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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993                   TAG: 9302050430
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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STUDIES DEFY CHARACTERIZATION

Recently our pastor made a passing reference to homosexuality as an "abomination." Scientific studies made last year appear to reveal that homosexuality is not learned or acquired behavior but rather is physically innate. If these studies are confirmed, then homosexuality is no more an "abomination" than is left-handedness or a facial tic.

As to the issue of lifting the gay ban in the U.S. military: It is behavior and not status that should trigger separation from the service - what one does rather than what one is.

Bob Shields\ Roanoke.

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