Homosexuality Essay, Research Paper

The origins of human sexuality and homosexuality in particular have puzzled

philosophers, theologians and ordinary people for thousands of years. In scatter

cultures, homosexuals have been regarded as a normal part of life, however, same

sex attraction to most cultures have been treated as an unforgivable sin or a

terrible crime. Many psychologists and psychiatrist had attempted to ?treat

and counsel? the homosexuals. In our social norm, male attracts to female and

female attracts to male. To everyone this is a natural and biological urge.

However, there is a significant minority who attracts to their own sex. It?s

about five percent of the population in the world. There are many opposing

viewpoints of whether it derives from variation in our genes or our physiology,

from the intricacies of our personal history or from convergence of these? Is it

for that matter a choice rather than a compulsion? Chances are no one factor or

study can alone explicate and clarify the human sexual orientation. However,

there are evidences that prove being gay is not a choice. The nature of

homosexuality primarily comes from one?s biological sexual orientation and the

environment is just a source to bring forth or repress the behavior Many

researchers and scientists have long search for the distinguishable brain

structures, the biochemistry in the human brains to differentiate the

differences to classify between the two obvious sexes we now have in our

society, male and female. Such sex differentiation of the brain?s structure is

called sexual dimorphism. . (LeVay/ Hamer 22) The first significant observation

of sexual dimorphism performed in an animal laboratory. Roger A. Gorski, a

professor at University of California, Los Angeles, conducted an experiment on

rats. In 1978, Gorski examined the rat?s hypothalamus, a region at the base of

its brain that is involved in instinctive behaviors and regulation of

metabolism. He discovered there is a group on front of the hypothalamus is

several times larger in millimeter of the male rats compared to the female rats.

The cell group is very small but it could be easily observed on a stained slice

when being viewed under a microscope. More interestingly, Gorski?s finding

applied to the sexual orientation between males and females. That particular

group of cell is known as the medial preoptic are has been involved in the

sexual behaviors typically displayed in males. For instance, if there is a male

rat has a injury medial preoptic area, he apparently couldn?t indifferent to

sex with another female. From the study of Gorski and his co-workers, we now

know the androgen is the typical male hormone and the estrogen is the female

hormone played a major role in bring about dimorphism during the fetus

development. (LeVay/Hamer 23) Another finding also involved with Gorski and his

colleagues at U.C.L.A, especially with his student, Dr. Laura S. Allen. They

also found the dimorphic structure in the human brain. A cell group named INAH3,

shorten for the third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus, in the

medial preoptic region of the hypothalamus is about three times larger in men

that in women. (LeVay/Hamer 23) Animal studies make available a good deal of

evidence for biological basis of disease, but in this case, sexual orientation.

Through a careful exploitation of hormone level on rats, Gorski as been able to

produce male rodents that demonstrate feminine behavior and injected into the

female fetus that develop with the male fetus and it appear to be masculine

because of the male testosterone. They also look and act more like males. In

addition, they are less attractive to male mice (Gorman 60) Related to Gorski

and Allen?s study, Simon LeVay, a British biologist and neurologist at San

Diego Salk Institute, who is also gay, performed another study for Biological

Studies, in 1990. LeVay decided to check whether INAH3 or some other cell group

in the medial preoptic area varies in size with sexual orientation as well as

with sex. LeVay conducted an experiment on the hypothalamus in autopsy specimens

from nineteen homosexual men, all of whom died of AIDS and sixteen heterosexual

men, six of whom had also died of complication of AIDS. After encoding the

specimens to eliminate all the bias that could skew the outcome. LeVay carefully

sliced the hypothalamus into serial slices. He measured their cross-sectional

areas and their thickness under a microscope. LeVay has concluded the sexually

dimorphic nucleus INAH3 were significantly larger than of female and smaller in

male homosexuals than in straight men and similar in size to the nucleus of

female. In some gay men, this group altogether nonexistent; this is

statistically proven in 1 in 1000 gay men. LeVay hypothesized that this is a

biological factor and possibly genetically based has influenced in the brains of

homosexuals to become feminized. (LeVay/Hamer 25) William Byne, a psychiatrist

at Mount Sinai Medical Center decided to challenge and test LeVay?s finding.

Byne compared the brains of nineteen heterosexual men and seven women and found

the male nuclei were larger, as LeVay had initiated. Byne came up with several

arguments that other factors could also influenced the cause of homosexuality

but chosen not to publish his result until he can rule out all the possibilities

that could contradict his argument. He is also collecting numerous human brains

for a comparison of gay and straight males. (Horgan 26) There are many

conservatives who disapprove of homosexuality and have the intense hostility

with the concept of ?gay gene? and have traditionally argued against it. But

this is because those conservatives do not understand the implications that lie

behind the gay gene. Homosexuality is life left-handedness. It?s neither

chosen nor a psychological illness. Since the homosexuality exposed and became a

controversial issue in United States in the last three decades, many

conservatives argue, ?Homosexuality is a chose lifestyle, like vegetarian.

It?s a disease like schizophrenia.? (Burr 22). But since scientists had

proven those are not completely cases of homosexuality and it clearly a

biological development like and it does not correlate with any environment

factors. Scientists has classified homosexuality is a trait. For every trait

they studied, clinicians and biologists often assemble a trait profile of the

sum total they have gathered in their studies. The trait usually shows up in the

population as two ?orientation?. Ninety-two percent of the population

usually has the majority orientation and about eight percent has the minority

orientation. Either the two traits are non-pathological and chosen. The minority

orientation runs in the families has a name of ?maternal effect? given by

the geneticists which men always receive it from their mother. If it is

inheritable, as demonstrated by the fact those identical twins, whose are

naturally clones are far more likely to share the minority orientation than

siblings who are not twins. For example, handedness, right- handed holds the

majority orientation in the populations that the left-handed holds the minority

orientation. This theory could apply to the homosexuals and heterosexuals.

Heterosexuality accounts roughly ninety-five percent of the population while the

homosexuality is the minority orientation, which holds the other five- percent

of the population. Clearly family, social norms, friends, teacher or school

education can?t make you to become gay, which is a minority orientation. (Burr

24) Dean H. Hamer of National Cancer Institute studied the DNA from forty pairs

of homosexual brothers and found thirty-three of them share genetic markers on

the X-chromosome in a region know as Xq28. X chromosome is one of the two sex

determined chromosomes. It is always inherited from mothers. Genes are arranged

along 46 chromosomes and each chromosome contains tiny coils of DNA,

deoxyribonucleic acid, which carries the instruction to manufacture a particular

body substance. There was no such similar sharing in the same region among

heterosexual men. Researchers have not yet compared the homosexuals? genetic

information to the other group. The finding does not explain all the

homosexuals; seven out of forty homosexual brothers did not have the common

genetic factor. The explanation for this is it might cause by other unknown

genetic influence. (LeVay/Hamer, 27-29). Since the DNA strand is long enough to

contain hundreds of genes. Hamer?s team has not found the gene that makes some

men gay but the Xq28 is one of the possibilities of the gay gene (Begley,

Sharon, Hager, Mary) If homosexuality is inherited and the male homosexual gets

the gay gene from the X-chromosome of his mother, then aren?t that twin

brothers and other siblings of the family have a good chance of being

genetically influenced by that trait. Looking for linkage, Hamer has conducted a

random survey and a survey with families with gay brothers between the maternal

and paternal relatives. The possibilities of maternal uncle and maternal cousin

through aunt have the highest percentage of being gay. It?s from 7.3 % to

12.9% compared to the paternal uncle and cousin through aunt of 3.9% to 5.4%.

Why are most gay men relatives are gay on their mother?s side of the family?

The possibility is a man has two chromosomes, X and Y. The Y chromosome is the

sex chromosome and any traits that on the X chromosome pass to the child come

mostly from his mother. Chances are she had inherited those traits from her side

of the family. (Hamer/Copeland 111) In 1985, Richard C. Pillard and James D.

Weinrich conducted the first modern study on the pattern of homosexuality runs

in families. ?The random pooled data for men show that about 57% of identical

twins, 24% of fraternal twins and 13% of brothers of gay men are also gay. For

women, 50% of the identical twin, 13% of sisters of the lesbians are also

lesbians.?(LeVay/Hamer 26) Data of homosexuality combined and analyzed, it

showed a good possibility of family clustering of sexual orientation becomes

evident for both sexes. But others say this finding reveals another significant

problem with a ?born gay? conclusion. The argument against the data

indicating above is if homosexuality is inherited then identical twin brothers

who share 100% of their genes should have 100% chance of being gay instead of

57%? The respond to this argument is in a gene there are two alleles. For

example of Huntington?s disease, it comes in two alleles. One is to suppress

the gene and the other activates the disease. Therefore, the baby has a 50% to

50% change of his identical twin brother will get the same ?gay? trait.

Another example is Type 1 diabetes; this disease has only 30% active, so in

another word, you could only have 30% chance of this gene will become activate.

Therefore two identical brothers could have share the same gene for diabetes but

one might develop it and one might not. The activeness of the gay gene is only

50%, for that reason, some twins do not share the same sexual orientation unless

there is something that triggers those alleles to activate. There are traits

that emerge at the different time of life, some at the beginning and others that

emerge later on in time. (Kangas 20) Another explanation is after the fertilized

egg separated into two individuals. The DNA sequence might have a few changes

and that could lead to the personality as well as the sexual orientation

differences. This has not been proven, but it could be one of the possibilities

of why identical twins do not have 100% chance of being gay. ? Bailey and

Pillard say their research indicates that male sexual orientation is

?substantially genetic?. Research on social factors has proven fruitless,

with no evidence that parental behavior or even parent?s homosexuality affects

the children?s sexual orientation. (Pillard 32) Applying the homosexuality to

the gene concept, New York psychiatrist Kenneth Paul Rosenberg believes that we,

as people, should be more open-minded to the study of homosexuality because it

could help to fight for gay and lesbian rights in this society. Hopefully it

also could decrease an escalating hate crime rate and the discrimination toward

homosexuals.(Horgan) Like any genetic research, finding the gene sequence is

time consuming and expensive. The finding of Huntington?s disease took about a

decade and cost millions of dollars. What are the advantages of the study?s

outcomes and who will be effects by it? Human sexual orientation is no ordinary

topic or study. It?s at the center of a fierce debate involving politics, the

law, religion, ethics and the origins and meaning of human behavior. Many legal

experts felt the evidence for a genetic link to homosexuality would strengthens

the evidence for immutability and therefore cause tighter scrutiny of laws that

permitted discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing, employment, or

participation in the political process. Others, though, argued that immutability

was a red herring and that the real issue was equal protection, not biology.

There were also ethical, medical and economic issues involved as well. Although

scientists did not provide any test for the still hypothetical gay gene but we

are heading in that direction. If such test were developed, might parents decide

to screen the fetus for homosexuality, just as they do for Down syndrome and

other genetic defects? Would some doctors regard homosexuality as a genetic

defect that should be cured and weeded out of the population? Would insurance

companies charge men with the gay gene more on coverage or refuse to serve them

because they have a higher risk of AIDS faced by gay men? These are questions

that worried many people. ?In addition, homosexuals are frequently the targets

of discrimination and violence. The treat of violence and discrimination is an

obstacle to lesbian and gay people?s development. In a 1989 national survey,

5% of the gay men and 10% of the lesbians reported physical abuse and/or

assault?47% report some form of discrimination over their lifetime. Other

research has show similarly high rates of discrimination or violence toward

homosexuals? (Yahoo.com, APA Q&A) Personally I do hope the genetic surgery

will reveal the true nature of homosexual and find the right loci of the gay

gene in the near future. Optimistically with finding of the biological

influences on the gay gene can help to eliminate the discrimination and the

escalating hate crimes rate toward the homosexuals. Homosexuals are normal

people like the heterosexuals. They have feelings and their sexual orientation

of attracting the same sex is innate. They have no control over this destiny.

Counseling, therapy or the environment can?t change this so since we can?t

convert this then why don?t we accept this and give those homosexuals all the

respects and rights that they deserve like any other heterosexuals.

APA Public Communication. *http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/orient.html. * ?

Begley S.; Hager M. (July 26, 1993) Newsweek. Vol. 122 Issue 4 Does DNA Make

Some Men Gay? P59 2/3p, 1c ? Burr C. (Dec 16, 1996) Weekly Standard. Suppose

There Is a Gay Gene? What Then? P 22-26 ? John, H. (Nov 95). Scientific

American, Vol. 273 Issue 5, Gay Genes, Revisited p26, 5/6p, 1c ? Kangas S.

(1999) Homosexuality Is Biologically Determined. Homosexuality: Opposing

Viewpoints. Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press. 17-21 ? Gorman, C. (Sept 9,

1991) Time Magazine. Are Gay Men Born that Way? P 60-61 ? Pillard R. (1999) The

Causes of Homosexuality Are Probably Genetic. Homosexuality: Opposing

Viewpoints. Mary E. Williams, Greenhaven Press. 27-34