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| A DNA testing kit; part of the research was compiled by volunteers who had signed up through commercial DNA testing company 23andMe |
Like size or intelligence, sexual attraction isn't defined by one gene alone, but is instead the result of the complex interplay between multiple regions of the genome and hard to pin environmental factors.
That's the
conclusion of an analysis conducted on half a million DNA profiles as part of a
giant study by researchers in Europe and the United States published in the
influential journal Science on Thursday.
Its authors
hope to bury the notion, popularized in the 1990s, of the existence of an all
powerful "gay gene" that determines sexuality in the way eye color is
defined.
"We...
found that it's effectively impossible to predict an individual's sexual
behavior from their genome," said Ben Neale, a member of MIT and Harvard's
Broad Institute, one of several organizations involved in the work.
Sexual
orientation does have a genetic component, say the researchers, confirming
previous smaller studies, notably on twins.
But the
effect is mediated by a myriad of genes. "There is no single gay gene but
rather the contribution of many small genetic effects scattered across the
genome," said Neale.
Added to
this are environmental factors: how a person is raised in childhood, where they
live as an adult etc.
Take for
example height: the genetic component is indisputable and linked to how tall
your parents are or were. But other factors like nutrition during childhood
play an important part.
The same is
true for how likely you are to have a heart attack. Certain genes lead to a
predisposition toward cardiac disease, but lifestyle and diet are ultimately
more significant.
The new
statistical analysis revealed five points in our chromosomes, called loci,
which appear closely linked to sexuality, though each individually has a
"very small" influence.
It also
turns out that one of these markers is associated with hair loss, which
suggests a link with the regulation of sexual hormones.
It's believed
that these five markers could be just the beginning, with thousands more
awaiting discovery in future.
Fah
Sathirapongsasuti, a scientist from the company 23andMe which contributed to
the study with the profiles of customers who had volunteered to participate,
added: "Genetics definitely play a part, but nonetheless, it is possibly a
minority part -- and there is an unexplained environmental effect that one can
never put a finger on exactly."
The bulk of
the data came however from the UK Biobank, mainly white people, among
individuals responding to the question: have you had sexual relations with a
person of the same sex?
Controversy
The authors
were aware of the sensitivity surrounding the subject, with two of the
co-authors mentioning that they themselves were gay.
Eager to
avoid being misinterpreted, they also consulted with LGBTQ groups on the best
way to communicate their findings, which they have summarized on a website
geneticsexbehavior.info.
The LGBTQ
advocacy group GLAAD praised the work, saying it "provides even more
evidence that that being gay or lesbian is a natural part of human life."
Back in
1993, a genetic study on 40 families claimed to have identified the Xq28 gene
as defining sexual orientation, but the new analysis refutes this.
A figure
produced by the study is likely to cause confusion: the scientists wrote:
"When we analyze all common genetic markers together, they capture between
8 and 25% of the individual differences in same-sex sexual behavior."
But that
figure is a statistical concept used by scientists when studying populations,
and does not apply at an individual level.
The result
also challenges the notion of sexuality as a continuum, as proposed by the
Kinsey Scale that describes a person's attraction on a scale from exclusively
heterosexual to exclusively homosexual.
"The
genetics suggest that it is an oversimplification to assume that the more
someone is attracted to the same sex, the less they are attracted to the
opposite sex," the authors wrote.
Related Articles:
Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?
Answer: [From the Kryon Office]
There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]
An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306
Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.
Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."
Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!
The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.
Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?
If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?
"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
“… Gender Switching
Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."
It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”
It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”
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