The gay gene doesn't exist, the largest study in history has found. Can the "emergence" of homosexuality affect society?
Where it came from, it came from...
The origins of homosexuality have long been of interest to scientists. Leaving aside the bizarre research and opinions that homosexuality spreads, for example, through anal intercourse, the possible existence of a so-called gay gene, i.e. a gene that would condition homosexuality in humans, has also been widely discussed. However, current research carried out in Britain among nearly half a million people has rubbished this thesis. After a detailed analysis of the DNA as well as the sexual experiences of all the participants involved, it is clear that there are countless genetic variations that occur in relation to same-sex attraction, none of which are in any way dominant or determining. However, the researchers also suggest that homosexuality may also be related to some extent to social and environmental factors.
Gay gene?
The idea that there might be a singular gay gene first appeared in 1993, after an experiment that was not replicated (and the result is, of course, questionable). The results of earlier research focusing on the gay gene were similarly inconclusive, as no clear patterns among the captured genetic variants were shown to meaningfully influence an individual's sexual behaviour.
"We looked at the entire human genome and found a few - five, to be precise - sites that are associated with whether a person reports sexual attraction to the same sex," said Andrea Ganna, one of the scientists involved in the research, conducted under the auspices of the Finnish Institute of Molecular Medicine. However, according to the press release, these particular "sites" have very little effect and still explain practically less than 1% of all cases of same-sex sexual behaviour. However, it is now quite clear that genetics alone cannot be a predictor of one's sexual orientation/identity
Homosexuality as a "trend"?
Already, in line with the fact that researchers have to some extent suggested that homosexuality cannot be thought of as conditioned by a single gene and at the same time can also be seen as influenced by environmental factors, there have also been calls for the study not to be published at all. Nevertheless, human rights organisation GLAAD, for example, has stated that the results are beneficial for the LGBT community as they show that it is not possible to identify the influences that affect homosexuality in any concrete way.
In addition to the lack of a gay gene, the researchers then summarized other significant trends that emerged in the sample involved - including, for example, that younger participants in particular were more likely than the older population to report same-sex sexual experiences. This in turn is most likely also related to the higher social acceptability of homosexuality per se. Benjamin Neale, the lead researcher, then summed up the entire research by saying that the study showed him. "that diversity is a natural part of our experience and a natural part of what can be observed in genetics."
