Is There a “Gay Gene"? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• 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?
• NEW STUDY FDS GEICS INFLUENCE LGBTQ SEXUALY, BUT STILL NO 'GAY GENE'
• IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• THERE’S NO ONE ‘GAY GENE,’ BUT GEICS ARE LKED TO SAME-SEX BEHAVR, NEW STUDY SAYS
• NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
• REVISG THE “GAY GENE” NTROVERSY: HOMOSEXUALY IS ONLY A DISORR IF SOCIETY MAK ONE
• MANY GEN INFLUENCE SAME-SEX SEXUALY, NOT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’
• IS THERE A “GAY GENE"?
• SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON ‘GAY GENE’ STUDI
• GAY GENE DISVERY HAS GOOD AND BAD IMPLITNS

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

Those who nsir beg gay a disadvantage life (which still is, certa societi), might regard gay people differently if they knew that beg gay was an hered tra, rather than a nsequence of life events, such as a particular type of upbrgg, or mixg wh certa sorts of iends or even a liberate cisn. The law also might take a different view those untri (aga, there are still many) which beg gay is a crimal offense. An early study claimed that if one pair of (male) intil tws (who have intil geic patterns) was gay, there was a 100 percent chance of the other one also beg gay.

It was quickly shown that, fact, the real chance of two intil tws beg gay was around 40-50 percent, whereas was ls non-intil on, though still somewhat greater than the general populatn. A dramatic claim was that there was a sgle geic variatn, the "gay gene, " that was found gay men.

Alas, like so many other early reports of a "gay gene, " this one uld not be repeated. There was another, much smaller, group who said they were entirely gay (about 6 percent), and a stterg of even smaller numbers who claimed to be bisexual. Firstly, they found very few gen whose variatns were rrelated wh beg gay, or even havg a sgle same-sex partner.

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

Overall, geic variatns acunted for only around 1 percent of the likelihood of beg gay. The plex and variable psychologil state that we label as "gay" will have equally plex termants.

NEW STUDY FDS GEICS INFLUENCE LGBTQ SEXUALY, BUT STILL NO 'GAY GENE'

Dpe the numbers, many people still nsir homosexual behavr to be an anomalo choice. However, blogists have documented homosexual behavr more than 450 speci, argug that same-sex behavr is not an unnatural choice, and may fact play a val role wh populatns. The 2019 study is the latt a hunt for “gay gen” that began 1993, when Dean Hamer lked male homosexualy to a sectn of the X chromosome.

As the ease and affordabily of genome sequencg creased, addnal gene ndidat have emerged wh potential lks to homosexual behavr.

So-lled genome-wi associatn studi intified a gene lled SLITRK6, which is active a bra regn lled the diencephalon that differs size between people who are homosexual or heterosexual. Wh multiple gene ndidat beg lked to homosexualy, seemed highly unlikely that a sgle “gay” gene exists. In rats, manipulatn of hormon durg pregnancy produc offsprg that exhib homosexual behavr.

IS BEG GAY GEIC?

Several hypoth have been advanced to expla how homosexualy n be beneficial perpetuatg faial gen. Gay uncl and nts, for example, are “helpers the nt” that help raise other fay members’ children to nurture the fay tree. ” For example, certa gen women help crease their fertily, but if the gen are exprsed a male, they predispose him toward homosexualy.

While there is no sgle “gay gene, ” there is overwhelmg evince of a blogil basis for sexual orientatn that is programmed to the bra before birth based on a mix of geics and prenatal ndns, none of which the fet choos. The study of nearly a half ln people clos the door on the bate around the existence of a so-lled “gay gene.

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

In s stead, the report fds that human DNA nnot predict who is gay or heterosexual. 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.

“As a teenager tryg to unrstand myself and unrstand my sexualy, I looked at the ter for “the gay gene” and obvly me across Xq28, ” said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a study -thor and senr scientist at 23andMe, which he joked once led him to believe he hered his gayns om his mother.

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

“We worried a lot about volunteer bias, ” said Bailey, whose rearch clus a wily publicized study on Xq28 and gay brothers om 2018. Sanrs llaborated wh Bailey on those earlier studi and said their work had always admted that there was no sgle “gay gene.

The rearchers had members of the same-sex muny review the study’s sign and language, and they adm that their termology and fns for gay, lbian and heterosexual do not reflect the full nature of the sexualy ntuum. “[Our study] unrsr an important role for the environment shapg human sexual behavr and perhaps most importantly there is no sgle gay gene but rather the ntributn of many small geic effects sttered across the genome, ” Neale said.

Estimat as to the number of gay people the populatn range om 1--20 to 1--10, so why are some people gay? 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. No one knows for certa why any dividual is gay, but the current thought is that beg gay is not a choice.

REVISG THE “GAY GENE” NTROVERSY: HOMOSEXUALY IS ONLY A DISORR IF SOCIETY MAK ONE

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.

MANY GEN INFLUENCE SAME-SEX SEXUALY, NOT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’

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. 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. It very much appears that same-sex sexual attractn is not a choice but actg on is; so if you fe gay as the mere prence of same-sex attractn, then om everythg we unrstand, beg gay is not a choice. If, on the other hand, you nsir someone to be gay only if they act on their same-sex attractn then beg gay n be nsired a choice pendg on an dividual's behavr.

IS THERE A “GAY GENE"?

Whether science n ultimately prove the blogy of beg gay or not, 's important to support all adults their choic no matter how they intify.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON ‘GAY GENE’ STUDI

CHICAGO (AP) The largt study of s kd found new evince that gen ntribute to same-sex sexual behavr, but echo rearch that says there are no specific gen that make people gay.

GAY GENE DISVERY HAS GOOD AND BAD IMPLITNS

Importantly, most participants were asked about equency of same-sex sexual behavr but not if they self-intified as gay or lbian. ”Former Natnal Instut of Health geicist Dean Hamer said the study nfirms “that sexualy is plex and there are a lot of gen volved, ” but isn’t really about gay people. “Havg jt a sgle same sex experience is pletely different than actually beg gay or lbian, ” Hamer said.