Poll: Is homosexuality genetic?

[CD-R]

Seeing as how homosexuality will occur in a large variety of animals, and there isn't anyone telling them right or wrong, I am inclined to believe it's genetic. For example sheep. There was a study on gay rams several years ago. Yes rams can be gay. The reason they were trying to figure out what caused it in sheep was because there is no practical way to artificially inseminate sheep. You have to use a ram. If you're a heep farmer and you end up with a gay ram you can lose an entire lamb crop for a year. It's extremely rare but it does happen.

Penguins will also form same sex couples, and sometimes steal eggs from nests and raise them as their own. Then of course theres Bonobo's wich are just the most perverted hedonistic little apes out there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo#Sexual_social_behavior

 

[bobknowsall]

Of course not.

If it was genetic, it would have been bred out of the gene pool because the carriers wouldn't produce offspring.

Genetics is real science, not "social science".

Actually, there is a reason it might have hung around. If the gene resulted in male homosexuality but also helped with female fertility, then it would explain why it survived. Kin selection would also play a part. There are some interesting papers on the subject.

 

[Kimjira19]

It isn't hardly a gene thing. When you're young you learn by example, so if you are surrounded by girls as a child you will tend to act as they do. Therefore: homosexuals

That statement is pretty flimsy. Here is an excellent video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PooEhBxh0NY

 

[goldenjester]

It isn't hardly a gene thing. When you're young you learn by example, so if you are surrounded by girls as a child you will tend to act as they do. Therefore: homosexuals

That statement is pretty flimsy. Here is an excellent video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PooEhBxh0NY

Agreed. I have three sisters and my dad's a doctor/was in the military, so I was raised by mom. I can assure you, I am very straight.

 

[Kimjira19]

How would a gene for not having sex with the opposite sex pass on?
Just think about it

Think about how many people have been so deep in the closet that they do not come to terms with their homosexuality until they have settled down and started having kids. Also, probably not entirely genetic anyway. I would say that pre-natal conditions definitely factor in to sexual orientation.

 

[Kimjira19]

I really doubt there is. I view it as one of those things that's nurture, not nature.

Doubtful. Consider homosexual youths who were raised in fundamentalist christian families, where they are constantly indoctrinated with anti-gay messages. In these cases, I would consider it to be far more likely that some condition during the pregnancy effected a change in sexual orientation.

 

[oppp7]

I really doubt there is. I view it as one of those things that's nurture, not nature.

Doubtful. Consider homosexual youths who were raised in fundamentalist christian families, where they are constantly indoctrinated with anti-gay messages. In these cases, I would consider it to be far more likely that some condition during the pregnancy effected a change in sexual orientation.

I guess. It's probably a little from column A and B. I'm not too knowledgable on the subject truthfully.

 

[Neonic-Ink]

Well, from my personal experience... seeings how my dad's sister is a lesbian and my mom's sister is a lesbian, and I'd probably be a lesbian too, if I wasn't dating my boyfriend, whom I love dearly....

It's not by choice at all. You can't help whom you are sexually attracted to.
Which is sort of sad for those people who are into bestiality because most of the time, they really can't help it.
Doesn't make it right at all, but you know..

But, I think it's just how you are raised. I never really was raised by my mom and yet, even at a young age, I used to check out older women with my dad, saying, "she's pretty", "I'd hit that", etc. and nothing seemed wrong with it. I knew about homosexuality from a very young age and I've always had a sexual attraction more for women than for men.

So in conclusion, it's just who the person is attracted to.... like for gay men, girls just aren't there bag baby, and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[Kimjira19]

Of course not.

If it was genetic, it would have been bred out of the gene pool because the carriers wouldn't produce offspring.

Genetics is real science, not "social science".

And what of closeted homosexuals who ended up in heterosexual marriages that then produced children? My girlfriend's father is a closet homosexual and my girlfriend is a lesbian. There you go.

 

[Neonic-Ink]

I believe that it's genetic.

I remember reading in Psychology class that scrutiny of brains of homosexual males showed that there was a common area of the brain missing. The theory is that this missing part is the part of the brain responsible for male attraction to females. I believe in this theory.

If I'm correct, you're...close. Homosexuals don't have a part of there brain missing, they have a section of the brain (The Amygdala) whose structure more closely resembles a straight member of the opposite sex. In other words, brain structure A is found in Straight males and Lesbians, and brain structure B is found in Straight females and Gay men. Implying, of course, that brain formation causes attraction to a particular sex, regardless of your gender. However, I'm pretty sure that those studies hypothesized that the cause of this brain structure is womb conditions, NOT genetics. It's interesting, because it is surprising the number of things people have as part of there nature which is NOT in there genes. You can certainly be born with a trait that is not in your genes.

The other major theory is also worth a look, and also right up the Psychology research alley. Basically, it appears that gay men have sisters who are more fertile. In theory, the same hypothesized gene that makes someone gay also makes there sibling have more kids. That means that this gene DOES, paradoxically, increase a genes odds of survival and procreation. Sort of like how Sickle Cell Anemia is still prevalent in places because having a recessive sickle cell trait makes you resistant to Malaria. Of course, this theory hasn't really looked into female homosexuality, but its still one of 2 solid scientific hypotheses.

Hmm, I never knew this before. That's so interesting. I will have to read up more on this. Brain science is awesomely interesting to me.

 

[Kazturkey]

It's to do with the number of male hormones killed by the mother during pregnancy. Her body sees the male hormones as alien and kills as many as possible, meaning each male child after the first, as her body becomes more adept with dealing with these hormones, will become more effeminate with a higher chance of being gay.

 

[fuzzball]

I have heard that the mother can develop an "immunity" or something like that to a gene that affects the sexuality of a baby, so that it may be attracted to the same sex.

 

[ArcWinter]

Not genetic, not a conscious choice... What's another word that sounds science-y?

Oh yeah, it's behavioral/psychological.

It probably has something to do with your early childhood.

 

[Sir Kemper]

I don't know, but it certainly isn't a choice. I believe it's a combination of irregular hormones and childhood experiences.

Whether the hormones are caused by genes is up to debate until we totally crack the human genome.

This.

 

[Kimjira19]

If it was, woundn`t there be a certain prevelence of it among a specific population.

By that I mean, a place where the gene is concentrated.

I do not think so though. The homosexual gene theory has one major flaw...gay couples cannot have `biological` children so there is now way to pass it on.

Thus gay cannot breed gay because gay couples are unable to breed...in priciple anyway, the actual reality of this might be different.

Ok. read this

That being said, yes it is genetic, but the genetics of it are complicated.
First of all, homosexuality comes in different 'flavours' from slightly bisexual to as gay as can be (wiki the Kinsey scale).
This means there must be not one gene, but several that cause homosexuality.
It's like your hight: the more 'tall' genes you inherit the taller you are, but there isn't just one gene that will make you tall.

That and even if you have the genes to be gay, those genes might not come to expression.
Studies have shown that whether or not these genes are expressed depends on the amount of testosterone you had in your mothers womb at the time your hypothalamus was formed. This doesn't depend on your genes, but on those of your mother.
In the end, you have to be really 'unlucky' to be gay. It's not a coincidence that it's quite rare.

Lots of people carry at least some gay genes, without them ever coming to expression.
They are straight, have kids and can still have gay kids.
There are theories that women carrying the gay genes are actually more fertile than women who don't.
This also helps keeping those genes in the population.
These two things explain why gay people don't go extinct, even if they don't reproduce.

See? Makes sense doesn't it?

 

[Kimjira19]

It's to do with the number of male hormones killed by the mother during pregnancy. Her body sees the male hormones as alien and kills as many as possible, meaning each male child after the first, as her body becomes more adept with dealing with these hormones, will become more effeminate with a higher chance of being gay.

OMG. Did you watch the same "Gay Education" video I did? Nice summary!

 

[Woodsey]

To butcher the theory a little, yes. Its not an inherited thing as such (like a dormant gene) but its pre-coded. Its no different to a man preferring slim women over curvier women.

People don't choose it, that's for sure.

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

I always had a vague untested theory that it was some sort of natural response to overpopulation.

Couldn't be. The subconscious human body does not know how many other humans there are all over the world relative to the available resources.

 

[Kazturkey]

It's to do with the number of male hormones killed by the mother during pregnancy. Her body sees the male hormones as alien and kills as many as possible, meaning each male child after the first, as her body becomes more adept with dealing with these hormones, will become more effeminate with a higher chance of being gay.

OMG. Did you watch the same "Gay Education" video I did? Nice summary!

I am confused. I've seen no gay education videos.

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Why can't it be genetic? For one, homosexuality has existed for thousands of years, but it has only come up obviously in the past hundred or so. Homosexuality was suppressed in cultures, since it was certainly normal to mate with a woman. Maybe that doesn't make complete sense, but really nothing of this topic's nature does. Regardless, mutations are genetic and not handed down, of course, so who's to say it isn't caused by mutations, similar to Down's Syndrome? Also, for those of you suggesting hormones: Hormones are genetic.