MadSci Network: Genetics
Query:

Re: Information on how being gay is a genetic disorder.ANYTHING YOU HAVE!

Area: Genetics
Posted By: Rolf Marteijn, Grad Student, dept of Foodscience -> Bioprocesengineering and dept. of Virology, Wageningen Agricultural University
Date: Mon Apr 28 21:23:28 1997
Area of science: Genetics
ID: 860685738.Ge
Message:

Hi Emily,

In my opinion homosexuallity is not a genetic disorder. I also don't think it is something like an addiction which can be cured, as it is in my opinion not a disease.

I did find some references while searching MEDLINE with homosexual and genetic as keywords, and I'll quote them here. There may have been some other publications in 'obscure' magazines or in more general interest magazines.

There also exists a scientific magazine Journal of Homosexuality.

Regards,
Rolf


Ann Acad Med Singapore 24 (5): 759-762 (1995)

Present controversies in the genetics of male homosexuality.
Lim LC, Department of Psychological, Medicine National University Hospital, Singapore.

Homosexuality refers to exclusive or predominant sexual attractions for persons of the same sex with or without physical relationship. In 1993, researchers in America identified the region of the X chromosome related to sexual orientation in homosexual men. However, molecular research of homosexuality does present particular problems because of the intense stigmatization some societies accord to these individuals. This paper presents the evidence of a genetic contribution, evaluates the complexity of sexual behaviour, and discusses the implications and challenges ahead if indeed a "gay gene" exists. It is apparent that scientific discoveries do not resolve moral dilemmas. The author believes that it is through debates and discussions that some ethical code can be, and should be formulated to prevent possible abuses.

Behav Genet 25 (5): 407-420 (1995)
Development and familiality of sexual orientation in females.
Pattatucci AM, Hamer DH , Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

The development and familial clustering of sexual orientation were studied in 358 heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual women. Sexual orientation, as measured by the Kinsey scales, was diverse yet showed statistical congruity and stability over a 1- to 1.5-year time span. Developmental patterns, as measured by retrospective reports on the ages of first sexual or romantic attraction and of self-acknowledgement of sexual orientation were very similar in the heterosexual and lesbian subjects except for the difference in object choice. The bisexual subjects displayed intermediate patterns that were more similar to the heterosexuals' on most facets yet closer to the lesbian subjects' on other dimensions. Familial clustering of nonheterosexual orientation was significant. Using two criteria, elevated rates of nonheterosexuality were found in four classes of relatives: sisters, daughters, nieces, and female cousins through a paternal uncle. The current data are not sufficient to distinguish between genetic and shared environmental sources of this familial aggregation. We discuss the possibility of using developmental criteria to differentiate between inherited and cultural sources of variation in female sexual orientation.

Am J Psychoanal 55 (2): 103-120 (1995)
Evolutions of an orientation concerning the nature of the male homosexualities.
Wood EC, Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute, TX, USA.

None of the adults I have treated have had major disturbances in their sexual identity except for the selection of the sex of the person with whom they express their sexual feelings. Only one lives out a role that is ambisexual. All the men I have seen have been able to relate sexually to women with varying degrees of comfort. Six have had sexual intercourse with women and can function physiologically but without a sense of closeness or satisfaction, and five have been able to achieve climax. Some decided not to stay in their marriages, divorced, and adopted an overtly homosexual lifestyle. Some felt increasing ability to relate to women and decided to marry. Still others resolved current conflicts with their gay partners and felt no need for further therapy. All but one were actively employed and functioning well by external observation in demanding jobs requiring postgraduate college education. In terms of the detailed analytic work, there were no sets of insights that resulted in a major sexual partner reorientation. Those who decided to marry did so when they felt more able to resolve their narcissistic needs and make a relationship with a caring tolerant woman. They maintained their homosexual fantasies though the fantasies were more acceptable and less disruptive. It was not always the partner's penis that determined the sexual interest of these men. More often, it was the contour of the male body, the firmness of the musculature, the masculine bodily movements, the very identity and role of the father in the family. I did not see these foci of interest only as displacements from the genitals but rather as primary erotogenic stimuli. It is the seeking of a narcissistic object, the self in the other. This very orientation may be the innate variable. This position is spelled out in some detail by Leavy (1985). To varying degrees, the families of all these men were experienced as being composed of vigorous, active, articulate, determined, aspiring mothers and rather quiet, removed, passive fathers. The reported presence of this general pattern is impressive though the prominence of these characteristics differed from family to family. I have not postulated that these parental-child relations are causative in the boy's development of a homosexual life. However, they may be crucial if the genetic and/or constitutional factors discussed above are also present.

Arch Sex Behav 24 (2): 109-134 (1995)
Homosexuality, type 1: an Xq28 phenomenon.

Turner WJ, Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA.

Despite the absence of phenotypic manifestations in alternating generations characteristic of X-linked disorders, a thesis is presented that a major type of Kinsey grades 5 and 6 male homosexuality is determined by a gene in the Xq28 region. A total of 133 families in 78 kinshps of male and female homosexual probands, in addition to 116 families (including those of 40 famous homosexuals) from the literature, revealed an unbalanced secondary sex ratio in the maternal generation of male, but not of female, homosexuals. On the maternal side, in this study, the ratio of all uncles to all aunts of 90 males homosexuals was 132/209, chi 2 = 8.52, p = 0.004. On the maternal side for the total of all sources, the ratio of uncles to aunts of male homosexuals was 241/367, chi 2 = 13.20; p < 0.0001. The male/female ratio of the total number of maternal sibships bearing homosexuals (310/628: 0.491) was a measure of fetal wastage of the mothers' male sibs; 49%. This ratio was very close to that of the total number of children born to fathers affected with any one of nine Xq28-linked male semilethal conditions (255/508: ratio 0.556); for the difference between the two populations chi 2 = 0.859, p = 0.354. The male/female ratio of the total number of children born to female carriers of any one of these same conditions (1,232/1,062: ratio 1.16), chi 2 = 13.8 p < or = 0.0001, is close to that of the total number of children in homosexual sibships: 511/413, chi 2 = 10.4, p = 0.005. Between the number of children born to Xq28 mothers and to those born of mothers of homosexuals chi 2 = 0.581, p = 0.446. One may readily surmise that the maternal influence so often related to homosexuality may lie in the mother being a genetic carrier, with traits thereto associated. In this study, 65% of the mothers of homosexuals had no or only one live-born brother. Additional support for a genetic hypothesis is found in the occurrence of multiple instances--almost exclusively among maternal relatives--of infertility, spontaneous abortions, miscarriages, stillbirths, remaining single past age 30, and suicide. Of 109 male and 43 female homosexual index cases in the present series there were 6 instances of brother/sister homosexual sibships.


Current Queue | Current Queue for Genetics | Genetics archives

Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Genetics.



MadSci Home | Information | Search | Random Knowledge Generator | MadSci Archives | Mad Library | MAD Labs | MAD FAQs | Ask a ? | Join Us! | Help Support MadSci


MadSci Network
© 1997, Washington University Medical School
webadmin@www.madsci.org