Science
vs
Belief
The search of the gay gene
Strip back homophobia to its core constituents, the
justification that homosexuality is wrong comes down to
one simple belief – that being gay is a choice. If being
gay was something you could be genetically tested
for, then all of a sudden homophobia would be left
clambering for other justifications for bigotry.
While finding a genetic basis for homosexuality
won’t rid the world of bigotry overnight,
the science behind homosexuality
is more than just looking for
interesting facts about
how we arrive at
our choice
of
partner. For many, it
is the difference between
whether sexuality is something
you can’t fight or change or whether
it is in fact just something which feels
very deeply ingrained, but is in fact a
lifestyle choice like any other.
As anybody who has ever come out
knows, the feeling of being gay or bisexual
is overwhelming. If you have come to the
decision that you are anything other than
straight, then you know that it comes from
deep within and while you may question it for
a long time, there is no easy way of fighting
it once you have reached the conclusion. As
Quentin Crisp once said, “homosexuality is like
the Hotel California – you can check out any
time you like, but you can never leave”.
However, there has always been a gap in
the science to back up this feeling of being
hardwired to be attracted to your own gender.
When the mapping of the human genome
was finally completed in 2003, many people
thought that the clues to homosexuality would
simply leap off the page, but they simply didn’t.
Research into the genetic causes of
homosexuality had been underway since the
late 80s
early 90s and the first
‘breakthrough’ came in
1993 when Dr Dean Hamer
published a paper detailing
how he had found something
in the genes of men which was
far more common in gay men - an
Xq28 marker on the x chromosome.
The results were initially greeted
as the discovery of a genetic reason
for homosexuality. However, Dr Hamer
himself said that his work did not prove there
was a single ‘gay gene’. It is not as simple as
saying if you have an Xq28 marker on the
x chromosome, you will always be gay and
without it, you aren’t. The interplay between
environment and genes is all important. And
even traits such as height and eye colour are
still not a single gene. For the general public,
Hamer’s work was largely dismissed once the
true meaning was revealed for the complex
issue it is. That is, with the exception of
conservative organisations such as Focus on the
Family who used the ‘unknowns’ in Hamer’s
work to try to prove being gay is not genetic.
The issue of a single gay gene faded away.
But lately, the subject has crept back into the
headlines. Dr Turk Ngun of the University of
California recently revealed the results of a
study in which he claims he and his team can
predict the sexuality of a male with a 70%
success rate, just by looking at their genes.
Using identical twins, his team identified
9 parts of the genetic code which are more
common in gay men (so far, there has not been
a similar finding for lesbians).
But does this show a genetic basis for
homosexuality? Sadly, again, it is not that clear
cut. The study included many identical twins,
who share the same genetic code but who had
different sexual orientations, which led the
research to conclude the differences noticed
were caused by something in the environment
immediately after birth or during childhood.
The more we learn about the genetics of being
gay, the more complex the picture becomes.
While there may be genes more common to
gay men, the field of science is keen to point
out that there are few things in a person’s life
that are purely a product of genetics. Instead,
a complex interplay between the environment
and a person’s life experiences come together to
create certain traits.
Does it matter that we could never find a
single cause for homosexuality? In many ways,
it no longer matters. While the conservative
right wing still justify their stance by saying
homosexuality is a choice, the gay rights
movement is uninterested in the cause of
homosexuality. Instead the focus is, and will
always remain, the fight for the basic human
right to love another human of the same
gender, whether that is based on genetics, the
environment or a choice. A belief in human
rights has proved to be stronger than the
belief that science will one day play its part in
explaining and justifying homosexuality.
WINTER 2015
16
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