Being gay more than an x-factor

When I was 9, I would wake up early every Saturday morning to catch an episode of "X-Men." My favorite character was Cyclops even though my friends preferred the wild antics of Wolverine and would tease me about Cyclops's anal-retentive ways. Hey, Cyclops was a great leader and had a way better costume.

But aside from the superhero adventures, I became fascinated with the Marvel mutants at a time when I too started realizing that I was somehow different. I didn't have telepathic abilities or an adamantium skeleton, but I still identified with being an outcast. And that was enough to justify my delusions of one day growing up to be a superhero.

In one episode, Rogue visits a team of scientists who claim to have found a "cure" for the mutant gene. She is willing to go through treatment and give up her high-flying, heavy-lifting powers in order to be "normal." Ultimately, the institute turns out to be a villainous ploy, and Rogue decides it's way cooler to be able to fly than not.

Since that episode aired in 1993, scientists have mapped out the genetic code, sheep have been cloned and molecular research continues to make the far-fetched science fiction of comic books a feasible reality.

Currently, researchers from the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute are on the search for genes that might influence sexual orientation. Dr. Alan Sanders, an associate professor at NU, has recruited 1,000 pairs of gay brothers and collected their DNA sample to assist his research, the largest to date. If similar genetic markers appear in gay brothers but not straight brothers, it would suggest a link to sexual orientation.

If the research finds a correlation between genetics and homosexuality, then science can be used as groundwork for acceptance and tolerance. Rogue didn't choose to be a superhero; she was just born that way.

Or it can be worse. Prenatal testing might alert parents of gay offspring. Now it's up to them: Will they choose to raise a superhero or seek a cure?

Sanders speculates that homosexuality is most likely a combination of various factors and not just one gene that could be isolated.

But the culture warriors on both sides will certainly manipulate the results to try to either accept the outcasts or to get rid of us. Regardless of the outcome, one thing is certain: Just like there is no cure for being left-handed, there will never be a cure for homosexuality. Unfortunately, there will also never be a cure for bigotry.

After asking my friends if they would consider being "cured," all of them had blank answers. It's unfathomable, kind of like it would be to think of yourself as being of another race or of the opposite gender. It's like asking to restructure a fundamental trait in your identity. I'm not sure what I've learned or what I've inherited or why I prefer clean-cut Cyclops to rowdy Wolverine. And at this point, it doesn't really matter. Why would I want to be grounded when I am finally comfortable with being able to fly?

Weinberg senior Oscar Raymundo can be reached at omraymundo@u.northwestern.edu.