The study of nearly half a million people, funded by the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, found differences in the genetic details of same-sex behavior in men and women. This is part of our species and it’s part of who we are.” “It’s written into our genes and it’s part of our environment. and Harvard and one of the lead researchers on the international team.
“I hope that the science can be used to educate people a little bit more about how natural and normal same-sex behavior is,” said Benjamin Neale, a geneticist at the Broad Institute of M.I.T. The influence comes not from one gene but many, each with a tiny effect - and the rest of the explanation includes social or environmental factors - making it impossible to use genes to predict someone’s sexuality. How do genes influence our sexuality? The question has long been fraught with controversy.Īn ambitious new study - the largest ever to analyze the genetics of same-sex sexual behavior - found that genetics does play a role, responsible for perhaps a third of the influence on whether someone has same-sex sex.
