There’s (Still) No Gay Gene | Harvard Magaze

Contents:

• NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
• THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• GAY RIGHTS
• WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

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

“There is no ‘gay gene’, ” says lead study thor Andrea Ganna, a geicist at the Broad Instute of MIT and Harvard Cambridge, and his lleagu also ed the analysis to timate that up to 25% of sexual behavur n be explaed by geics, wh the rt fluenced by environmental and cultural factors — a figure siar to the fdgs of smaller studi.

There is no one gene for beg gay, and though gen seem to play a role termg sexual orientatn and same-sex behavr, ’s small, plex, and anythg but termistic. “There is no sgle gay gene, but rather the ntributn of many small geic effects sttered across the genome, ” he emphasized.

“We know that smell has a strong tie to sexual attractn, but s lks to sexual behavrs are not clear, ” said -thor Andrea Ganna, an stctor at HMS and Massachetts General Hospal om the Instute for Molecular Medice study is part a rponse to gay, lbian, and bisexual people’s cursy about themselv, said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a senr scientist at 23andMe and -thor on the study, who is himself gay. Michael Bronski, profsor of the practice media and activism wh the mtee on studi of women, genr, and sexualy, and thor of A Queer History of the Uned Stat, says the allure of a “gay gene” grew om the flourishg gay-rights movement the after the Stonewall rts 1969.

THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE

Conservative opponents of the movement claimed that “homosexual acts are a choice, people choose to m them, or people are sced to the gay liftyle, ” he explas. ’77, then a rearcher at the Natnal Instut of Health, published rults showg a rrelatn between male homosexual behavr and a clter of gen, lled Xq28, at the tip of the X chromosome.

Exactly which gene this clter may be volved has proven elive—the current study found no signifint associatn between the X chromosome and same-sex sexual behavr—but the ia that a “gay gene” might lie somewhere Xq28—or elsewhere—was ptivatg. Zeke Stok, chief programs officer of the LGBTQ advocy anizatn GLAAD, ncurred an emailed statement: “This new study provis even more evince that beg gay or lbian is a natural part of human life, a ncln that has been drawn by rearchers and scientists time and aga.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

Others have warned that the search for a geic e would pathologize homosexualy the same way psychology did the twentieth century: efforts by psychoanalysts such as Irvg Bieber led to the cln of homosexualy the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs until 1972.

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

As noted above, the gen that rrelated wh same-sex sexual behavr also rrelated wh willgns to take risks, a nnectn that might not hold up cultur where homosexualy is ls stigmatized and those who are ls risk tolerant would therefore feel more able to act openly. "Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed to law, " the statement read.

” The edian Bill Maher said on his show that by 2054, if we follow what he se as the current trajectory, “we will all be gay, ” addg that the rise the number of younger people intifyg as transgenr seemed spic. Bee of the fluence of Schorr put siarly Natnal Review: “To suggt that social suggtibily uld be playg a role the skyrocketg numbers of young girls’ exprsg their sire to bee mal, for example, is not of urse to say that gay and transgenr people would not exist whout the topics’ beg discsed the public square. ”This fear is based on an unrstandg of genr and sexualy as alarmgly agile, easily undone by a gay teacher or a trans TikTok fluencer.

This is the first time Amerin history that gay and trans people have been able to live as themselv any real way, wh jobs and marriag and dogs and ts and visibily.

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

Acrdg to Michaelangelo Signorile, the edor-at-large for the Huffgton Post’s Gay Voic sectn, the worst stat are cltered the Midwt and the Bible Belt South. Along wh Mississippi, Alabama is one of eight so-lled “No Promo Homo” stat, wh laws that “exprsly forbid teachers om discsg gay and transgenr issu, ” acrdg to GLSEN.

Alabama’s laws go a b further than most: The state’s sex tn program mandat that “class mt emphasize, a factual manner and om a public health perspective, that homosexualy is not a liftyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual nduct is a crimal offense unr the laws of the state. ” Then aga, he’s hardly the bt thory when to matters of health, as Perry recently pared homosexualy to alholism: “I may have the geic dg that I’m cled to be an alholic, but I have the sire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.

New Orleans is a highlight of gay culture the south, wh the cy’s six-day Southern Dence ftival among the bt pri celebratns the world. Like Texas, Louisiana ntu to enforce s unnstutnal sodomy ban, votg April (by a wi 66-to-27 majory) to keep s anti-gay legislatn. Gtrex has been orchtratg a “seri of stgs, which an unrver policeman woos an unspectg gay man back to his apartment for sex and then mak an arrt.

GAY RIGHTS

” If you’re a gay person livg Oh, Michigan, Kentucky or Tennsee, make sure to thank Louisiana’s urts for helpg set a precent. Tennsee is one of the eight “Don’t Say Gay” stat, as well as rankg high e equaly and poverty and low public support for same-sex marriage.

WHY THERE ARE FEW OPENLY GAY ATHLET IN MEN'S PROFSNAL SPORTS

Gay Tennseans are also ls likely to know someone like them, as the state has the fourth-smallt percentage of LGBT cizens. While havg more gays than those others, the state has a disproportnately high hate crime rate, wh one survey rankg Michigan as high as send the natn. This wave of anti-LGBT vlence is part of the reason why Detro was named the most dangero cy the natn for gay travelers, and the survey also ced the metro area’s dwdlg number of gay bars and high poverty rate.

“It is still legal to fire people Michigan for beg gay, we n not marry, nnot adopt, and the ernor signed away domtic partner benefs for LGBT public employe, ” Garcia said. It is worth keepg md that this study only vers some typ of sexualy — gay, lbian and cis-straight — but don’t offer many sights to genr inty. Humans have tried to unrstand human sexualy for centuri — and geics rearchers joed the ay the early 1990s after a seri of studi on tws suggted homosexualy ran fai.