Are People Born Gay?

[Camille]

Recently on a Trinidad and Tobago radio station (Power 102FM), there were discussions on the topic of homosexuality. A homosexual male called arguing that people are born gay. In other words, he argued that homosexuality is genetically predetermined. Several callers challenged that claim. Dr. Raj Ramnanan, who also hosts a night programme on the said station titled Sexplosion, called in to the morning show and reiterated the claim that some people are born homosexuals. Later that night on his show he repeated the statement and claimed that there are many scientific papers online that proves his point made earlier. The studies, he claims, explain how people are born gay.

He urged callers to search online about the “Gay Gene”. I did such a search and no results shows what he claims. These publications claim the opposite and have posited that environmental as well as other factors may result in homosexual preferences since there is no genetic evidence to suggest otherwise. I am sharing a collection of the articles that I read so far:


“This is the Way God Made Me”
A Scientific Examination of Homosexuality and the “Gay Gene”
2003 – Brad Harrub, Ph.D. and Bert Thompson, Ph.D. and Dave Miller, Ph.D.
http://www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.asp
 
Is Homosexuality Inherited?
By Richard Horton, July, 1995
Richard Horton is the editor of The Lancet, the British medical journal. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/assault/genetics/nyreview.html

The Gay Gene: Assertions, Retractions, and Controversy
2003 Department of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035
This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/genomics/2002/pierce/gaygene.htm
 
Is Homosexuality Genetic? The Gay Gene?
By Jeffrey Satinover, M.D.
Jeffery B. Satinover, M.D. has practiced psychoanalysis for more than nineteen years, and psychiatry for more than ten. He is a former Fellow in Psychiatry and Child Psychiatry at Yale University, a past president of the C.G. Jung Foundation, and a former William James Lecturer in Psychology and Religion at Harvard University. He holds degrees from MIT, the University of Texas, and Harvard University. He is the author of Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth (Baker Books, 1996).
http://www.mission.org/jesuspeople/thegaygene.htm

Biology and sexual orientation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Biology and sexual orientation is the subject of research into the role of biology in the development of human sexual orientation. No simple, single cause for sexual orientation has been conclusively demonstrated, but research suggests that it is by a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences,[1] with biological factors involving a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment.[2] Biological factors which may be related to the development of a heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual orientation include genes, prenatal hormones, and brain structure.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation
 
Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture
By Ryan D. Johnson – April 30, 2003
In recent decades, many hotly debated topics have come under the scrutiny of sociobiologists, trying to determine their causation and origins. One such topic is homosexuality. Originally thought by the American Psychological Association (hereafter referred to as APA) to be a mental disorder, research into its causes, origins, and development have consequently led to its removal by the APA from its list of diagnoses and disorders [1].
http://allpsych.com/journal/homosexuality.html

How homosexuality is ‘inherited’
BBC News: October 13, 2004
Scientists say they have shown how male homosexuality could be passed from generation to generation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3735668.stm
 
Homosexual Activist Says There’s No “Gay Gene”
Homosexual Activist Says There's No "Gay Gene"

[Makini]

Nice selection of articles.

Why not consider all of the animal kingdom as well, not just 'people' - humans. Just for a glancing reference Wikipedia states:

"Bagemihl's research shows that homosexual behaviour, not necessarily sex, has been observed in close to 1500 species, ranging from primates to gut worms, and is well documented for 500 of them."

This might uncomplicate things to look at it without so much social, cultural, religious, moral, ethical diatribe…humans are not special in this practice.

I think a lot of people are paranoid by the idea of being gay or engaging in behaviour that usually people only of the opposite sex engage in, perhaps simply because if they choose not to engage in such lifestyles, they wonder why others should want to do so, which is a quite human reflex. I had to question my own notion of one's physical expressions for another of the same sex when I saw three Kenyan men innocently holding hands, you dont do that in the Caribbean, big man holding another big man hand and walking casually down the road trying to get transport? Never, not even gays will do that I think. If I suggested it to any males I know they would instinctly look at me like I was queer or instigating something 'nobody does do'. A few years later I would see a Ugandan and Tanzanian colleague do the same hand holding thing and think of it less from my original social reflex of discomfort and also challenge myself to wonder why I felt uncomfortable in the first place.

Why do people ‘choose’ not to engage in homosexual behaviour/lifestyles? I think for the really fervent ones it’s for reasons that they actually haven’t “reasoned” out/thought about it honestly for themselves…but the position they take and the feelings they associate with homosexuality are conferred onto them from places of ‘high’ moral integrity (e.g.bible)…accompanied by flavourings of hatred, fear, insecurity, disgust, rashness, self-imposed pain, moral-high ground, perhaps even jealousy for their inability to act from a position of relative freedom to choose their own sexual orientation. I think it’s similar to  masturbation where people suppress/reject/deny their interest to explore such…you are curious about it, either you get more exploratory or its just something that’s a phase and you move onto things/practices/behaviours that appeal to you more...

With further scientific research the ‘gay gene’ theory will resolve itself into what level of validity it rightly deserves. Reading all the science can be a bit giddying, but its good you tried to (successfully I’d say) follow up on that radio personality and realised he was throwing words careless on top of his ‘doctor’ title and abusing people’s ears with his bias and erroneous statement according to what you have explained in your post.

Anyway, to answer your question, I think from my own perspective and experiences, people aren’t born gay. It’s a lifestyle, a choice, and the extremeness of it is determined by one’s environment, along with some chemical/hormonal assistance that ultimately again links back to one’s environment, for they say even thoughts affect your brain chemistry and again thoughts are greatly affected by your environment. If there was a genetic basis of relevance to the majority of the society/population, it would have been easier to identify and isolate by now with so much biotechnology and genetic research going on. Tho the convenient argument follows that gay people cant produce ofspring, so natural selection would work against such a gene and it would therefore not accumulate in a given population. But the amount of inconclusive proding of twins for genetic validation also says a lot.

Just as things people do like killing, stealing, lying, drinking alcohol... dancing whatever, have been/are part of various cultures and may/have been practiced or socially accepted due to various personal and community appeal and benefits or rejected for the same reasons, I think so too is homosexuality (an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions primarily or exclusively to people of the same sex) - indeed be it more complex than the other examples - to some sub-sections of society.

“Two instances where the culture is a causative agent of homosexual expression are in New Guinea and Crete.  In some tribes in New Guinea, young boys ages 8-15 are inseminated daily by the young male warriors of the tribe.  In Crete, every adolescent boy undertook a homosexual relationship as a rite of passage into manhood [10].  In these two instances, the homosexuality is accepted; however, it can be argued that it is also forced, not a natural expression.” From http://allpsych.com/journal/homosexuality.html

Regarding the above and …it being “forced”, my own catholic mother used to daily warn and threaten my two brothers that if they ever go gay she would not speak to them/she’d disown them…that’s not also forcing of one’s own design for another person on them especially in their formative years…which people do all the time when we say “gunshot dem fi get”/"gunshot inna batty bwoy head" and all manner of "fyah bon batty bwoi dem".

One of the articles draws reference to the unnaturally high representation of gays in television programming in the States, reflecting the current appeal for such. I found that assessment quite interesting.

“If we were to start a new television sitcom, and wanted to accurately portray homosexual ratios in society, we would need 199 heterosexual actors before we finally introduced one homosexual actor. And yet modern television casts of three or four often include one or more homosexual actor(s).  The statistics from the 2000 census are not figures grabbed from the air and placed on a political sign or Web site to promote a particular agenda.  These were census data that were carefully collected from the entire United States population, contrary to the limited scope of studies designed to show a genetic cause for homosexuality”. From http://www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.asp


- M-

[siger]

i was once told that you cant put food in your nose.
but if one wants to, for whatever reason, it is not my place to stop them

[Iniko Ujaama]

I think it is useful to ask what does it mean to be gay and from that what it means to be born gay. Also don't all people (who are not forced into sexual relations) always choose their sexuality i.e the category(ies) of persons who they will generally have sex with? As for who you are generally drawn to, that to me is not chosen but it can also change over time and based on a range of factors.

In my opinion people can have all sorts of attractions including both sexes. What is the meaning and purpose of these attraction at one time or other? We have come to reduce attraction to sexuality and therefore the questions can be reduced to how do I classify myself in terms of one or other "sexual orientation". This way of dealing with sexuality is very much tied to a very materialist Western culture which thinks of people primarily in terms of their physical bodies and therefore tying gender (and sexuality) and physical sex very tightly together. Cultures have developed a variety of ways of dealing with gender and sexuality over our collective history and therefore present useful perspectives for reasoning this out. I also think it is important to respect another adult's right to what they do with their body where they are not infringing on someone else's right. In the context of that mutual respect I am not sure how much it matters whether people are "born" gay or whether they choose it.