Food For thought on the subject

Theories about what determines sexual orientation range from hypothisies pointing at genetic or biological factors as others say environmental factors are the cause and many say it is established at a very early age.

I've heard psycologists say that sexual orientation doesn't/can't change and studies have indicated that attempts to change one's sexual orientation are usually unsuccessful and often lead to increased depression and suicide.


3-10% of the population classify themselves as lesbian or gay and they are in all cultures, classes, and are not always destinguishable from hetrosexuals. Some are swinger types as others are commited partners. They work in all occupations.

In 1973 the following resolution was passed by The American Psychiatric Association, Board of Trustees: "Homosexuality, per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities. Further, (we) urge all mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness associated with homosexual orientation."

In many societies, homosexuality is considered quite normal. This was the case in Ancient Greece and Rome (both during their rises and declines in power), in many Native American cultures (where lesbians and gay men are influential tribal and religious leaders), and many present-day societies such as The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Thailand.

Some chromosome linkage studies have proven controversial because test results were contradictory or indesisive. Epigenetics studies are something I think may have some truth in them however. Bocklandt et al. (2006) reported that, in mothers of homosexual men, the number of women with extreme skewing of X chromosome inactivation is significantly higher than in mothers without gay sons. Thirteen percent of mothers with one gay son, and 23% of mothers with two gay sons showed extreme skewing, compared to 4% percent of mothers without gay sons. One problem in building consensus using this type of study stems from their heavy reliance on participants truthfully reporting their sexual orientation. I personaly think that no matter the problem with this study, there is significant evidence to say that this could be something fairly important to pay attention to.

Blanchard and Klassen (1997) reported that each older brother increases the odds of being gay by 33%. To explain this finding, it has been proposed that male fetuses provoke a maternal immune reaction that becomes stronger with each successive male fetus. Male fetuses produce HY antigens which are "almost certainly involved in the sexual differentiation of vertebrates." It is this antigen which maternal H-Y antibodies are proposed to both react to and 'remember'. Successive male fetuses are then attacked by H-Y antibodies which somehow decrease the ability of H-Y antigens to perform their usual function in brain masculinisation.

Female fertility

In 2004, Italian researchers conducted a study of about 4,600 people who were the relatives of 98 homosexual and 100 heterosexual men. Female relatives of the homosexual men tended to have more offspring than those of the heterosexual men. Female relatives of the homosexual men on their mother's side tended to have more offspring than those on the father's side. The researchers concluded that there was genetic material being passed down on the X chromosome which both promotes fertility in the mother and homosexuality in her male offspring. The connections discovered, however, would explain only 20% of the cases studied, indicating that this might not be the sole genetic factor determining sexual orientation.

I am done with this sextion for now.

Many facts were taken from https://www.msu.edu/~alliance/faq/faqsexualorientation.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation