Homosexual born
Across cultures, 2% to 10% of people report having lgbtq+ relations. In the U.S., 1% to 2.2% of women and men, respectively, identify as same-sex attracted. Despite these numbers, many people still consider homosexual deed to be an anomalous choice. However, biologists have documented homosexual behavior in more than 450 species, arguing that same-sex behavior is not an unnatural choice, and may in fact act a vital role within populations.
In a 2019 issue of Science magazine, geneticist Andrea Ganna at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and colleagues, described the largest survey to meet for genes paired with same-sex habit. 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 a molecular biologist and am interested in this new review as it further illuminates the
Massive Study Finds No Solo Genetic Cause of Homosexual 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 fear that such a finding could be misused to “cure” homosexuality, and most research teams possess shied away from tackling the topic.
Now a recent study claims to dispel the notion that a single gene or handful of genes make a person prone to gay behavior. The analysis, which examined the genomes of nearly half a million men and women, start that although genetics are certainly involved in who people choose to own sex with, there are no specific genetic predictors. Yet some researchers doubt whether the analysis, which looked at genes connected with sexual activity rather than attraction, can illustrate any real conclusions about sexual orientation.
“The message should remain the same that this is a complex behavior that genetics definitely plays a part in,” said study co-author Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a computational biologist at genetic testin
Are Some People Born Gay?
Many Christian parents have asked me this question. They are struggling with a child who has recently “come out” and are trying to grapple with this new reality. These parents have lovingly taught their children the Bible, taken them to church all their young lives, and can’t understand how their children could possibly choose this sinful sexual behavior. They think biology may help explain what they are wrestling to explain any other way. So can it? And if biology can describe it, is homosexual habit still sinful if God made them that way?
An Evolutionary Dead End
From an evolutionary perspective, it really wouldn’t make any perception for homosexuality to possess a biological basis. One of the major tenets of evolution is reproduction and passing on one’s genes to the next generation. As one composer put it, “The being of homosexuality amounts to a profound evolutionary mystery, since failing to go by on your genes means that your genetic fitness is a resounding zero.”1
And if homosexual behavior has a genetic component, how could it even be passed on to future generations? In many ways, it’s an evolutionary defunct end. Some evolutionists contain tried to e
“Born That Way” No More: The New Science of Sexual Orientation
Late last month, a team of MIT and Harvard scientists published a landmark study of the genetic basis for sexual orientation in the journal Science. The learn, which was based on an examination of the genetic material of almost half a million individuals, definitively refutes the thought that being gay is an innate condition that is controlled or largely compelled by one’s genetic makeup.
The study contained two key findings. First, it found that the outcome of the genes we inherit from our parents (known as “heritability”) on same-sex orientation was very weak, at only .32 on a scale from 0 (none) to 1 (total) heritability. This means that a person’s developmental environment—which includes diet, family, friends, neighborhood, religion, and a host of other life conditions—is twice as influential on the probability of developing same-sex action or orientation as a person’s genes are.
Second, rebutting decades of widespread conviction, the study established that “there is certainly no single genetic determinant (sometimes referred to as the ‘gay gene’ in the media)” that causes homosexual sexual behavior. On the contrary
Is a person ‘born gay’, or is being gay a learned behavior?
Being lgbtq+ is not a choice for people. Instead, it appears to be a fundamental part of who someone is. It is not a learned conduct. Which also means that people cannot “unlearn” their sexual orientation.
Of course just because we recognize it isn’t usually a learned habit, that doesn’t signify that we include a good explanation for what is going on biologically. We don’t.
What we do know is that there isn’t one single gene that explains homosexuality. Something as complicated as sexual orientation is going to involve lots of genes. And not only that, but it will involve the environment too.
Now by the environment I don’t just mean an overprotective mom or a domineering dad. “Environment” is a catchall for everything that isn’t a gene. For instance, what the fetus experienced while in the mother’s womb can affect its progress and influence deed later on in life.
So even though you might anticipate that the environment only causes temporary changes, that’s not always the case. The environment can cause brains to be wired in a certain way as it develops. This wiring can’t be changed easily.
Right now the