My Battle with "Born This Way"

I'm not one to diss a diva, but at the same time I appreciate people who call a duck a duck. If you're wrong, you're wrong, or you're at least making a shitty argument. For all her zeal, Lady Gaga makes shitty arguments about the gay (by which I mean LGBTQ) rights movement.

If there is one song in particular that I take offense to, it's "Born This Way." Sure, it's catchy (just listen to Barack Obama singing it above), but as an argument for gay rights it is so shallow. The song opens:

It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-i-m

Just put your paws up

As a statement about gay rights, this song elides the plight of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals with the gendered object pronoun "him." But I can forgive this and trust that the audience understands that Gaga is making artistic shortcuts at the expense of sounding more inclusive. 

However, the shortcut she is making is also a bad one. She's choosing the object pronoun "him" in order to create parallels with "H-i-m," which, sounded out, the audience understands means "God." Gaga's lyrical opinion on the God issue isn't that great either. In her words, it "doesn't matter" how one feels about God, what matters (presumably) is that one is sexual. This argument is pure ignorance. I agree that religion is an overemphasized issue in the gay rights movement, but to dismiss it totally is ridiculous. Many a homosexual's religious beliefs greatly affect how he or she comes to terms with his or her sexuality. One basic example that demonstrates this fact is the struggle religious homosexuals face when they try to reconcile their sexuality with their homophobic religion (read Mimi Swartz's New York Times Article "Living the Good Lie" for some of the particulars on this issue as it relates to Christian homosexuals, or watch Sandi Simcha DuBowski's awesome documentary, Trembling Before G-d, to see how this issue affects Orthodox Jewish homosexuals).

My real problem, though, comes in Gaga's repeated insistence that being gay is okay because homosexuals were just "born this way." For one thing, such a phrase ignores the fact that being gay is more of a cultural phenomenon than a biological one. What is gay in America might not be considered gay elsewhere. For example, think of the musical version of Legally Blonde, which includes the song "There! Right There!" In the song, differences between cultures produces confusion over differences in sexual identity when characters chant, "Is he gay or European?" In one character's opinion, signs like a tan and nice clothing are clear indicators of homosexuality, while in another's view they are simply emblems of his different cultural roots. 

There is an even bigger problem in Gaga's "born this way" mantra, though. Namely, it shouldn't matter if you're born one way or another. Sexual expression should be a freedom granted to everyone. Genetics and sexuality are complicated, so it would be hard to pinpoint a gene you are born with that definitively makes you a homosexual or not. But even if science could do that, what would it matter? And should we stop others from acting on their own free wills, even if that means stepping outside of their predetermined genetic orientations? 

The argument from biology presumes that what's natural (meaning what is genetic) is inherently what's best, but just because something is in our genes doesn't make it more awesome or more right than anything else. For example, my eyesight sucks; my genes clearly didn't do any favors for me with that one. Genetic diseases offer more grave support that what is natural isn't necessarily the best. 

Besides all of this, society approves of a ton of preferences without needing a genetic basis for it. Bacon is delicious. Do I have a gene for loving bacon? No. If anything, it would be genetically advantageous for me to have a gene not to love it, considering how fatty and salty it is, but I clearly lack that gene, too. But do people pass judgement on me when they see me eating bacon because I lack the genetic makeup required to enjoy it? No they don't. Even Jewish people observing kosher keep quiet instead of persecuting me for my love of pork. My right to bacon isn't an infringement on their religious liberties.

I appreciate Gaga's zeal and commitment. Her passion is a good start, but it is a faulty one. What compounds the problem is that Gaga's fame has led to others repeating her shitty arguments. By doing so, people continue to ignore the threat to sexual liberty behind the homophobic attitudes they are trying to attack. It's time to move beyond genes and being "born this way." It's time to say that simply by being born do we inherit the rights we deserve, regardless of whatever gender, race, sex, class, sexuality, or anything else we are or choose to be.