There is no ‘gay gene.’ There is no ‘straight gene.’ Sexualy is jt plex, study nfirms | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• IS THERE A 'GAY GENE'? THE PROBLEM WH STUDI NNECTG GEICS AND LGBTQ INTY
• THERE'S NO SUCH THG AS A 'GAY GENE,' A NEW STUDY ARGU
• NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
• WHAT DO THE NEW ‘GAY GEN’ TELL ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATN?
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A TOTAL MYTH, MASSIVE STUDY CONCLUS
• THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE
• THE LIFE OF THE GAY GENE: OM HYPOTHETIL GEIC MARKER TO SOCIAL REALY
• THE REAL STORY ON GAY GEN
• THE 'GAY GENE' IS A MYTH BUT BEG GAY IS 'NATURAL,' SAY SCIENTISTS
• NO ‘GAY GENE’ N PREDICT SEXUAL ORIENTATN, STUDY SAYS

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.

“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.

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

“[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 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.

THERE'S NO SUCH THG AS A 'GAY GENE,' A NEW STUDY ARGU

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.

Some are ed already bellowg about many rpects, the risks of fdg proof of a “gay gene” seem to outweigh any benefs. 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.

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

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. In the years sce, the ncept of a “gay gene” has been a source of bate wh both the scientific muny and the general public, spirg ever-larger follow-up studi over the years. After studyg the DNA of nearly half a ln people wh varyg sexual experienc, the rearchers found no evince of a sgle “gay gene.

In fact, Ganna says the rearch suggts that measur like the Ksey Sle, which argue that sexualy exists on a spectm om totally gay to totally straight, are overly simplistic. ” The study leav many qutns unanswered, part bee alt wh a fairly homogeno sample: people of European anctry, many of whom me of age durg a time when homosexualy was highly stigmatized or even crimalized.

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

“This is a natural and normal part of variatn our speci, and that should support the posn that we shouldn’t try and velop ‘gay cur. “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. 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. Alan Sanrs at North Shore Universy, Illois, and his team ppoted the gen by parg DNA om 1077 gay and 1231 straight men.

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

Intertgly, this bra regn ntas the hypothalam, which was intified 1991 as differg size between gay and straight men. 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. There have been studi suggtg that there is a geic element to homosexualy women, but more rearch has been done men, says Sanrs.

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. 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.

THERE’S (STILL) NO GAY GENE

Related: 5 Myths About Gay People Debunked"Bee is a ntroversial topic, fundg has historilly been limed and recment of participants was difficult, " study -thor Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a senr scientist and putatnal blogist at the geic ttg pany 23andMe, told Live Science. However, the fdg that there's no sgle gay gene do not mean that sexual orientatn is not geic or blogil, and is therefore a liftyle choice. 13 Facts on the History of Marriage51 Sultry Facts About Sex10 Milton Gay Rights HistoryOrigally published on Live Science.

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.

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

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.

THE REAL STORY ON GAY GEN

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.

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

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.

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. Latterly, the gay gene has entered to the onle bmedil databas of the 21st century wh the same pattern of persistence and dimishg crique.

NO ‘GAY GENE’ N PREDICT SEXUAL ORIENTATN, STUDY SAYS

Prs and onle databas to reprent the procs through which the addrs of the gay gene has shifted and bee an x of bmedilizatn. 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. Some gay rights activists sist that homosexualy is geic, hopg that proof om that doma will lead to greater acceptance.