There’s no ‘gay gene,’ but geics are lked to same-sex behavr, new study says - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
• THERE’S NO ONE ‘GAY GENE,’ BUT GEICS ARE LKED TO SAME-SEX BEHAVR, NEW STUDY SAYS
• MORE THAN HALF OF GENERATN Z GAY, BISEXUAL TEENAGE BOYS REPORT BEG OUT TO PARENTS
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• SEARCH FOR 'GAY GEN' COM UP SHORT IN LARGE NEW STUDY
• NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
• IS THERE A "GAY GENE"? MAJOR NEW STUDY SAYS NO

WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?

A clear geic lk would suggt that gay people are “born this way, ” as opposed to havg ma a liftyle choice. Yet some fear that such a fdg uld be mised “cure” homosexualy, and most rearch teams have shied away om tacklg the topic. They asked more than 477, 000 participants whether they had ever had sex wh someone of the same sex, and also qutns about sexual fantasi and the gree to which they intified as gay or straight.

Dpe the associatns, the thors say that the geic siari still nnot show whether a given dividual is gay.

“It’s the end of the ’gay gene, ’” says Eric Vila, a geicist at Children’s Natnal Health System Washgton, D. “A lot of people want to unrstand the blogy of homosexualy, and science has lagged behd that human tert, ” says William Rice, an evolutnary geicist at the Universy of California, Santa Barbara, who also was not volved the work.

THERE’S NO ONE ‘GAY GENE,’ BUT GEICS ARE LKED TO SAME-SEX BEHAVR, NEW STUDY SAYS

The study will not be the last word on the vexg qutn of what homosexualy, however. Natnal Cancer Instute and his lleagu published a paper suggtg that an area on the X chromosome lled Xq28 uld nta a “gay gene. His study, which analysed the genom of 40 pairs of gay brothers, looked exclively at people who intified as homosexual.

Didn’t we already know there were “gay gen”?

We have known for s that sexual orientatn is partly herable men, thanks to studi of fai which some people are straight and some people are gay.

MORE THAN HALF OF GENERATN Z GAY, BISEXUAL TEENAGE BOYS REPORT BEG OUT TO PARENTS

In 1993, geic variatns a regn on the X chromosome men were lked to whether they were heterosexual or homosexual, and 1995, a regn on chromosome 8 was intified.

Both fdgs were nfirmed a study of gay and straight brothers 2014. Alan Sanrs at North Shore Universy, Illois, and his team ppoted the gen by parg DNA om 1077 gay and 1231 straight men.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

Intertgly, this bra regn ntas the hypothalam, which was intified 1991 as differg size between gay and straight men.

Grave’s disease is more mon gay than straight men, and some rearch suggts that gay men tend to be thner – which might possibly be a rult of thyroid overdrive. Are all men who have the “gay” variants of the gen gay?

SEARCH FOR 'GAY GEN' COM UP SHORT IN LARGE NEW STUDY

“There will be men who have the form of gene that creas the chance of beg gay, but they won’t be gay. What about women who are gay? Our blogil unrstandg of homosexualy women lags behd.

NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY

There have been studi suggtg that there is a geic element to homosexualy women, but more rearch has been done men, says Sanrs.

Why should we re about the geics of beg gay?

THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS

The latt fdgs open the prospect to intifyg the whole pathway of gen volved both homosexual and heterosexual orientatn, says Dean Hamer at the US Natnal Instut of Health, who led the study that ppoted chromosome X back 1993.

IS THERE A "GAY GENE"? MAJOR NEW STUDY SAYS NO

Read more: Evolutn myths: Natural selectn nnot expla homosexualy. To evolutnary blogists, the geics of homosexualy seems like a paradox.

In theory, humans and other animals who are exclively attracted to others of the same sex should be unlikely to produce many blogil children, so any gen that predispose people to homosexualy would rarely be passed on to future generatns. Yet same-sex attractn is wispread humans, and rearch suggts that is partly a study of data om hundreds of thoands of people, rearchers have now intified geic patterns that uld be associated wh homosexual behavur, and showed how the might also help people to fd different-sex mat, and reproduce. The thors say their fdgs, published on 23 Augt Nature Human Behavur1, uld help to expla why gen that predispose people to homosexualy ntue to be passed down.