There are a bunch of complex synapses occurring in our brains that react differently. That’s what makes us so diverse

I have to disagree. Sexual oriention is probably an extremely simple instinct in men.

A) Orientation is present in most people’s earliest memories
B) Orientation is virtually impossible to unlearn
C) Attraction triggers instantaneously
D) For nearly all people attraction is focused on young, healthy, virile mates
E) Orientation and attraction are instincts in every other animal. Why should we be different?

If you think about sexual attraction for even a second it feels exactly like a strong, magnetic instinct.

FWIW- I’m gay and my twin brother does not diclose his orientation.

I have a female co-worker who jokingly (I think) says to me I just haven’t had the right kind of sex with a female. I might have to use something like the left-handed analogy with her to explain. Would you force a left-handed person to write with his right-hand? Would he be happy with writing with his right hand? Would that really make him a right-handed person? No. In the same vein…(or on the other hand)…would you force a gay to be straight and would he be happy?

I’m fascinated with mathematics and complex matrix computations. The human mind is far more complex than even a few neurotransmitters and on-off switches. Our brains are not digital ones and zeros. Our DNA is far more complex …we may never comprehend. It’s not just a gene. It’s not just environmental factors. There are a bunch of complex synapses occurring in our brains that react differently. That’s what makes us so diverse…and what makes us so wonderful and not robotic or act like sheep. (Observe a flock of sheep in a field and you know what I mean.)

And yes, Ben-in-Oakland, Ted Haggard might be the poster boy but I’m still waiting for Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s explanation on why he isn’t gay.

Gay vs. straight is not a bipolar phenomenon, except for certain fundamentalists of the Haggard ilk (giggle). Kinsey posited that it is in fact a continuum, probably skewed more towards the hetero side, but a continuum nonetheless. I’ve met quite a few allegedly ‘straight’ men who can’t wait to get a little male companionship on the side. I don’t doubt that the bulk of their interests and experiences lie on the straight side, and I wouldn’t think of them as gay men– they are bisexual. All of the straight sex they have is not making them any straighter, nor the gay sex making them gayer. But they are expressing something innate, because i have lots of straight friends who have never had the slightest interest in other men (or women, depending).

Most of my gay friends, with a few exceptions, tried to fly a little bit on the straight side but ultimately didn’t. A few are repulsed by the idea. I myself tried a bit back in my 20′s, not because I had any belief that I was really straight, but because I wanted to see what it was like.

What was it like? I had a lot of fun, but ultimately, had no interest in it. Sort of like an amusement park ride– good to try, but you wouldn’t want to live your life on a rollercoaster.

This is just another point underlining that the fundies have it wrong– it’s not what you do, it’s really who you are.

In one very limited sense, the fundies have it right– you have a choice as to whether you express your orientation, but about what that might be, there is no choice. (ted Haggard is the poster boy as to why they are wrong everywhere else on this issue). Cowboy’s point about the gay twins he knew just underlines it. There are a lot of factors that determine whether someone actually expresses his gayness. My own brothers are non-identical twins. One fought against being gay his whole life (I don’t know where he went with it–long story). The other I think has a 5% queer factor, but that is just my guess, not a necessary reality. But it is clear that he is not conflicted about it.

My point is that I doubt there actually is a gay gene in the sense that there is an on-off switch. There is just no evidence for that at all. On the other hand, the testimonies of thousands of gay people about their lives and experiences have to be taken into account. Otherwise, you are just ignoring reality, which is not science, though it might be called faith.

A) Twins are more likely to be left handed
B) Gay men are more likely to be left handed

Combine the two and yep, your observation is probably correct. Gay twins should be left handed quite often. This effect is probably even more pronounced in Lesbians. They are almost twice as likely to be left handed while gay men are only about a third more likely.

People who don’t believe there is a biological difference between gays/straights are silly IMHO. I don’t think the difference amounts to more than a half ounce of neurotransmitters, but sometimes tiny things make all the difference.

Twins in general are more likely to left handed than single births.

A lot of things raise the odds of being a lefty. Older mother’s have more left handed children. Long or stressful births raise the odds of being left handed. Roughly half of all premature babies are left handed.

As of today only one gene has been discovered that raises the odds of being a lefty. I’m sure that plenty are out there but scientists haven’t been able to find them yet.

The UCLA researchers might consider finding identical twins in the very closed-communities of polygamists. The gene pool is limited with so much inbreeding and certain polygamist societies are…can we say…virginal with the outside world. The environmental factors would be ideal for researching the gay gene factor(s).

Just a thought.

In my non-scientific observation I have found gay twins are more likely to be left-handed.

This study at UCLA is for both male and female.

As far as I know, there are now three studies of male twins and orientation. Why the limitation to males?

I’ve heard there was a study of twins where at least one was transgender but I can’t find it. Has anyone heard of this?

I fear the quest to understand the genetic link with orientation will do hurt the gay community more than help it. Does prenatal care already do genome analysis to detect genetic diseases like down and klinefelters syndrome. If the gay gene is found, I fully expect gay testing to get added. Then parents can choose to abort children who have a high chance of being gay. Here is a sad consequence of abortion. I don’t expect this to be a significant problem in the US (but a problem, nonetheless) but in the 70 countries where same sex acts are illegal, expect to see a new breed of pre-ex-gay ideology.