How gay sex n produce offsprg | New Scientist

Contents:

• FOR GAY MEN, HAVG A BLOGIL CHILD N BE PLITED
• HOW GAY SEX N PRODUCE OFFSPRG
• WHY GAYS DON’T GO EXTCT
• THE END OF GAYS: GAY MARRIAGE AND THE DECLE OF THE HOMOSEXUAL POPULATN

FOR GAY MEN, HAVG A BLOGIL CHILD N BE PLITED

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. Most of the participants were born durg a time when homosexualy was eher illegal or culturally taboo their untri, so many people who were attracted to others of the same sex might never have actually acted on their attractn, and uld therefore have end up the wrong group the Monk, an elogist and evolutnary blogist at Yale Universy New Haven, Connecticut, thks that the veats are so important that the paper n’t draw any real nclns about geics and sexual orientatn.

Instead, he thks the rearchers have found geic markers associated wh openns to new experienc, which uld expla the overlap between people who have had a homosexual partner and heterosexual people who have had many partners.

HOW GAY SEX N PRODUCE OFFSPRG

The procs tak about two years and sts around $200, 000 per child - and prospective gay fathers don't meet eligibily creria for most health surance plans' fertily benefs, although this is begng to change.

Brent Monsr, MD, recently helped lead a study to document tails of how gay men e assisted reproductive technology to build their fai, cludg qutns such as how many children they wish to have and how often their efforts succeed. Cisgenr gay men are almost never clud this rearch, so as physicians we don't know anythg about their characteristics as reproductive health patients, even basic rmatn such as their mographics, clil cisn-makg patterns or out.

It's important to keep md that our data reflect the experienc of dividuals who n afford reproductive medil re bee their employer-sponsored fertily benefs ver , and that is still an unual suatn for gay men. This data served as the foundatn for a grant applitn we've jt had approved to nduct a much larger populatn study that will give accs to rmatn on about 2, 000 embryo transfers annually gay men.

WHY GAYS DON’T GO EXTCT

A lot of people see a fertily doctor bee they have an unrlyg medil issue, whereas gay male upl ually have two possible sperm sourc, a young egg donor and a gtatnal rrier who has already had succsful pregnanci. We regnize that this may be bee a lot of gay men requt tws or may ultimately want two children, and fertily doctors may be transferrg two embryos to try to save their patients money so they only have to go through the fertily treatment procs once.

This review provis an overview of the historil signifince of assisted reproductn for gay men and women, discs current reproductive optns for same-sex upl, addrs psychosocial nsiratns unique to the upl, and reviews the current lerature addrsg medil and psychosocial aspects of same-sex reproductn. The batn of gay/lbian self-termatn and mountg public acceptance of same-sex unns has led the dividuals and upl to creasgly seek parenthood through assisted reproductn.

Recent studi scribe relatnship satisfactn gay upl after assisted reproductn and more posive functng and ls strs associated wh parenthood when pared wh heterosexual parents. Moreover, the mountg male of a homosexual pair was no different size than the mounted male, and neher male had an advantage when the two were forced to pete for a sgle female, the team found. None of Lewis’s proposed adaptive benefs to homosexual pulatn is very strong, says Pl Vasey, an evolutnary blogist at the Universy of Lethbridge, Canada, who studi homosexual behavur monkeys.

THE END OF GAYS: GAY MARRIAGE AND THE DECLE OF THE HOMOSEXUAL POPULATN

Instead, Vasey suggts that the beetl’ homosexual matg may not be adaptive at all, but uld stead be a byproduct of some other behavur that is adaptive, such as a general reads to mate. After WWII and particularly sce the sexual revolutn the 1970s, a new -- morn -- type of homosexual relatnships, which no longer mand a difference stat between partners (whether age, genr, or class), beme the new relatnal standard. Fet about the ty actn of homosexuals that exhib zero tert procreatg; most women passed the age of 50 -- about 20 to 25 percent of the female populatn -- nnot reproduce.