Have you ever met a person who was homosexual later to find out that someone else in their family is homosexual as well? With many homosexual people that I have met, I hate later found out that their siblings or aunts/uncles were homosexual as well. Scientists at Northwestern University have conducted studies that found that genes only make up about a 40% chance of someone being homosexual. The scientists came to the conclusion that being homosexual is from genetics but mostly environmental and social factors.
The scientists at Northwesters still believe that they will be able to find a way to test of babies will grow up to be homosexual or not. The have currently been studying 400 sets of twins to see if any men are more prone to be homosexual. One scientist said that one day there may even be a pre-natal test that can text for homosexuality. Overall thought, the scientist don’t believe that being homosexual is a choice. Scientists at the University of California think that being homosexual can be explained by the presence of epi-marks, but the findings are still inconclusive.
While reading this article I found a few flaws in the scientists tests. First, they are testing babies, but what if the gene is developed overtime? The scientists would be unable to test for this because they are testing such a specific time frame. Also, the test was conducted on only males, so we don’t know if any of these findings are the same for women and I would be interested in knowing if genes have the same effect of women. I do believe that genes are very much involved in whether a person is homosexual because when I have met a homosexual, I usually learn later that their brother or sister is homosexual too. So this leads me to believe that being homosexual is very much a genetic.
I also agree that being homosexual is not a choice and could possibly be in our genes. The experiments you listed are very flawed. They don’t rule out confounding variables or reverse causation. If there is a prenatal test developed to figure out if a child will be gay, it will probably not be allowed due to human rights activists. I would be interested in learning more about this topic and I think it would solve a lot of issues with gay rights if we found substantial evidence to prove that it is genetic and not a choice.
In the study you were talking about I do not understand why they are testing and analyzing twins. Maybe I missed something, but I don’t get the point of that, unless they are somehow comparing the two? It will be interesting to see the results of this study. My cousin is actually homosexual, however nobody else in our family is. So, even if it is found to be based off genetics, I feel as if genetics isn’t always the case for why somebody may be homosexual.
Woops here’s my source
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/14/genes-influence-male-sexual-orientation-study
I’ve always been raised in my household believing that being gay was somehow biologically programmed into someone and not exactly a choice. I think it could be either way but thats besides the point. According to this article on an experiment in the guardian, “Scientists tested the DNA of 400 gay men and found that genes on at least two chromosomes affected whether a man was gay or straight.” This is important evidence when looking at this from both perspectives.
This is a question I have thought of before and am still interested to learn more about. I completely agree with you on the flaws of this experiment. Why would you test babies if they have not nearly developed yet? Also, excluding the other gender is very flawed because that is neglecting a huge chunk of information about this topic. In your post, you say genes make up a 40% chance of being gay; but, in this article, it explains that being lesbian is 25% due to genes: http://www.livescience.com/33992-gay-women.html
Some scientist are very certain that being homosexual is in ones genes. Dr Michael Bailey from Northwestern University in Illinois, has 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.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2559021/Being-gay-DNA-researchers-claim-controversial-new-study.html#ixzz3H2hxDJCf