NYT: 'Gay sheep research controversy'
RAW STORY
Published:
Wednesday January 24, 2007
 A front page article in Thursday's edition of The New York Times examines the "gay sheep research controversy" which is cited as "a textbook example of the distortion and vituperation that can result when science meets the global news cycle."
"Dr. Charles Roselli set out to discover what makes some sheep gay," John Schwartz writes for the Times. "Then the news media and the blogosphere got hold of the story."
"Roselli, a researcher at the Oregon Health and Science University, has searched for the past five years for physiological factors that might explain why about 8 percent of rams seek sex exclusively with other rams instead of ewes," the article continues. "The goal, he says, is to understand the fundamental mechanisms of sexual orientation in sheep. Other researchers might some day build on his findings to seek ways to determine which rams are likeliest to breed, he said."
"But since last fall, when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals started a campaign against the research, it has drawn a torrent of outrage from animal rights activists, gay advocates and ordinary citizens around the world -- all of it based, Roselli and colleagues say, on a bizarre misinterpretation of what the work is about," Schwartz writes.
Excerpts from article:
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The news media storm reached its zenith last month, when The Sunday Times in London published an article under the headline "Science Told: Hands Off Gay Sheep." It asserted, incorrectly, that Roselli had worked successfully to "cure" homosexual rams with hormone treatments, and added that "critics fear" that the research "could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans."
Martina Navratilova, the tennis star who is both openly gay and a PETA ally, wrote in an open letter that the research "can only be surmised as an attempt to develop a prenatal treatment" for sexual conditions.
The controversy spilled into the blog world, with attacks on Roselli, his university and Oregon State University, which is also involved in the research. PETA began an e-mail campaign that the universities say resulted in 20,000 protests, some with language like "you are a worthless animal killer and you should be shot," "I hope you burn in hell" and "please, die."
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