No Single 'Gay Gene' Contributes to Same-Sex Behaviour, Study Finds

There is a significant pro-gay slant to this article which
I attempt to temper with truth

'Effectively impossible' to predict sexual behaviour from one's genome, researcher says

The Associated Press 

Research published in the journal Science has identified five genetic variants not previously linked with gay or lesbian sexuality. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

The largest study of its kind found new evidence that genes contribute to same-sex sexual behaviour, but it echoes research that says there are no specific genes that make people gay.

The genome-wide research on DNA from nearly half a million U.S. and U.K. adults identified five genetic variants not previously linked with gay or lesbian sexuality. The variants were more common in people who reported ever having had a same-sex sexual partner. That includes people whose partners were exclusively of the same sex and those who mostly reported heterosexual behaviour.

None cause the behaviour; it cannot be predicted

The researchers said thousands more genetic variants likely are involved and interact with factors that aren't inherited, but that none of them cause the behaviour nor can predict whether someone will be gay.

The research "provides the clearest glimpse yet into the genetic underpinnings of same-sex sexual behaviour," said co-author Benjamin Neale, a psychiatric geneticist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass.

Genetics - less than half the story

"We also found that it's effectively impossible to predict an individual's sexual behaviour from their genome. Genetics is less than half of this story for sexual behaviour but it's still a very important contributing factor," Neale said.

The study was released Thursday by the journal Science. Results are based on genetic testing and survey responses.

Some of the genetic variants found were present in both men and women. Two in men were located near genes involved in male-pattern baldness and sense of smell, raising intriguing questions about how regulation of sex hormones and smell may influence same-sex behaviour.

Importantly, most participants were asked about frequency of same-sex sexual behaviour but not if they self-identified as gay or lesbian. Fewer than five per cent of U.K. participants and about 19 per cent of U.S. participants reported ever having a same-sex sexual experience.

The researchers acknowledged that limitation and emphasized that the study's focus was on behaviour, not sexual identity or orientation. They also note that the study only involved people of European ancestry and can't answer whether similar results would be found in other groups.

Origins unknown

Origins of same-sex behaviour are uncertain. Some of the strongest evidence of a genetic link comes from studies in identical twins. Many scientists believe that social, cultural, family and other biological factors are also involved, while some religious groups and skeptics consider it a choice or behaviour that can be changed.

The father of sexual research in America, Alfred Kinsey, determined that 89% of gays could associate their behaviour, or preference, to specific events or environmental situations from their childhood. That was in the 1940s. The study was repeated in 1970 by the Kinsey Institute and found the same results.

Variants very weak

A Science commentary notes that the five identified variants had such a weak effect on behaviour that using the results "for prediction, intervention or a supposed 'cure' is wholly and unreservedly impossible."

"Future work should investigate how genetic predispositions are altered by environmental factors," University of Oxford sociologist Melinda Mills said in the commentary.

And, perhaps, how genes themselves are altered by environmental factors.

Other experts not involved in the study had varied reactions.

Dr. Kenneth Kendler a specialist in psychiatric genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University, called it "a very important paper that advances the study of the genetics of human sexual preference substantially. The results are broadly consistent with those obtained from the earlier technologies of twin and family studies suggesting that sexual orientation runs in families and is moderately heritable."

If that were so, then you would think that it would be moderately predictable, yet the study says, quite emphatically, that it is not.

Gay gene?

Former National Institutes of Health geneticist Dean Hamer said the study confirms "that sexuality is complex and there are a lot of genes involved," but it isn't really about gay people. "Having just a single same sex experience is completely different than actually being gay or lesbian," Hamer said. His research in the 1990s linked a marker on the X chromosome with male homosexuality. Some subsequent studies had similar results but the new one found no such link.

He didn't actually link them except in his mind. He stated he was on the verge of linking them and that was good enough for Science journal and mainstream media. He still hasn't found that link he was on the verge of finding in 1990.

This is the reason why homosexuality suddenly became quite acceptable in the early 1990s. Hamer's study, published as a cover story in the same Science journal, spread like lightening across the news media of the world and has never been brought into question by most in the 28 years since. 

The journal Science edition that published Hamer's study put the two words, "Gay Gene?" on the cover. The media appears to have not noticed the question mark, for they simply decided then that gays were born that way and there's nothing they can do about it. They never pursued Hamer to find out if the question mark had ever been removed. 

The very next year, Science published an article from an eminent geneticist, who, unlike Hamer, was not gay, in which he trashed Hamer's study as being completely false. Other geneticists agreed with him, but that made no difference to the news media who had heard what they wanted to hear.

Hamer, and other gay or pro-gay geneticists have been looking for a gay gene for more than 50 years. Hamer admits he has not found it, neither has anyone else.

May have little to do with homosexuality

Doug Vanderlaan, a University of Toronto psychologist who studies sexual orientation, said the absence of information on sexual orientation is a drawback and makes it unclear what the identified genetic links might signify. They "might be links to other traits, like openness to experience," Vanderlaan said.

In other words, the 5 weak variants may have almost nothing to do with sexual preference but rather reveal one's character traits which may make him more likely to act in a manner conducive to sexual experimentation.

The study was a collaboration among scientists including psychologists, sociologists and statisticians from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. They did entire human genome scanning, using blood samples from the U.K. Biobank and saliva samples from customers of the U.S.-based ancestry and biotech company 23andMe who had agreed to participate in research.

Fake science

There is a lot of garbage floating around the internet and 'science journals' on both sides of this issue. However, gay, or pro-gay researchers have a motive for finding a gay gene whether it is there or not. The journal Science, in Dec 2014 reported that 'one brief conversation with a gay rights canvasser could change someone's mind about same-sex marriage'. 

As unlikely as that theory seems, the writer had data to back it up. However, the UCLA grad's dissertation adviser questioned him on his data and eventually confirmed that there were no data; none. He made it all up. Meanwhile NYT, WaPo, and other media outlets ran with the story. The retraction didn't get nearly as much coverage as the fake news. 

Media bias

That I have had to insert a half-dozen comments in order to bring some truth and reality to this article is an example of the far-left bias in the media today. Anything that is pro-LGBTQ2S is quickly, and without careful examination, shuffled to the top of the pile. Any news that is fervently anti-Christian is good news in most mainstream media newsrooms.

Mainstream media is into social engineering, and our children are the animals it's experimenting on. Their willful blindness to the truth is confirmation of that. A Christian man once said, "Morality dictates theology"!