Why are people gay? Are they gay by choice or is beg gay geic? Are they born gay? Learn about the and reasons for beg gay.
Contents:
- THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
- IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?
- WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
- IS BEG GAY GEIC?
- WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
- THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
* is being gay genetic or learned *
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.
IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?
Two gene variants have been found to be more mon gay men. New Scientist looks at what this tells about the way blogy shap our sexualy * is being gay genetic or learned *
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. 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. This uld mean that there are some gen that are passed down om the mother’s si that make women more fertile and make men more likely to be gay.
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. 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.
WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
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. That’s the ncln of a paper by an ternatnal team of rearchers, -led by Benjam Neale of the Broad Instute of Harvard and MIT, published today the journal Science. * is being gay genetic or learned *
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. 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.
“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.
IS BEG GAY GEIC?
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. In the Swedish study, the scientists exposed heterosexual man and women as well as homosexual men to naturally-occurrg chemils ntag male and female sex hormon.
After sniffg male and female sex hormon, the hypothalam, a regn of the bra rponsible for many basic functns, cludg sexual rponse, differed signifintly between gay and straight men. When the ttosterone-based male sweat was offered to all group members, the hypothalam was activated the bras of heterosexual women and homosexual men, ditg a pronounced sexual rponse. Media attentn centred on the prospect of a prenatal tt for sexual orientatn, wh the Daily Mail nng the headle: 'Abortn hope after "gay gen" fdg'.
WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
Notice to Rear: "The Boards of both CERC Canada and CERC USA are aware that the topic of homosexualy is a ntroversial one that eply affects the personal liv of many North Amerins. Both Boards strongly reerate the Catechism's teachg that people who self-intify as gays and lbians mt be treated wh 'rpect, passn, and sensivy' (CCC #2358).
Demonstratg that any behavral state, let alone one so plex, diverse s maniftatns, and nuanced as homosexualy, is not only blogil but geic is well beyond our prent rearch pacy. "To measure the relatnship between beliefs about the termants of homosexual orientatn and attus toward homosexuals, we asked 745 rponnts four societi about their beliefs ncerng the origs of homosexual orientatn.
Analysis dited that subjects who believed that homosexuals are "born that way" held signifintly more posive attus toward homosexuals than subjects who believed that homosexuals choose to be that way and/or learn to be that way [2].
THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
Subjects one ntrol group read a summary article of rearch focg on the absence of hormonal differenc between homosexual and heterosexual men. Startg 1991, media all across the untry have tmpeted the disvery of a seri of supposed bra differenc between homosexuals and heterosexuals. It reported his fdg that a lolized clter (a "nucls") of cells the bras of "homosexual" men was twice as large by volume on topsy as "heterosexual" men.
[5] ("Homosexual" and "heterosexual" are quotatns bee this study the fns of each were extremely imprecise, nor was there any way of verifyg sexual orientatn as the subjects were ad. We know om animal studi that early experience and pecially trmatic experience that pecially appli to the childhood histori of many homosexuals, alters the bra and body measurable ways.
Bee all human behavr is related some way to gen, we n nohels gus that one day higher qualy rearch will fd geic factors that rrelate to homosexualy.