2b5e Genetics Topic: The Gay Gene?         View by:        The
Gay Gene?  One potential consequence of accepting a doctrine of
genetic determinism relates to the potential link between
genetics and sexual orientation. In the summer of 1993, Dean H.
Hamer and his research team at the National Cancer Institute
announced their discovered evidence of a connection between
genetics and some male homosexuality. By constructing family
trees in instances where two or more brothers are gay, and
performing actual laboratory testing of the supposed homosexual
DNA, Hamer located a region near the end of the long arm of the
X chromosome that likely contains a gene influencing sexual
orientation. Because men receive an X chromosome from their
mother and a Y chromosome from their father (women receive two
X’s, one from each parent), it is assumed that the possible gay
gene is inherited maternally. Mothers can pass on this gene
without themselves, nor their daughters, being homosexual. A
parallel study of lesbian genetics is