I know the title may seem strange. Hear me out.
I'm not saying that the Gift is literally a metaphor for homosexuality, and in fact I think "homosexuality" can be substituted for lots of other things that central religious organizations disapprove of. But it's one of the more controversial issues in today's society, and it's what led me to this conclusion.
The other day, I was talking with a friend of mine, who is a decent fellow, but very entrenched in his religious beliefs. We got into a debate about gay rights, and midway through the conversation, a chill ran down my spine as I realized we were acting out the final conversation between Duvalier and Cygnus, almost word-for-word. We used the same arguments: I told him that there was scientific evidence that homosexuality is an innate thing, not a choice, and he countered that it's not a sin to be homosexual, just to act on those desires (eerily similar to Cygnus saying that whether or not people are born with the Gift, they choose to use it, and that is a sin).
I remember a blog post a while back where Craig was lamenting that so few video game critics earnestly analyzed his game for the writing and "central metaphors". I wonder if this is one of those? I think it is an interesting area of inquiry regardless. What do you think?