Homosexuals

[schoolsucks]

It just occured to me, if some scientists think that homosexuals get it genetically, then won't they all die off eventually? The bisexuals will be the only ones to live on won't they? Maybe the scientists are just wrong or something...

[FrameWork]

That's an odd question.

How can you be born homosexual anyway?

[MemorY]

My Biology teacher told me that they found a gene that will determine if you will be gay or not ...they can see that by the time you are born ..but i dont think it's geneticly, it all depends how you see things in life and what you learn about homosexuals ...like if your parents told you it's ok to be with a gay man ...than there's more chance you actually will try it...but if they tell you that it is forbiden and all your friends tell that gay people are bad or something ...you will probably not be homosexual ..thats just my opinion....

[ChrisWuk]

it must be generic, because y would any1 want to play with a mans rusty bullet hole anyway when there are so many fit girls out there !!

[Zonewalker]

I suppose I'd better clear this up (and yes I am qualified to comment on this before anyone asks) the current popular theory is that sexuality is determined by a number of factors e.g. social pressures, upbringing etc. But that there is a genetic component which sets your initial bias. So someone might be born with a tendancy to be homosexual but will not necessarily be homosexual if the social pressures etc are not there (note this is not saying that said person will not eventually 'turn' homosexual if they already have a tendancy). The converse of this applies too i.e. someone without the genetic tendancy to be homosexual coud grow up to be homosexual if the correct socio-psychological pressures are bought to bear during the persons infantile and juvenile stages. Clearly if a man has two sets of the 'gay' gene he is more likely to be homosexual rather than just show tendancies (if anyone is interested the gay gene is on a recessive allele) - this is called 'genetic penetrance' and determines how much the homosexual tendancy is displayed.

As for why the gene is still in the population... you are all assuming that a gay person will not have offspring and this is not necessarily true. How many times have you heard of a 40 year old man with a wife and two kids 'coming out of the closet'?? Clearly the fact that the homosexual man has a wife and two kids is mainly due to socialogical pressures in that the man has been told that being gay is a bad thing so he hides his natural tendancy (and note although I have my opinions on if being gay is a good or bad thing I shan't air them here - if you're gay that's your business not mine).

There is also a genetic advantage to having a small percentage of the male population with homosexual tendancies (note I say tendancies rather than full blown homesexuality i.e. such fathers are likely to only have one of the gay genes rather than two) - men with the tendancy to homsexuality tend to be more caring and attentive fathers and hence better able to bring up a stable family. I'm quite happy to discuss this further if anyone wishes to PM me.

Z

[proactive]

Originally posted here by Zonewalker
I'm quite happy to discuss this further if anyone wishes to PM me.

Why not discuss this out in the open? Don't bring it into the closet.

someone might be born with a tendancy to be homosexual but will not necessarily be homosexual if the social pressures etc are not there[...]Clearly if a man has two sets of the 'gay' gene he is more likely to be homosexual rather than just show tendancies

So what you're saying is 2 gay genes (very likely to be gay), 1 gay gene (likely), 0 gay genes (not likely, but some icidents anyway). But due to social factors, even with 2 gay genes - you might still not be gay.

I guess that psychological factors will have a have a huge impact on how people with 2 gay genes handle their situation. It certainly must be difficult for a gay person to suppress his/her feelings, for instance in a religious community where homosexuality is considered bad. I've heard about a few incidents where young people have commited suicide after realising they can't not be gay. Do you have any theories on why some people find it harder som change than others? And why some people, even if they tray, can't change?

[ChrisWuk]

Q. So if you had 2 gay genes sitting on a front door, which one would be gay?

A. The one on the knob !!!

[MrLinus]

**Thread closed due to offensiveness**