The Student Room Group

If being gay is not a choice, is it therefore genetic?

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Original post by Arieisit I
Lol me? I go to Cambridge.... and you're obviously lying. You might be the top of your class if you went to "special" school for the mentally retarded.
Why are you labeling me as psychopath? Are you just remembering random words and repeating it?

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Haha your funny. I dont care were you go to school you live in the UK i live in the U.S. schools are different. Remeber who your talkin to im still 16.

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Original post by Arieisit I
You're ***

Just correcting your grammar.

Oh, the US is ****. You'll never get into a top US school lmao. Who are you kidding. You'd be lucky to get into London Met. Fool.

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What is a scholarship

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Original post by Arieisit I
Am I google? I'm not answering your questions for you dim wit.

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Ok then i will tell you i have a scholarship to one of the top engineering schools in the country so are you really going to sit there and tell me i won't get into a top sxhool when i have already been granted to one

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Original post by NathanAllen
Ok then i will tell you i have a scholarship to one of the top engineering schools in the country so are you really going to sit there and tell me i won't get into a top sxhool when i have already been granted to one



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Pal jusy stop bothering with him. Report him, he'll be band in a few hours. Ignore him, he's a total waste. You know who you are and what you're capable and he knows nothing about you - leave him to embarrass himself.
I have been in my hole i have been there to long and it is time to shine and be myself without any restraints. Are you Lt by any chance

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Original post by lllllllllll
I would recommend looking at studies comparing sexualities of identical twins with non-identical twins for this. If identical twins have a higher homosexuality rate than homosexual non-identical twins then it's probably genetic.


I'd say the rate of homosexuality among homosexual non-identical twins is probably quite high.
Original post by EverybodyHz

This leads me on to my next point which is that if homosexuality is indeed completely genetic, then it would be impossible for mammals to reproduce and therefore such traits would have become extinct. The very existence of homosexuality proves that it cannot be genetic.


As I've posted plenty of times before, there are models of genetic homosexuality that allow it to be selected for. Imagine, for example, an allele that causes its carriers to be more fertile when they inherit one copy of it, but homosexual when they inherit two copies. Such a gene would spread through the population because the fertility it would cause would outweigh making the occasional homosexual.
Original post by EverybodyHz


This leads me on to my next point which is that if homosexuality is indeed completely genetic, then it would be impossible for mammals to reproduce and therefore such traits would have become extinct. The very existence of homosexuality proves that it cannot be genetic.


That isn't how genetics works. If homosexuality is caused by a number of genes, these can be switched on and off depending on the combining of DNA for a child.

e.g. let's say you need 3 genes to activate homosexuality. The first is dominant ON, the second is dominant OFF, the third is 50/50 chance that ON is dominant.

Hetero father as ON/ON/OFF and hetero mother has OFF/ON/ON

Child has ON/ON/ON = gay. Let's say their other child has ON/ON/OFF (not gay).

ON/ON/OFF continues the family line carrying a higher than usual genetic chance of having gay child.


* Obviously this is speculative and there may be 1 or 1000 genes that determine it, but hopefully you get my point?
Original post by anosmianAcrimony
As I've posted plenty of times before, there are models of genetic homosexuality that allow it to be selected for. Imagine, for example, an allele that causes its carriers to be more fertile when they inherit one copy of it, but homosexual when they inherit two copies. Such a gene would spread through the population because the fertility it would cause would outweigh making the occasional homosexual.


That's quite clever.
Original post by paul514
If being gay was genetic then the trait would have died out its a choice.


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how does somebody choose to be gay? do they suddenly wake up one morning and think "I want a cock in my ass"? how would a person even begin to have that preference if they were heterosexual to begin with? how do you choose to alter your sexuality?
Original post by zippity.doodah
how does somebody choose to be gay? do they suddenly wake up one morning and think "I want a cock in my ass"? how would a person even begin to have that preference if they were heterosexual to begin with? how do you choose to alter your sexuality?


How do people choose to be unambiguous? Ignorant? Anxious? And so on it is a mix of behavioural and cognitive factors


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Original post by zippity.doodah
how does somebody choose to be gay? do they suddenly wake up one morning and think "I want a cock in my ass"? how would a person even begin to have that preference if they were heterosexual to begin with? how do you choose to alter your sexuality?


I think a better question is, in the world we live in, why would anyone choose to be gay?
Original post by EverybodyHz
Sexual desire, and all human desire is governed by hormones. You may be genetically predisposed to generate certain hormones at a certain time in your life which leads to a sequence of evens which makes you more likely to be gay. But nothing is set in stone like that.

The guy who counter-claims homosexuality is unnatural would probably be interested in reading the various documented cases of observable homosexual behaviour in other mammals.

This leads me on to my next point which is that if homosexuality is indeed completely genetic, then it would be impossible for mammals to reproduce and therefore such traits would have become extinct. The very existence of homosexuality proves that it cannot be genetic.


There is evidence to suggest that a woman carrying the potential gene for homosexuality makes her more fertile therefore the gene has a necessary use and populations require its presence to support themselves.
Original post by paul514
How do people choose to be unambiguous? Ignorant? Anxious? And so on it is a mix of behavioural and cognitive factors


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"ignorance" you can help by educating oneself, surely?
Original post by Comeback
That's quite clever.


Thanks. I forget who came up with it, but it probably wasn't me.
Original post by Anonymous
So, based on that fact, could sexuality be genetic. Is someone more likely to be gay if someone in their family was/is gay too?


Yes, actually. It's more likely that you'd be gay if it runs in the family.

But that it being natural or not a choice itself does not mean it is necessarily genetic. Catching a cold is not genetic, but it's not a choice.

Original post by Anonymous
Some twins like Jedward for example are both gay, so surely that must mean that sexuality is genetic right?


It could just be a coincidence, you need to look at a bigger sample size.

Original post by Anonymous
i cant help but think if being gay was "natural" then why dont we have the organs to accommodate.

why cant men give birth?

as far as genetics are concerned..no


So barren people are 'unnatural'?
Original post by TurboCretin
I'd say the rate of homosexuality among homosexual non-identical twins is probably quite high.


According to Bailey and Pillard it's 22% among fraternal male twins and 52% among male identical twins. So I think some genes are involved however the parents of the twins are probably heterosexual so I guess homosexuality caused by genetic factors may be due to mutations and/or independent assortment.

22% is also very high since the UK only has a 2.5% homosexuality rate among non-fraternal twins according to the Office of National Statistics. So my best explanation for this phenomenon is probably going to be something to do with placental development or experiences during early childhood from ages 0-5.

I think homosexuality is linked with both environmental and genetic factors however I'm not sure to what extent both are involved.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by lllllllllll
According to Bailey and Pillard it's 22% among fraternal male twins and 52% among male identical twins. So I think some genes are involved however the parents of the twins are probably heterosexual so I guess homosexuality caused by genetic factors may be due to mutations and/or independent assortment.




If it's genetic then some of the genes have to have come from the parents.

Cystic Fibrosis, taking my example from before, doesn't just show up ... the gene is inherited. If you're unlucky enough to have double recessive alleles, you'll get CF.

I think homosexuality is inherited, but it all depends on what alleles the parents have.
Original post by Anonymous
If it's genetic then some of the genes have to have come from the parents.

Cystic Fibrosis, taking my example from before, doesn't just show up ... the gene is inherited. If you're unlucky enough to have double recessive alleles, you'll get CF.

I think homosexuality is inherited, but it all depends on what alleles the parents have.


Good point, I completely forgot about alleles.

I think like pretty much everything in biology, the answer is probably somewhere inbetween two different causes.

Have you heard of epigenetics? It's very interesting and I'm sure you will also find it very interesting. I think epigenetics may play a significant role in development of homosexuality.
youre all talking about being gay and it running in the family..


how the **** can 2 gay men have kids.. a genetic line cannot be passed on.. its a dead end, unless you have a surrogate but again.. THATS NOT NATURAL

we were not made this way, we will not survive this way.

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