Homosexual born
Across cultures, 2% to 10% of people report having same-sex relations. In the U.S., 1% to 2.2% of women and men, respectively, identify as lgbtq+. Despite these numbers, many people still consider queer behavior to be an anomalous choice. However, biologists have documented homosexual conduct in more than 450 species, arguing that queer behavior is not an unnatural choice, and may in fact play 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 date for genes paired 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 habit.
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 study as it further illuminates the
“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 research, 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 impact 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 conduct or orientation as a person’s genes are.
Second, rebutting decades of widespread faith, the study established that “there is certainly no single genetic determinant (sometimes referred to as the ‘gay gene’ in the media)” that causes queer sexual behavior. On the contrary
Massive Study Finds No Single Genetic Generate of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior
Few aspects of human biology are as complex—or politically fraught—as sexual orientation. A clear genetic link would offer that gay people are “born this way,” as opposed to having made a lifestyle option. Yet some dread that such a finding could be misused to “cure” homosexuality, and most research teams hold shied away from tackling the topic.
Now a new review 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 involved in who people pick 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 pull any real conclusions about sexual orientation.
“The message should persist 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 interpret it, is homosexual action still sinful if God made them that way?
An Evolutionary Dead End
From an evolutionary perspective, it really wouldn’t make any meaning 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 storyteller put it, “The being of homosexuality amounts to a profound evolutionary mystery, since failing to hand over 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 own tried to e
Is a person ‘born gay’, or is being gay a learned behavior?
Being same-sex attracted is not a choice for people. Instead, it appears to be a fundamental part of who someone is. It is not a learned action. Which also means that people cannot “unlearn” their sexual orientation.
Of course just because we realize it isn’t usually a learned deed, that doesn’t represent 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 maturation and influence conduct later on in life.
So even though you might await 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