“Born Gay” Michael Abrams

In the article “Born Gay” Michael Abrams proposes question why men become gay. Is this due to the gay gene/genes or due to the environment where they grew up or other biological traits? Is being a homosexual is nature or nurture? He was looking at several researches and projects to find the answer. The author states that becoming a gay is at least partially genetic. William Reiner explored how environment influences on sexuality by studying boys who were born with some genital deformities and were raised as girls.

Later, he found that faux females were attracted to women. So, if the case was only the environment where they grew up, these faux women should be attracted to men. Sven Bocklandt said that it should be a gay gene or several genes which lead to gay men and was trying to find it by comparing X chromosomes in both gay men and straight men. Bocklandt concluded that this was methylation – reason which turns off some section of genes. Michael Abrams wrote that homosexuality is inherited through the maternal line accordingly to Hamer’s study, where he compared X chromosomes. Scientists also concluded that hypothalamus in gay men is smaller than straight men have. Their (gay men’s) hypothalamus is a size of women’s. Also, researchers state, that both a gay man and a straight man act the same with their nephews and nieces - there is no difference in their actions. Still the question why men become gay remains unanswered.

By this time, I have not heard about the gay gene at all. All the time I was thinking that being homosexual is nurture, not nature. I thought that men become gay due to the environment they live in and their interactions with girls. I think this is due to some researches about identical twins, where one becomes gay, and other still is straight. As they both have identical DNA, I thought the reason was environment. So, I was surprised by reading that scientists are looking for the gay gene or even a complex of genes in the DNA and that it really may exist. Of course, I have heard about using testosterone and what consequences might be by using it. Also, I was surprised reading that gay men have a smaller hypothalamus than a straight man. The question arose now for me, is there any gay genes in our body? And I think in the future with all these modern technologies and medicine, one day scientists will give us full explanation and all the reasons.

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