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

Contents:

• THERE’S NO EVINCE THAT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’ EXISTS
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• GAY MAL’ SIBLG LK: MEN’S HOMOSEXUALY TIED TO HAVG OLR BROTHERS
• CHEMIL TAGS ON DNA APPEAR TO DIFFER BETWEEN GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN
• GAY, LBIAN AND BISEXUAL HIGH SCHOOLERS REPORT ‘TRAGILLY HIGH’ SUICI RISK
• REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS
• WHY ARE THERE GAY MEN?
• SCIENCENO SGLE 'GAY GENE', REVEALS THE LARGT-EVER STUDY OF THE GEICS OF SAME-SEX SEXUAL BEHAVUR
• GAY SCIENCE NEWS, ARTICL AND RMATN:

THERE’S NO EVINCE THAT A SGLE ‘GAY GENE’ EXISTS

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.

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.

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

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. Bbank dataset, for example, younger people reported havg same-sex partners more often than olr people did, probably bee homosexual activy was illegal the Uned Kgdom until 1967.

In the new study, the more exclively homosexual partners men had, the fewer children they had; up to 80 percent fewer children than heterosexual men. 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.

GAY MAL’ SIBLG LK: MEN’S HOMOSEXUALY TIED TO HAVG OLR BROTHERS

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.

It is important to note that the same-sex soc-sexual behavr observed the study is distct om homosexual behavr bee s motivatn and purpose are social, said Jean-Baptiste Le, who studi primate behavr at the Universy of Lethbridge Canada and was not volved the new rearch.

A new study fds that homosexualy grows more likely wh the greater number of blogil olr brothers—those sharg both father and mother—that a male has.

CHEMIL TAGS ON DNA APPEAR TO DIFFER BETWEEN GAY AND STRAIGHT MEN

That report didn’t clu men raised wh non-blogil olr brothers, leavg open the possibily that some psychologil reactn to olr brothers fostered homosexualy.

GAY, LBIAN AND BISEXUAL HIGH SCHOOLERS REPORT ‘TRAGILLY HIGH’ SUICI RISK

The number of blogil olr brothers rrelated wh the likelihood of a man beg homosexual, regardls of the amount of time spent wh those siblgs durg childhood, Bogaert says. By acuntg for potential psychologil effects of havg olr brothers, Bogaert’s data “strengthen the notn that the mon nomator between blogil brothers, the mother, provis a prenatal environment that fosters homosexualy her younger sons, ” say nroscientist S.

Bogaert’s work dit that for homosexualy to velop, don’t matter whether boys feel different om sex-typil olr brothers, only that they have olr brothers, Bem acknowledg.

Chemil modifitns to DNA that change the activy of gen whout changg the gen’ rmatn differ between homosexual and heterosexual men, rearchers om UCLA David Geffen School of Medice have disvered. Comparg one type of epigeic tag known as DNA methylatn pairs of tws which one brother is gay and the other straight revealed patterns that distguish one group om the other about 67 percent of the time, putatnal geicist Tuck Ngun and lleagu say. Ngun and lleagu measured DNA methylatn levels the saliva of 37 pairs of intil tws which one tw self-intified as homosexual and the other as heterosexual.

REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS

A puter program dubbed the FuzzyFort algorhm examed data om half of the gay and straight tws to learn how their DNA methylatn patterns differed om each other. The ial round of trag found 6, 134 spots the genome where the tws differed, but together those s uld rrectly intify gay tws the remag pairs only 44 percent of the time. VULNERABLE KIDS Teens who intify as gay, lbian, bisexual or qutng are at a higher risk of suicidal behavr, acrdg to a study based on a natnwi survey of high school stunts om 2015.

WHY ARE THERE GAY MEN?

High school stunts who intify as gay, lbian or bisexual are more likely to report planng or attemptg suici pared wh their heterosexual peers, a new study fds. The unrlyg prumptn is that there is not only a st associated wh engagg homosexual activy, but also that variatn such behavr is passed down om one generatn to the next. Suici risk among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults vari nsirably pendg on the tersectn between sexual inty and other aspects of inty, such as genr, age, and race/ethnicy, acrdg to a study led by rearchers at the Natnal Instute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the Natnal Instut of Health.

The study, which examed data om a natnally reprentative survey of adults the Uned Stat, also showed that lbian, gay, and bisexual adults are overall more likely to report suici-related thoughts, plans, and attempts wh the past 12 months pared wh heterosexual adults. The fdgs, published the Amerin Journal of Preventive Medice, dite that the tersectn of multiple social inti may pound suici risk for some lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals. “This study monstrat the importance of askg about sexual inty natnal data llectn efforts, and highlights the prsg need for suici preventn servic that addrs the specific experienc and needs of lbian, gay, and bisexual adults of different genrs, ag, and race and ethnic groups, ” said Rajeev Ramchand, Ph.

Prev rearch has shown that, when examed as a group, adults who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual have higher rat of suicidal thoughts and attempts relative to heterosexual adults. As part of the survey, participants reported their sexual inty (heterosexual, lbian or gay, bisexual, or don’t know), and whether they had had suicidal thoughts, suici plans, or suici attempts at any time the past 12 months. In le wh prev rearch, the NSDUH data showed that rat of all three suici-related behavrs—thoughts, plans, and attempts—were generally higher among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults than among heterosexual adults.

SCIENCENO SGLE 'GAY GENE', REVEALS THE LARGT-EVER STUDY OF THE GEICS OF SAME-SEX SEXUAL BEHAVUR

After takg mographic factors to acunt, the rearchers found that suici risk was three to six tim greater for lbian, gay, and bisexual adults than for heterosexual adults across every age group and race/ethnicy tegory. Among gay and bisexual men, 12% to 17% had thought about takg their liv the past year, 5% had ma a suici plan, and about 2% had ma a suici attempt.

Among lbian or gay women and bisexual women, 11% to 20% had experienced thoughts of suici, 7% had ma a suici plan, and about 3% had ma a suici attempt. However, among lbian or gay and bisexual women, the data dited that Black women had lower risk of suicidal thoughts and plans relative to whe women.

GAY SCIENCE NEWS, ARTICL AND RMATN:

When the rearchers looked at the specific tersectn between mory sexual inty and race/ethnicy, they found that whe and Black women who intified as bisexual were more likely to report suicidal thoughts relative to whe and Black women who intified as lbian or gay. Lookg at the tersectn between mory sexual inty and age, the rearchers found that suicidal thoughts were also relatively higher among bisexual women the 35-64 group pared wh lbian or gay women the same age group. But nsirg that the tra disurag the type of sex that leads to procreatn — that is, sex wh women — and would therefore seem to thwart s own chanc of beg geilly passed on to the next generatn, why are there gay men at all?