are people born gay

/Critical+Banner_33fdf.png">On May 13, 2010 Bill Maher interview pastor John Westcott, on the very controversially issue of homosexuality. During this interview Pastor Westcott states that no human being is gay. Bill Maher disagrees. This opens up the argument for the two men. Westcott fights for his opinion that people are not born gay. This interview can b e found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZR4FQXiBQ

This argument can be formally paraphrased approximately as follows:

1. There is no scientific data that proves that anyone is born gay.

2. There is no gay gene.

3. Being gay is just sin.

4. People are only gay because of their insecurities within themselves.

5.Gay people are not complete with who they are as men and women .

Individual parts of this argument commit a variety of fallacies, for example the claim that:

“There is no gay gene”

Commits the fallacy The Argument from Ignorance (ad ignorantiam). The fact that there this proposition has not yet been proven false, we are not entitled to conclude that it is true. The same point can be made, that since it has not been proven that there is a gay gene, we cannot conclude that there is not a gay gene. Another important fallacy Westcott committed when he says “Gay people are not complete with who they are as men and women “is that of missing the point (ignoratio Elenchi) . This comment has nothing to with whether or not gay people were born that way or not.

By committing these fallacies the argument could be considered dead on arrival as a refutation; however it does provide some support for its conclusion as a standalone argument so I will give it a rating of Critical.