Does the Gay Gene Exist?

Name : Amy Johnson

THE BIO-PYSCHOLOGY TIMES.

Does A Gay Gene Exist?

If future research suggests that certain genetic influences on sexual orientation, and given its complicated nature, it seems very unlikely that just one single gene can account for homosexuality. Sexuality is more than likely determined by thousands of genes and plenty of environmental factors that affect brain development in the uterus stage as well as after birth. The factors which determine what sexuality you are probably at least as complex as the ones which decide how intelligent you are.

Homosexuality has been around for thousands of years. Homosexuality is defined as sexual relations between the same gender e.g. two females or two males. Throughout scientific research and within scientific journals, psychologists, particularly Sigmund Freud have suggested that parental relationships with children determine the child’s sexual orientation. However, nature aspects were soon considered, and the so called nature-nurture debate became apparent. Researcher’s questioned whether behaviours such as schizophrenia, alcoholism or being homosexual could be explained by genetics. Are they learned? Or are they simply already there?

Scientists suggested that the answer to this would be found in the chromosomes which were analyzed in the Human Genome Project.

Before Mendel scientist’s believed that inheritance was a blending process in which properties of the egg and the sperm mixed together.

Mendel (1822-1884) studied inheritance in pea plants. He demonstrated that inheritance occurs through genes. He chose to study dichotomous traits, these are traits which occur in one form or the other, never in combination, and chose to begin his experiments by crossing the offspring of true-breeding lines. True breeding lines are breeding lines in which interbred members always produce offspring with the same trait. He cross bred the offspring of a line of pea plants that had bred true for...