Studies on being born gay
No single gene associated with being gay
A genetic analysis of almost half a million people has concluded there is no single "gay gene".
The study, published in Science, external, used data from the UK Biobank and 23andMe, and found some genetic variants associated with same-sex relationships.
But genetic factors accounted for, at most, 25% of same-sex behaviour.
Advocacy group GLAAD said the study confirmed "no conclusive degree to which nature or nurture influenced how a gay or lesbian person behaves."
The researchers scanned the genomes - the entire genetic make-up - of , people signed up to the UK Biobank project, and 68, registered with the genetics company 23andMe.
Participants were also asked whether they had same-sex partners exclusively, or as well as opposite-sex partners.
The Harvard and MIT researchers concluded genetics could account for between % of same-sex behaviour across the population, when the whole genome is considered.
Five specific genetic variants were found to be particularly associated with same-sex behaviour, including one l
Across cultures, 2% to 10% of people report having same-sex relations. In the U.S., 1% to % of women and men, respectively, identify as gay. Despite these numbers, many people still consider homosexual behavior to be an anomalous choice. However, biologists have documented homosexual behavior in more than species, arguing that same-sex behavior is not an unnatural choice, and may in fact play a vital role within populations.
In a issue of Science magazine, geneticist Andrea Ganna at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and colleagues, described the largest survey to date for genes associated with same-sex behavior. By analyzing the DNA of nearly half a million people from the U.S. and the U.K., they concluded that genes account for between 8% and 25% of same-sex behavior.
Numerous studies have established that sex is not just male or female. Rather, it is a continuum that emerges from a person’s genetic makeup. Nonetheless, misconceptions persist that same-sex attraction is a choice that warrants condemnation or conversion, and leads to discrimination and persecution.
I am
Not long ago, I had a conversation with a Methodist minister who was lamenting the recent schism in the once “United" Methodist Church. He explained that this split had come about over a disagreement about whether to accept LGBTQ persons into their congregations.
“So, is there really a gay gene?” he asked.
“Well, yes, sort of,” I replied. “But it’s complicated.”
As University of Toronto (Canada) psychologist Doug VanderLaan and his colleagues explain in an article they recently published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, science now clearly shows that people are born with their sexual orientation. Many people assume that if a trait is something we're “born with,” it must be genetic—but in fact, it’s not that simple.
On the one hand, traits can be determined by multiple genes, such that a single trait may have any number of genetic causes. On the other hand, the way we come out of the womb is determined as much by conditions inside the womb as they are by our genes. That is, the presence of particular hormones during prenatal development, as well as the reactions of
Massive Study Finds No Single Genetic Cause of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior
Few aspects of human biology are as complex—or politically fraught—as sexual orientation. A clear genetic link would suggest that gay people are “born this way,” as opposed to having made a lifestyle choice. Yet some avoid that such a finding could be misused to “cure” homosexuality, and most research teams include shied away from tackling the topic.
Now a new study claims to dispel the notion that a single gene or handful of genes make a person prone to same-sex behavior. The analysis, which examined the genomes of nearly half a million men and women, found that although genetics are certainly emotionally attached in who people choose to have sex with, there are no specific genetic predictors. Yet some researchers question whether the analysis, which looked at genes associated with sexual activity rather than attraction, can draw any real conclusions about sexual orientation.
“The message should remain the adj that this is a complex behavior that genetics definitely plays a par