Genetics

As a gay man of an earlier generation, I have always had a different take on Family Pride. I am intrigued by the approach many parents take to genetics. Their consuming pride in genealogy when they find themselves connected to an aristocrat is undiminished when they also deal with devastating genetic diseases, which may well have come to them from their aristocratic forebears. They are less prone to accept full responsibility for passing these diseases on to their children.

This conflicted approach to genetics could be laughed off as just another human frailty. However, it has implications for the species and the planet. The conflicted attitudes toward genetics interferes with scientific research, as we have seen in the stem cell debate. A pro-life, anti-science, hyper-religious farmer who decries embryonic cell research and family planning will readily plant genetically modified crops and happily play with the genetics of other species of animals for profit or pastime. 

The acceptance of our existence as simply animals with evolved brains is hard for many people, even highly educated people. Having offspring appears to make this acceptance even harder. Natural programming causes parents to see their children as far more than their genetic maps. Children often see parents, upon whom they have depended for survival, as immune from responsibility for their own physical or mental problems, passed on genetically. The objective reality that full genetic responsibility begins with conception is too frightening or too hard to comprehend for many who choose to procreate or accidentally procreate. The drive to procreate trumps the intelligent assessment of risk or benefit. 

The simple scientific fact remains that we are genetically, not magically, formed from an egg, fertilized by a sperm. The combined genetic material in those two cells determines our genetic makeups. The contributors of egg and sperm are fully responsible for the genetic result, which spans a lifetime of another human being in human society. I believe all human beings should be taught this fact and its many implications as part of thorough sex education from an early age. Sex education should be a basic human right and a basic parental responsibility.