Do Gay Men Have Evolutionary Edge?

There are some very well thought out comments on this. Who funded this? This is a situation where a link to the actual study would be nice.

LORENZO According to your comment, this aunt and uncle appear to be Straight. If there is a genetic reason for your uncle's lack of virility or your aunt's sterility, it would likely be a recessive one for which there should be no reason to perpetuate. Believe it or not: Darwinian theory is not based on two-restaurant ownership.

CAROL Studies of identical twins have pretty much ruled out genetics as the cause of homosexuality. The hormonal theory is just that: a "theory." Even if true, what happens in the womb is considred to be as much environmental as biological. Studies of LGBT as parents are little more than 5 years old and not considered longitudinal enough from which to draw any conclusions.

CAROL Studies of identical twins have pretty much ruled out genetics as the cause of homosexuality. The hormonal theory is just that: a "theory." Even if true, what happens in the womb is considred to be as much environmental as biological. Studies of LGBT as parents are little more than 5 years old and not considered longitudinal enough from which to draw any conclusions.

RAPHAEL I am an ethnolgogist. Your knowledge of cultural anthropology appears to be quite limited. Transgendered people have been iconized in some indigenous cultures (a few Native American tribes), but not all of them by any means. Not to mention that transgenderism is significantly different from homosexuality which has rarely been heralded by any culture. Meanwhile, the Spanish have more positive attitude toward LGBT than most Latin Americans conquered by them; Hawaiians have a more positive attitude toward LGBT than most Koreans who were imperialized by the Japanese; Dutch & Portuguese have more positive attitude toward LGBT than most Africans who were colonized by them. How did that happen? What about general attitudes toward LGBT in Muslim nations never dominated by outsiders? Though it may be easy to blame Europeans or the "White Man" for all evils -- such as racism -- in the world, that does not make it so. Sorry to question your simple analysis of complex phenomena.

MARK ALLEN You are correct in so far as anecdotal evidence is concerned. But so far as I know, there are no social scientific studies to support your conclusion. What about those LGBT with partners and families who have a Straight sibling who is single or childless? Not to mention, that there are many Straight sons and daughters who have cared for ill or elderly parents while their selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed LGBT children indulge themselves. And then there are the LGBT who have serious psychological problems or who just never grew up.

CHIN I agree with you wholeheartedly. JAY W WALKER Your knowledge of the derivation of epithets is incomplete and this is putting it mildly. In any case, your justifying same just lowers you to the same level as those you decry. Not to mention that LGBT Germans participated in the decimation of Jews; LGBT masters participated in the enslavement of Blacks; LGBT misogynists still participate in the abuse of women; LGBT "beauty of culture" perpeputates discrimination against people with physical disabilities; and so forth. And why do you think it is that of those LGBT suffering from chronic depression, bipolarity, schizophrenia, etcetera, may are more comfortable with "coming out" to Straights about their sexual orientation than they are with "coming out" to other LGBT about their mental disability? And if you want to meet a bunch of classists, racists, sexists, ablists, ageists, biphobes and transgenderphobes , you need look no further than the LGBT community.

ROBERT Postscript: Homosexuality is a recessive gene which is unnecessary for human reproduction or such things as nurturing, cutlure or population control. Genetecists are unsure why the gene has not disappeared already. But it will not be necessary for Straights to weed out Gays. Hitler already attempted to that; thankfully with less than total suceess. If homosexuality is desitined to disappear, it will be on account of nature. If homosexuality is not destined to disappear than it won't.

ELRIN May I recommend that you read "REINVENTING THE MALE HOMOSEXUAL: The Rhetoric and Power of the Gay Gene" which was written by a gay social scientist who has examined how social norms regarding sexuality and gender are produced in scientific disccourse and popular culture.

ROBERT Now that's really pseudo science that you are spewing. I was at Stonewall, studied science and am a social scientist. Many LGBT have produced babies; probably as many as Straights. Gay athletes participated in sports since even before the Greeks; Gay soldiers participated in war even before Roman times. While individual Gays may have made major contributions to the arts, there is no research evidence that Gays have made more of a contribution than people of any other sexual orientation. Bipolar people have also made major contributions to the arts, but that does not mean they have made any more of a contribution than people of any other mental status. The only thing of which we can be sure that Straights have ruined is the son to whom your parents gave birth.