Born Gay?
Gay Gene Discussion
By Frolic Tan Lopez

NURTURE, NATURE

Eventually, the scientific assertions of the gay gene came under scrutiny.  Mainly, Hamer, according to the Scientific American (SA), was said to have been put under investigation by the Federal Office of Research Integrity,” which was basically a result of his excluding “pairs of brothers whose genetic makeup contradicted his finding.”

SERIOUS DISCUSSION. If scientists are so keen to study the homosexual's difference from heterosexuals, they may want to consider usingheteroseals for samples - there are more supplies of heterosexuals, after all.

In what appeared to be a retraction, Science published a study by George Ebers and George Rice in 1995, which indicated that, even if they agreed that homosexuality may be inherited, “there is no reason to focus linkage studies on the X chromosome,” and that there is “no evidence that gayness is passed from mother to son.” 

In fact, the authors said, “the gay brothers looked at by the Hamer group were no more likely to share the Xq28 markers than would be expected by chance.”

Meanwhile, LeVay’s findings, adds SA, “have yet to be fully replicated by another researcher.”  It actually was somewhat negated by post-mortem analysis of even more brains by Dr. Bill Byne, a neuroanatomist and psychiatrist on the faculty at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle (SFC).

The truth of the matter is, “genes can't possibly explain all of what makes us what we are," Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics, said, also in the SFC.

Thus, genetic action is now more considered as "multi-factorial," meaning, traits emerge from the “concerted action of multiple genes.”

Various experts agree on this one, at least.

Said Dr. Jonathan Beckwith of the department of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School: The bottom line is that behaviors and mental illnesses have "much more complex (causes) than researchers had imagined," Beckwith concludes. "There are probably numerous genes in each individual that play a role."

Added neuroscientist Dennis McFadden of the University of Texas: “Any human behavior is going to be the result of complex intermingling of genetics and environment.  It would be astonishing if it were not true for homosexuality.”

And elaborated sociologist Steven Goldberg: "I know of no one in the field who argues that homosexuality can be explained without reference to environmental factors."

GAY MAKE UP

In The Gay Gene? (leaderu.com), Jeffrey Satinover, MD, author of Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth (Baker Books, 1996), quoted Science itself, which stated that “...the growing understanding that the interaction of genes and environment is much more complicated than the simple ‘violence genes’ and ‘intelligence genes’ touted in the popular press.  Indeed, renewed appreciation of environmental factors is one of the chief effects of the increased belief in genetics' effects on behavior. The same data that show the effects of genes also point to the enormous influence of non-genetic factors.”“Complex behavioral traits are the product of multiple genetic and environmental antecedents, with 'environment' meaning not only the social environment but also such factors as the influx of hormones during development, whether you were lying on your right or left side in the womb, and a whole parade of other things.  The relationships among genes and environment probably have a somewhat different effect on someone in Salt Lake City than if that person were growing up in New York City,” the magazine added.

Thus, said Satinover, “English translation: You're more likely to become gay growing up in Manhattan than in Utah among Mormons and Christian fundamentalists, even if everything else is the same, including genes."

For Satinover, discussing the gay gene means, simplistically, focusing on the major principle that just because homosexuality is heritable does not mean it is inherited.  “Heritability studies can be done on almost any human trait – physical, behavioral, emotional, et cetera – and will show positive results.  That is, almost every human characteristic you can think of is in significant measure heritable.   But few human behavioral traits are directly inherited the way simple physiological traits are (e.g. eye color).  Inherited means ‘determined directly by genes,’ with little or no way of changing the trait by choice, or by preventing it, or by modifying the environment in which the trait has emerged (or is more likely to emerge),” Satinover said.

Simplifying the discussion, for him, means acknowledging that, yes, “homosexuality (is significantly) heritable.”  But, “no, it is not (inherited),” he says, stressing that while homosexuality does run in the family, “and you can get it from your parents, you get viruses from your parents, too, and some bad habits. Not everything that is familial is innate or genetic.”

As for the Cebuano Dioso, turning serious, he admits not knowing “kung ingon ni ani ba ko niatong gi-anak ko (if I was born gay).  I do remember, however, growing up like a girl, helping my mother do household chores, and never my father in (tending the farm) – though ambot lang kung naa kaha na epekto sa akoang pagkabayot karon (I’m not sure if that had an effect, too, to my turning out gay).”

On one thing Dioso is certain of, though.  “Kung gi-anak ba ko, o ni-dako ra nga bayot, ambot ra.  Basta na-bayot ra man gihapon.  Mao na (Whether I was born gay, or I developed into one, I don’t know for sure.  I turned out gay all the same.  And that is that).”

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