This paper was prepared for course ___________________ for Professor _________________.
Even with the plethora of technological advances available to the world, the issue of what exactly determines if an individual becomes a homosexual still remains unresolved. Some people feel homosexuality is a decision based on a person’s environment or is personal choice, while others contend there has to be some factor in a person’s DNA that makes them harken to homosexuality. No matter what stance a person or organization chooses to select, what is readily apparent is scientific studies of various circumstances, factors and situations have yielded a multitude of results. Therefore, the verdict according to a study that was released in February of this year, is there no such thing as a gay gene. It is an oversimplification of what really transpires with the X chromosome, but there is a genetic link to an individual becoming homosexual (Knapton, 2014).
The first real evidence of a genetic predisposition to homosexuality was produced in 1993 by Dr. Dean Hamer of the US National Cancer Institute and his research associates. After expansively interviewing 76 sets of homosexual brothers and their extended families, Hamer hypothesized homosexuality appeared to be inherited through the female line. Therefore, he scrutinized his research subjects X chromosomes, which can only be transmitted by a child’s mother and discovered the participants in his study shared a genetic marker called Xq28. Since Hamer’s initial work, more than 400 studies have commenced attempting to find the specific genetic link or actual gene that causes homosexuality, but they have limited in their scope due to funding issues over the subject matter of the research and Hamer’s results were entirely contradicted by George Rice, a neuroscientist at the University of Western Ontario (Abrams, 2007).
Hamer contends that Rice’s study was not valid because of an internal bias by Rice and the other two studies bolstering Rice’s discoveries were also false. “They did not even look at the entire X chromosome,” he said. “They gave up immediately.” Therefore, Hamer contends if the studies are read in the right fashion, they do indeed support his findings (Abrams, 2007). Many researchers in the scientific community, however, do not feel Hamer’s results were conclusive. Especially since no other study has produced the same results.
Dr. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University is the author of the latest research study on the gay gene. He first published work on the subject in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2000 which expands upon Hamer’s original work. Bailey has examined 400 sets of identical twins for 14 years and while he did determine they did share the genetic marker Xq28, he does not feel this genetic material is the reason these men are gay. He did discover, however, if one identical twin was gay, the other twin had a 50 percent chance of also being homosexual while that instance decreased to 20 percent among fraternal twins. In his opinion, there are other determining factors besides an actual gene or genes (Abrams, 2007).
He said, “Sexual orientation has nothing to do with choice. Our findings suggest there may be genes at play – we found evidence for two sets that affect whether a man is gay or straight. But it is not completely determinative; there are certainly other environmental factors involved. The study shows that there are genes involved in male sexual orientation. Although this could one day lead to a pre-natal test for male sexual orientation, it would not be very accurate, as there are other factors that can influence the outcome” (Knapton, 2014).
According to Bailey, environmental factors do play a tremendous role in whether an individual becomes homosexual. He stresses, however, that environmental factors do not
necessarily mean the social environment a person is exposed to. An environmental factor is simply something that is not present in a person’s DNA so any of these stimuli can be produced from a variety of sources. “Don’t confuse environmental with socially acquired,” he said (Knapton, 2014).
What is also fascinating is there has been no such genetic discovery when it comes to homosexual women. Also, they respond differently than gay men do to certain stimuli and images during a clinical interview. With men, they clearly demonstrate they are gay, while women tend to associate images and concepts in such a fashion, it is nearly impossible to discern whether they are homosexual or heterosexual. This is why some scientists feel men could be predisposed to homosexuality because of the condition of the mother during her pregnancy.
In 2013, Canadian researchers ascertained if a man has older male siblings that are homosexual, they are much more likely to become gay. Their hypothesis is each time a mother produces a male child, her immune reaction heightens. They feel this causes the mother to pass on more feminine qualities to a male fetus. Dr. Alan Sanders, an associate professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University who was involved in Bailey’s study said, “We don’t think genetics is the whole story. It’s not. We have a gene that contributes to homosexuality, but you could say it was linked to heterosexuality it is the variation” (Knapton, 2014).
Therefore, while genetics does play some unknown role in a male developing into a homosexual, the exact specifics of what gene and how that it occurs remains undetermined. What lends more credence to the theory that genetics is not the main factor in homosexuality is that women possess no such genetic marker. Would it not be the same for both sexes? It
would only make sense. Until conclusive and irrefutable evidence is produced concisely revealing there is a gay gene, it must be concluded that no such genetic trigger for homosexuality exists.
References
Abrams, Michael. (2007). The Real Story on Gay Genes. Discover Magazine. Web.
June 5, 2007. Retrieved on May 23 from http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jun/born-gay.
Knapton, Sarah. (2014). Being homosexual is only partly due to gay gene, research finds. The
Telegraph. February 14, 2014. Web. Retrieved on May 23 from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/.
Ruse, M. (1982-6-01). Are There Gay Genes? Journal of Homsexuality. 6(4), 5-34 doi:
10.1300/JO82v0f604_02.Spears, T. (2005, Jan 29). Gay genes could determine homosexuality, study suggests.
CanWest News Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/460844148?accountid=25307.
