What Do It Mean to Be a Gay Man? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE A GAY MAN?
• ARE WE BORN GAY?
• UNRSTANDG GAY & LBIAN INTI

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

Scientists may have fally solved the puzzle of what mak a person gay, and how is passed om parents to their children.

WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?

A group of scientists suggted Tuday that homosexuals get that tra om their oppose-sex parents: A lbian will almost always get the tra om her father, while a gay man will get the tra om his heredary lk of homosexualy has long been tablished, but scientists knew was not a strictly geic lk, bee there are many pairs of intil tws who have differg sexuali. Scientists om the Natnal Instute for Mathematil and Blogil Synthis say homosexualy seems to have an epigeic, not a geic thought to have some sort of heredary lk, a group of scientists suggted Tuday that homosexualy is lked to epi-marks — extra layers of rmatn that ntrol how certa gen are exprsed. In homosexuals, the epi-marks aren't erased — they're passed om father-to-dghter or mother-to-son, explas William Rice, an evolutnary blogist at the Universy of California Santa Barbara and lead thor of the study.

"There is pellg evince that epi-marks ntribute to both the siary and dissiary of fay members, and n therefore feasibly ntribute to the observed faial herance of homosexualy and s low nrdance between [intil] tws, " Rice and his team created a mathematil mol that explas why homosexualy is passed through epi-marks, not geics.

WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

Evolutnarily speakg, if homosexualy was solely a geic tra, scientists would expect the tra to eventually disappear bee homosexuals wouldn't be expected to reproduce. But bee the epi-marks provi an evolutnary advantage for the parents of homosexuals: They protect fathers of homosexuals om unrexposure to ttosterone and mothers of homosexuals om overexposure to ttosterone while they are gtatn.

"The epi-marks protect fathers and mothers om excs or unrexposure to ttosterone — when they rry over to oppose-sex offsprg, n e the masculizatn of femal or the femizatn of mal, " Rice says, which n lead to a child beg gay.

Rice not that the markers are "highly variable" and that only strong epi-marks will rult a homosexual scientists have long spected some sort of geic lk, Rice says studi attemptg to expla why people are gay have been few and far between. Well there are many exampl of homosexualy nature, 's very mon.

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

" Homosexual behavr has been observed black swans, pengus, sheep, and other animals, he 's mol still needs to be tted on real-life parent-offsprg pairs, but he says this epigeic lk mak more sense than any other explanatn, and that his team has mapped out a way for other scientists to tt their work.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY

Estimat as to the number of gay people the populatn range om 1--20 to 1--10, so why are some people gay?

Are they gay by choice or is beg gay geic? The simplt answer is to look at the fn of the word "gay.

" The term gay is a synonym for homosexual, which is fed as, 1, 2. In other words, 5-10% of people experience same-sex sexual attractn or behavr; of urse, this don't speak to what mak people gay.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE A GAY MAN?

No one knows for certa why any dividual is gay, but the current thought is that beg gay is not a choice.

(read: Cure the Gay: Gay Conversn Therapy – Real or Hoax? ) The reasons people are gay are both physlogil and psychologil.

Why Are People Gay?

ARE WE BORN GAY?

Morn science is workg to show that geics is one of the of beg gay, although some science nflicts this area. "In recent years, evince has accumulated that a homosexual orientatn is hered. Study of fay history reveals that homosexual men have more homosexuals their fay tree than do heterosexuals.

UNRSTANDG GAY & LBIAN INTI

The precise gen volved the of beg gay have not yet been intified but they appear to e om the mother. Addnally, some studi have found that the bras om homosexuals differ om the bras of heterosexuals. Psychologil reasons also appear to be part of why a person is gay.

Acrdg to, what mak people gay may clu:5. A female-domated upbrgg a gay man's past, wh an absence of a male role mol. While psychologil factors may crease the likelihood that someone is gay, no sgle factor is known to e homosexualy.

Is Beg Gay a Choice?