, many conditions and we can now also screen embryos before they are implanted in a woman. And we can say ‘we want these embryos because they don’t have this mutation and they’re a boy or we want these.’ And these are presenting many, many questions and problems.”

In stretching to find a silver-lining in all this, at least this will forever put to rest the absurd notion that homosexuality is a life-style choice as opposed to a predetermined genetic trait. As a result, it could open the door for expansive rights to be given to this “minority” class — much to the chagrin of religious fundamentalists who believe this choice can be remedied through conversion therapy.