If anything, it gives us hope that we can stop such behavior by tweaking the gene that causes the problem. Pedophilia damages the lives of many small kids and teenagers. If we can stop it, I think that would be a major boon for all of us.
True, but then that means homosexuality could also be "cured" by tweaking the gene that causes it, or doing other things that can overcome the genetic predisposition. Why don't we? Because our culture has determined that there are no victims of homosexuality like there are with pedophilia, so why bother? Thus, homosexuality can be classified as an "identity," unlike pedophilia which is classified as a perversion.
No, because they are not even sure that there is a gene for homosexuality and/or pedophilia. And even if there were, I do not think they have the ability to tweak a gene to make it respond in the way you want. Finally, there are moral issues associated with 'tweaking a gene'. That's part of the whole stem cell research and cloning debate.
However, by determining if a gene or a series of genes causes homosexuality and/or pedophilia, we then know that environment has little if anything to do with it.
Obviously, and like I said before, there's a big difference between pedophiles and homosexuals, but the difference is cultural and thus subject to the changing winds of said culture. Anyone who doubts this ought to visit NAMBLA's home page (do a search on Google if you REALLY want to know).
Is it cultural or something bigger? Homosexuality typically is between two consenting adults. Pedophilia typically is between an adult and an nonconsenting minor. Seems to me there is a big difference between the two. As for NAMBLA, the perpetrator rarely sees the problem for what it is.
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