The interests of politics, science and journalism are at odds. A political irony awaits. Conservatism by definition prizes the individual, takes as given that individuals differ in native ability, and believes that personal effort can overcome the worst environment. Although conservatives typically detest the existence of gays and whereas research does negate the worst right-wing stereotypes in the short run, science ultimately supports the conservative view of reality in demonstrating that people do differ in basic, immutable and meaningful ways. Ironically, sexual-orientation research refutes not conservatism but liberalism.
Truth has a funny way of upsetting political concepts.
The Washington Post Co.