Is There Any Such Thing As a Gay Gene?

Hey Andy, is there such a thing as a gay gene?

---

Hi, wow, big question! Is there such a thing as a “Gay Gene”? Actually, regardless to how many people want there to be one, to this day, there is still no evidence of there being a “gay gene”, nor any evidence that even suggests homosexuality is linked to genes. But let’s go more into this, since a large group of people with whom I’ve talked about this had heard from places, like NPR for instance, talk about it, which of course means it must be true, right?

On July 15, 1993, NPR broadcasted that somebody had discovered a gene that causes homosexuality. And just like news on social media today, many other channels picked it up and ran with it, without looking into the facts. So the very next day, the Wall Street Journal reported “Research points to Gay Gene”, as well as The New York Times, printing, “Report Suggests Homosexuality is linked to Genes.”

Where Did the News of a Gay Gene Originate?

The original report came from a 7 page article in the Journal of Science by D.H. Hamer, entitled, “A Linkage Between DNA markers on the X-Chromosome and Male Sexual Orientation.” However, 4 months later, Genetics researchers from Yale, Columbia, and Louisiana State Universities all decided to test the study. Also, at that time, a review of 135 research studies appeared in the Archives of General Psychiatry, and all coming to the same conclusion: there is no biological evidence to support the possibility of there being a gene that leads to homosexuality, or a “gay gene”.

What Is the Cause of Homosexuality (According to Science)?

According to all those studies, the cause of homosexuality was actually found to have been caused by environmental conditioning – how the person was brought up. For instance, the tests all showed that there is a higher chance of a person becoming gay if their mother was close-binding or over protective, and/or if their father was distant (emotionally or physically) or non-affirming. There’s also that possibility if they were sexually molested or assaulted in their younger years (which is interesting because, according to the research findings on the Netflix show, “Mind Hunters” – a show based on factual events of the formation of the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit – such are also characteristics of those who might become serial killers. Now, I’m not even suggesting that being gay and being a serial killer are the same, just that science has shown that the possible cause of each, is).

There’s also the question as to whether or not boys born with the XXY Karyotype (2 female chromosomes, 1 male chromosome) are genetically gay, or if XXY is the gene that causes homosexuality. The simple scientific answer is, “no”. In fact, there’s no evidence (at all – scientifically or statistically) that even suggests XXY males are any more inclined toward becoming homosexuals than are other men with the normal XY Karyotype. Now, this doesn’t mean that males with different varieties of karyotypes aren’t, or can’t become, gay, it just means that if they do, the reason is not biological.

What Other Variants of Studies Were Done in Search of a “Gay Gene”?

Another wide variety of studies were done in the attempt of finding a biological basis for homosexuality, or a “gay gene”:

• Reports of relationships between homosexuality and abnormal chromosomes
• The size of the hypothalamus (a part of the brain)
• The size of the spleen
• Hormone levels
• Finger length
• Left-handedness (left-handedness? Really?)
• Dyslexia
• Stuttering
• Identical twin studies

Yet, each and every one of these studies failed to replicate Hamer’s findings.

And in some cases, further studies even produced opposite findings. For example, further hormonal studies showed no link between hormonal levels and homosexuality.

So, sexual orientation and hormone treatments do not influence somebody’s sexual orientation.

As a result, Hamer and his research team retracted their conclusions 2 years later because they could neither confirm, nor replicate, the original report.

(Interesting how NPR failed to report this part of the story).

Sources and Links

For more information on studies for the gay gene (a theoretic gene that causes homosexuality), check these resources:

• Belleville, Linda L., “Sex, Lies, and the Truth”, 61-71.
• How Do Genes Affect Same-Sex Behavior (ScienceMag.org, Aug. 30, 2019)
• Risch et al., “Male Sexual Orientation,” 2063-65.
• Byne and Parsons, “Human Sexual Orientation,” 228-39.
• Turner, “Homosexuality, Type 1,” 109-34.
• LeVay, “Difference in Hypothalamic Structure,” 1034-37.
• Swaab et al., “Gender and Sexual Orientation,” 51-61.
• Hamer et al., “Linkage between Sexual Orientation,” 248-56.
• Crewdson, “Study Challenged,” A10-11.