Being gay is something that people in America now see as natural and normal but why are some people gay, some straight, some bi, and some asexual. The Williams Institute, found that about 3.5% of Americans identify as a sexual variation of some sort. That is millions of people. In addition, we know that hundreds of different animals can have same-sex pairings. So, if sexual deviation is natural, Why?
One very popular belief is that being gay is a population controler. Since, part of the population is not attracted to the other gender or less likely to have sex with the opposite gender then they are less likely to reproduce. However, one scientist, Richard Dawkins, used Darwin’s theory of evolution along with his own work to show that nature doesn’t do population controls. Natural selection doesn’t can’t explain homosexuality because they do not naturally pass on their genes. It just doesn’t make sense in the grand schemes of things.
Another theory about homosexuality is the idea that being gay is in fact designed to improve female fertility and other characteristics to make then more ideal mates. The basic idea is that some how homosexual relatives improve female health, psychology, and a multitude of other factors. It is a weird theory to say the least but supposedly a multitude of studies found the same thing. The issue is the people who were a part of the study were self reported and passed of gynecological info volunteered by women with homosexual male relatives.
So the Royal Society did a test using Fruit Flies who only do the basics in life and still have same sex relationships to see if there was an effect on the female population. There was a relationship. The females actually were more fertile and had more beneficial traits as mates. the issue is this doesn’t apply to bisexual or lesbian people. So, this is a very narrow idea. Also, even if this applies for fruit flies it may not actually work for humans.
Finally, there is this theory was invented by R. C. Kirkpatrick and states that homosexuality is actually a key part of maintaining order in primate societies and human society. Basically, his whole theory rests on the idea that homosexuals have the ideal mental traits and physical mental characteristics to help deal with trouble in societies. it is an an odd theory but makes sense in a lot of ways. However, there are no observational or experimental studies to show that to be true. He does point to physiological characteristics of gay people like the variation in the size of the INAH3 part of the brain but nothing else.
In the end it will take a lot of work and study to find the try root and purpose behind not only gay people but bisexual and lesbian people as well. There is no clear answer at the moment.
Sources (Hyperlinked where used):
http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2015/09/01/why-are-we-gay?team=social
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/09h684x2
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1809/20150429
http://www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/~lchang/material/Evolutionary/evo%20homosexual%20review.pdf