“Nobody is born gay” Exploring Sexuality and Heteronormativity

“There is no ‘gay gene.’ There is no ‘straight gene.’ Sexuality is just complex, study confirms”

-

-

“There is no single gene responsible for a person being gay or a lesbian.

That's the first thing you need to know about the largest genetic investigation of sexuality ever, which was published Thursday in Science. The study of nearly a half million people closes the door on the debate around the existence of a so-called "gay gene."

In its stead, the report finds that human DNA cannot predict who is gay or heterosexual. Sexuality cannot be pinned down by biology, psychology or life experiences, this study and others show, because human sexual attraction is decided by all these factors.

"This is not a first study exploring the genetics of same-sex behavior, but the previous studies were small and underpowered," Andrea Ganna, the study's co-author and genetics research fellow at the Broad Institute and Mass General Hospital, said in a press briefing on Wednesday. "Just to give you a sense of the scale of [our] data, this is approximately 100 times bigger than any previous study on this topic."”