Is There a “Gay Gene"? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
• THE LIFE OF THE GAY GENE: OM HYPOTHETIL GEIC MARKER TO SOCIAL REALY
• IS THERE A 'GAY GENE'? THE PROBLEM WH STUDI NNECTG GEICS AND LGBTQ INTY
• THERE’S NO ONE ‘GAY GENE,’ BUT GEICS ARE LKED TO SAME-SEX BEHAVR, NEW STUDY SAYS
• THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
• WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A TOTAL MYTH, MASSIVE STUDY CONCLUS
• JENNA LYONS ON BEG OUTED (AND HER FAKE TEETH)SHE OPENED UP ABOUT THE GEIC DISORR THAT LED HER TO G FAKE TEETH, HAIR, AND EYEBROWS. “MY HAIR IS ALSO FAKE, I N TAKE OFF, ’S LIKE A HAT."BY KASE WICKMANJULY 20, 2023FROM NATHAN CONGLETON/NBC VIA GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEJENNA LYONS, FORMER HEAD SIGNER AND PRINT OF J. CREW, MAY BE A STYLE IN, BUT, EVEN OVER A LATER, BEG OUTED BEFORE SHE WAS READY TO SHARE HER SEXUALY STILL SMARTS.IN AN TERVIEW WEDNDAY ON THE VIEW, LYONS RELLED BEG PUBLICLY OUTED, THE MIDST OF HER 2011 DIVORCE OM VCENT MAZE. WHEN AN OUTLET LLED AND ASKED FOR NFIRMATN OF WHETHER SHE WAS GAY, SHE SAID, “I WAS SO OVERWHELMED WH EVERYTHG THAT WAS HAPPENG MY LIFE THAT I JT SAID Y.”SHE LLED BEG ASKED BY THE NEW YORK POST TO NFIRM OR NY WHETHER SHE WAS A LBIAN “AN OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE.”“I DIDN’T EXPECT ANYONE TO RE ABOUT WHAT I WAS DOG MY PERSONAL LIFE, AND ALL OF A SUDN EVERYONE RED,” SHE SAID, RELLG THAT THE STORY WAS MA PUBLIC BEE “SOMEONE LLED THE POST AND SAID LOOKED LIKE I WAS HAVG AN TIMATE DNER WH SOMEONE AT A RTRANT.”“I DON’T KNOW WHY,” SHE SAID, “BUT I JT SAID ‘NFIRM.’”THE NEXT DAY, SHE H THE NEWSSTANDS OF NEW YORK AND SOPED UP ALL THE PI OF THE POST SHE ULD FD. “FOR THE RERD, I WENT AND BOUGHT ALMOST EVERY SGLE ONE MANHATTAN,” SHE SAID.THOUGH THE CIRCUMSTANC SURROUNDG HER OUTG STILL STG, LYONS SAID THAT SHE’S PROUD TO BE A POSIVE REPRENTATN OF QUEER PEOPLE THE WORLD AND RELLED HOW YOUNGER EMPLOYE AT J. CREW WOULD TELL HER, “MY MOM IS SO RELIEVED TO SEE SOMEONE SUCCSFUL WHO’S OPENLY GAY.” NOW, TOO, SHE'S THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ST MEMBER ON THE REAL HOEWIV OF NEW YORK.DURG THE APPEARANCE, SHE ALSO OPENED UP ABOUT A GEIC DISORR SHE WAS BORN WH, NTENTIA PIGMENTI, THAT VISIBLY IMPACTS A PERSON’S SK, HAIR, TEETH, AND MORE.“ALL MY TEETH ARE FAKE,” SHE SAID, LGHG AT A PLIMENT AND RPONDG THAT “I PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR THEM.”“MY HAIR IS ALSO FAKE, I N TAKE OFF, ’S LIKE A HAT,” SHE SAID. “MY EYELASH ARE FAKE, I HAVE NO EYEBROWS, I ALSO HAVE SRS ALL OVER MY SK.”HER NDN HAS SPIRED HER: WHEN SHE ULDN’T FD FAKE EYELASH THAT SHE FELT SUED HER, SHE MA HER OWN AND CREATED HER PANY, LOVESEEN. COPG WH HER HEALTH IS ALSO PART OF THE ORIG STORY FOR HER ONGOG, EPIC LIFE FASHN.“IT’S ONE OF THE REASONS I WENT TO FASHN,” SHE SAID, “BEE I WANTED TO LOOK BETTER. I WAS NSTANTLY TRYG TO FD WAYS TO F .”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, INHERG GRACELAND, AND MORETE CRIME, TE FAH: THE SERIAL KILLER AND THE TEXAS MOM WHO STOPPED HIMTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALWHY THE GEIA INDICTMENT AGAST TMP AND HIS ALLI IS THE MOST SWEEPG YETIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMER25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSA NEW SLIM AARONS BOOK CAPTUR A LOST WORLDFROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)MOST POPULARGEIA REPUBLINS SAY THEY'LL MOVE TO REMOVE FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS FROM OFFICE WH NEW STATE LAWBY ERIC LUTZOUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALLHOW MK, THIEL, ZUCKERBERG, AND ANDRESEN—FOUR BILLNAIRE TECHNO-OLIGARCHS—ARE CREATG AN ALTERNATE, AUTOCRATIC REALYBY JONATHAN TAPLKASE WICKMAN
• MANY GEN INFLUENCE SAME-SEX SEXUALY, NOT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’
• IS THERE A "GAY GENE"? MAJOR NEW STUDY SAYS NO
• IS THERE A “GAY GENE"?
• GAY GEICSMOST OF BELIEVE THAT WE WERE BORN THAT WAY, BUT IS SEXUAL ORIENTATN OUR DNA? JV CHAMARY GO SEARCH OF THE GAY GENEJV CHAMARYPUBLISHED: MAY 31, 2009 AT 11:00 PMGAY GEICS
• NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY

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

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. 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.

THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS

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.

THE LIFE OF THE GAY GENE: OM HYPOTHETIL GEIC MARKER TO SOCIAL REALY

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.

IS THERE A 'GAY GENE'? THE PROBLEM WH STUDI NNECTG GEICS AND LGBTQ INTY

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. 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.

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

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. 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.

The thors say their fdgs, published on 23 Augt Nature Human Behavur1, uld help to expla why gen that predispose people to homosexualy ntue to be passed down.

THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE

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. And he adms that g a sgle homosexual experience as an ditn of sexual orientatn isn’t ial, but says that the UK Bbank didn’t provi data on attractn.

The news this week that the largt study of s kd failed to nfirm the existence of a "gay gene" is not so much a disappotment for those lookg to unrstand the LGBTQ muny, as is an acknowledgement that science do not need to tell what should be plaly obv: gays, lbians, bisexuals and pansexuals are who they are. But here's the quote that will light opponents of LGBTQ rights, some of whom sist they n "nvert" gay people to choose to be straight by prayg the gay away:.

WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?

"There is no ‘gay gene’ that term whether someone has same-sex partners, ” said Ganna, who is also a geicist at the Broad Instute of MIT and Harvard as well as the Universy of Helski. While the variatns the gen are not enough to raise a rabow flag and label anyone as unqutnably gay, the rearchers say the blogil variants may at the very least partly fluence sexual behavr. This new rearch, he said “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.

This new rearch also renfirms the long tablished unrstandg that there is no nclive gree to which nature or nurture fluence how a gay or lbian person behav. Geics nnot tell "the whole story, " as Eric Vila, director of the Center for Geic Medice Rearch at Children’s Natnal Health System, told the Post, about what "mak" somebody gay. 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.

THE 'GAY GENE' IS A TOTAL MYTH, MASSIVE STUDY CONCLUS

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]. Subjects one ntrol group read a summary article of rearch focg on the absence of hormonal differenc between homosexual and heterosexual men. 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. Wh rpect to whatever geic or blogil factors are rrelated to homosexualy we will need to be very reful to unrstand what they mean and ed, how limed the implitns really are.

JENNA LYONS ON BEG OUTED (AND HER FAKE TEETH)SHE OPENED UP ABOUT THE GEIC DISORR THAT LED HER TO G FAKE TEETH, HAIR, AND EYEBROWS. “MY HAIR IS ALSO FAKE, I N TAKE OFF, ’S LIKE A HAT."BY KASE WICKMANJULY 20, 2023FROM NATHAN CONGLETON/NBC VIA GETTY IMAG.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEJENNA LYONS, FORMER HEAD SIGNER AND PRINT OF J. CREW, MAY BE A STYLE IN, BUT, EVEN OVER A LATER, BEG OUTED BEFORE SHE WAS READY TO SHARE HER SEXUALY STILL SMARTS.IN AN TERVIEW WEDNDAY ON THE VIEW, LYONS RELLED BEG PUBLICLY OUTED, THE MIDST OF HER 2011 DIVORCE OM VCENT MAZE. WHEN AN OUTLET LLED AND ASKED FOR NFIRMATN OF WHETHER SHE WAS GAY, SHE SAID, “I WAS SO OVERWHELMED WH EVERYTHG THAT WAS HAPPENG MY LIFE THAT I JT SAID Y.”SHE LLED BEG ASKED BY THE NEW YORK POST TO NFIRM OR NY WHETHER SHE WAS A LBIAN “AN OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE.”“I DIDN’T EXPECT ANYONE TO RE ABOUT WHAT I WAS DOG MY PERSONAL LIFE, AND ALL OF A SUDN EVERYONE RED,” SHE SAID, RELLG THAT THE STORY WAS MA PUBLIC BEE “SOMEONE LLED THE POST AND SAID LOOKED LIKE I WAS HAVG AN TIMATE DNER WH SOMEONE AT A RTRANT.”“I DON’T KNOW WHY,” SHE SAID, “BUT I JT SAID ‘NFIRM.’”THE NEXT DAY, SHE H THE NEWSSTANDS OF NEW YORK AND SOPED UP ALL THE PI OF THE POST SHE ULD FD. “FOR THE RERD, I WENT AND BOUGHT ALMOST EVERY SGLE ONE MANHATTAN,” SHE SAID.THOUGH THE CIRCUMSTANC SURROUNDG HER OUTG STILL STG, LYONS SAID THAT SHE’S PROUD TO BE A POSIVE REPRENTATN OF QUEER PEOPLE THE WORLD AND RELLED HOW YOUNGER EMPLOYE AT J. CREW WOULD TELL HER, “MY MOM IS SO RELIEVED TO SEE SOMEONE SUCCSFUL WHO’S OPENLY GAY.” NOW, TOO, SHE'S THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ST MEMBER ON THE REAL HOEWIV OF NEW YORK.DURG THE APPEARANCE, SHE ALSO OPENED UP ABOUT A GEIC DISORR SHE WAS BORN WH, NTENTIA PIGMENTI, THAT VISIBLY IMPACTS A PERSON’S SK, HAIR, TEETH, AND MORE.“ALL MY TEETH ARE FAKE,” SHE SAID, LGHG AT A PLIMENT AND RPONDG THAT “I PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR THEM.”“MY HAIR IS ALSO FAKE, I N TAKE OFF, ’S LIKE A HAT,” SHE SAID. “MY EYELASH ARE FAKE, I HAVE NO EYEBROWS, I ALSO HAVE SRS ALL OVER MY SK.”HER NDN HAS SPIRED HER: WHEN SHE ULDN’T FD FAKE EYELASH THAT SHE FELT SUED HER, SHE MA HER OWN AND CREATED HER PANY, LOVESEEN. COPG WH HER HEALTH IS ALSO PART OF THE ORIG STORY FOR HER ONGOG, EPIC LIFE FASHN.“IT’S ONE OF THE REASONS I WENT TO FASHN,” SHE SAID, “BEE I WANTED TO LOOK BETTER. I WAS NSTANTLY TRYG TO FD WAYS TO F .”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, INHERG GRACELAND, AND MORETE CRIME, TE FAH: THE SERIAL KILLER AND THE TEXAS MOM WHO STOPPED HIMTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALWHY THE GEIA INDICTMENT AGAST TMP AND HIS ALLI IS THE MOST SWEEPG YETIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMER25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSA NEW SLIM AARONS BOOK CAPTUR A LOST WORLDFROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)MOST POPULARGEIA REPUBLINS SAY THEY'LL MOVE TO REMOVE FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS FROM OFFICE WH NEW STATE LAWBY ERIC LUTZOUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALLHOW MK, THIEL, ZUCKERBERG, AND ANDRESEN—FOUR BILLNAIRE TECHNO-OLIGARCHS—ARE CREATG AN ALTERNATE, AUTOCRATIC REALYBY JONATHAN TAPLKASE WICKMAN

(1989) Blogil Explanatn, Psychologil Explanatn, and Tolerance of Homosexuals: A Cross-Natnal Analysis of Beliefs and Attus, Psychologil Reports 65, pp. Lansg Homosexualy: Theori of Csatn, Reorientatn and the Polics and Ethics Involved, Proceedgs of the 1993 Annual Scientific Meetg of the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Treatment of Homosexualy, p. However, spe such tenuo provenance, the gay gene has persisted as a reference science news, popular science wrgs, and prs releas and edorials about bmedil rearch.

News media monstrat that the gay gene has bee an assumed back-story to geic sexualy rearch over time, and that the crique of s very existence has been dimished. The nsequent unmoorg of the gay gene om acuntabily and accuracy monstrat that the anizatn of bmedil databas uld benef om greater cross-disciplary attentn. The largt study to date on geics and same-sex sexual behavr was published last week, and nclud somethg many queer people have been sayg for a long time: Sexual orientatn is plited and n’t be explaed away by a sgle “gay gene.

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

And helps clarify where the prri of LGBTQ people should be fightg for civil rights the polil and legal orientatn is plited and n’t be explaed away by a sgle “gay gene.

” The problem wh studi rearchg the geics of LGBTQ inty is that, no matter the ncln, they n be ed by bigots and bad actors to ntue homophobic attacks fueled by relig dogma. The problem is the hate and bigotry that has led to discrimatn, vlence and ath for queer dividuals for won’t fix the problems — which are ongog — wh the disvery of a gay gene, and there are pellg reasons why we shouldn’t even try.

Michelangelo SignorileMichelangelo Signorile is the host of “The Michelangelo Signorile Show” on SiriXM Progrs, and the thor of “It’s Not Over: Gettg Beyond Tolerance, Defeatg Homophobia and Wng Te Equaly.

IS THERE A "GAY GENE"? MAJOR NEW STUDY SAYS NO

The rearchers say that, although variatns the gen nnot predict whether a person is gay, the variants may partly fluence sexual Ganna, lead thor and European Molecular Blogy Laboratory group lear at the Instute of Molecular Medice Fland, said the rearch rerc the unrstandg that same-sex sexual behavr is simply “a natural part of our diversy as a speci. Some of the variants were rrelated wh same-sex sexual behavr men, others women, and some Vila, director of the Center for Geic Medice Rearch at Children’s Natnal Health System, said the study marks the end of “the simplistic ncept of the ‘gay gene.

Environmental effects may be a factor for some people; for stance, havg olr brothers creas the odds that younger brothers will be gay, which rearchers spect may have to do wh chang to the mother’s immune system rponse to the earlier Stok, chief programs officer for GLAAD, said a statement that the new rearch on the geics “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. 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. “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. 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.

IS THERE A “GAY GENE"?

’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.

GAY GEICSMOST OF BELIEVE THAT WE WERE BORN THAT WAY, BUT IS SEXUAL ORIENTATN OUR DNA? JV CHAMARY GO SEARCH OF THE GAY GENEJV CHAMARYPUBLISHED: MAY 31, 2009 AT 11:00 PMGAY GEICS

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. 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. We have known for s that sexual orientatn is partly herable men, thanks to studi of fai which some people are straight and some people are gay.

In 1993, geic variatns a regn on the X chromosome men were lked to whether they were heterosexual or homosexual, and 1995, a regn on chromosome 8 was intified.

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

Grave’s disease is more mon gay than straight men, and some rearch suggts that gay men tend to be thner – which might possibly be a rult of thyroid overdrive. The latt fdgs open the prospect to intifyg the whole pathway of gen volved both homosexual and heterosexual orientatn, says Dean Hamer at the US Natnal Instut of Health, who led the study that ppoted chromosome X back 1993. 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.

No dividual gene alone mak a person gay, lbian or bisexual; stead, thoands of gen likely fluence sexual orientatn, a massive new study of the genom of nearly half a ln people human societi and both sex, between 2% and 10% of people report engagg sex wh a member of the same sex, eher exclively or addn to sex wh a member of the oppose sex, the rearchers said.