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Essay Subject: Examines 1993 study indicating biological basis of sexual orientation. Scientific & social implications.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines 1993 study indicating biological basis of sexual orientation. Scientific & social implications. Paper Introduction: The question of how much of sexual orientation is determined by a person's genes, and how much by familial and cultural influences has been a topic of debate for some time. Recently, several studies of twins and adoptive siblings have pointed toward a large genetic component in homosexuality, implying that a gene or genes should exist that create a predisposition for homosexuality--but there was no direct proof. Now, a team of geneticists at the National Cancer Institute has come closer to that proof (Pool, 1993, p. 291). Scientists Dean Hamer and his colleagues Stella Hu, victoria Magnuson, Nan Hu, and Angela Pattatucci have reported that some instances of male homosexuality to a small stretch of DNA on the X chromosome. If the finding can be confirmed, it might eventually lead to a better understanding of the biological basis Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Now, ateam of geneticists at the National Cancer Institute has come closer tothat proof (Pool, 1993, p. A similar studyof lesbians by Hamer's team is taking longer to complete because theexistence and chromosomal location of responsible genes is not as obviousas it is in men. How does the gene in homosexuals differ from thecorresponding gene in heterosexual men? The question of how much of sexual orientation is determined by aperson's genes, and how much by familial and cultural influences has been atopic of debate for some time. 36-39.Pool, R. If both brothers are homosexual because theyinherited a particular gene on the X chromosome, the gene must liesomewhere in the shared sections of the chromosome, which can be identifiedby the gene markers. Ralph White, an attorney with the General AccountingOffice, states he was fired from a senatorial staff in 1982 after admittinghe was gay. The list of questions to be asked aboutthe gene is long: what protein does it code for? Hamer was so troubled by such possibilities that he ended histechnical paper with an unusual plea that it would be unethical to use suchgenetic information to try to assess or alter a person's current or futuresexual orientation. Anti-gay activists state that a genetic basis for homosexuality doesnot make it any more acceptable. The field ofbehavioral genetics is full of apparent discoveries that were later calledinto question or retracted. Scientists Dean Hamer and his colleagues Stella Hu, victoriaMagnuson, Nan Hu, and Angela Pattatucci have reported that some instancesof male homosexuality to a small stretch of DNA on the X chromosome. Itis unlikely that the linkage between the markers and the homosexualitytrait was due to chance, according to Hamer. Inparticular, they found homosexuality to be significantly more common amongmaternal uncles of gay men and among cousins who were sons of maternalaunts than it is among males in the general population. Does the gene invariably lead tohomosexuality in males, or are there heterosexual males who also carry thegene? His brother David, a public relations officer, wished that hehad had a basis for believing in a genetic cause during his adolescence(Henry, 1993, p. Still, researchers are optimistic and eager to study this gene inorder to find out what it does. One way or the other, theresolution may come before too long since a replication can probably beperformed quickly. The media have given little attention to themany homosexuals who have gone straight, according to Irvine. The link to mothers may help explain a conundrum: if homosexualityis hereditary, why does the trait not disappear gradually, since gays andlesbians are probably less likely than others to have children? Of the 4 pairs of brothers,33 pairs shared a set of five markers located near the end of the long armof the X chromosome in a region designated Xq28 (Pool, 1993, p. Where does this proteinact and what does it do? According to LeVay, this new work and the studies of twins are twolines of evidence pointing in the same direction. (1993, 26 July). This task willrequire assembling more and more families of homosexuals, analyzing the DNAwith more gene markers, and then targeting that one gene. On the average, each pair of brothers weresupposed to have about half the DNA on their X chromosomes (and otherchromosomes) in common. Scientists, however, can hope that society will notmisuse their findings, but ethical guidelines or laws may need to beestablished in the future to prevent this. Rick andRandy gordon, twins from Orlando, Florida, never felt being gay was amatter of free will. The linkage had a LOD scoreof 4. King of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, one of the largest gay-rights lobbying groups, states that Hamer's study can be very helpful inincreasing public support for civil rights for lesbian and gay Americans.Some legal scholars think that if gays can establish a genetic basis forsexual preference, like skin color or gender, they may persuade judges thatdiscrimination is unconstitutional (Henry, 1993, p. If homosexualsare deemed to have a foreordained nature, many of the arguments now used toblock equal rights would lose force. This is not to imply that the proof is absolute. III. 292). Those parents whose offspring do turn out gay might be less apt to condemnthemselves. (1993, 26 July). 37). In conclusion, the study undertaken by Hamer and his colleagues is adouble-edged sword. Although he could have stayed in that field,Hamer chose to work on something more general, and settled on the issuegenes that affect sexual orientation. According to Elliot Gershon, chief of the clinical neurogeneticsbranch of the National Institute of Mental Health, there is almost nofinding that would be convincing by itself in this field. First, however, the results must be replicated. By includingonly homosexuals, Hamer did not have to be concerned about "falsenegatives"--males who claimed not to be homosexual but who really were.The use of 4 separate families made it less likely that amischaracterization could make the result inaccurate. For much of thepast decade he focused on the genes that code for metal-binding proteins,mostly in yeast and mice. 291). 291). In addition, genetic evidence would probably affect many privaterelationships. On the other hand, itcould get interpreted to mean that different is pathological (Henry, 1993,p. (1993, 26 July). Once Hamer and his colleagues ventured outside the immediate family,they found that when they collected the family histories there were moregay relatives on the maternal side than on the paternal side. Donald Suggs of the New York chapter of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance AgainstDefamation states that homosexuality is not something to justify andexplain, but something that should be accepted. While many gay leaders welcomed the study, some are uneasy. Recently, several studies of twins andadoptive siblings have pointed toward a large genetic component inhomosexuality, implying that a gene or genes should exist that create apredisposition for homosexuality--but there was no direct proof. Evidence for homosexuality gene.Science, 261, 291-292.----------------------- 12 According to White, the long-term impact of this study will beprofound. 39). They found 13.5 percent of the gaymen's brothers to be homosexual--much higher than the rate of two percentor so that the Hamer group measured in the general population. Reed Irving, whose Accuracy in the Media group increasinglycriticizes favorable reportage about gays and gay rights, called for morecoverage of studies that he claims show homosexuality can be "cured"--anassertion that both gays and health professionals widely dispute. Even among the 4 sets of brothers, chosenso that there was no evidence of the trait passing through male familymembers, seven sets of brothers did not share the stretch of Xq28 where thegene appears to lie. Then there was Nunn. They noted that genetic links are knownor suspected for other traits that society judges "undesirable," such asmental and physical illness. This, in turn, gave theresearchers an obvious place to start looking for a homosexuality gene:the X chromosome, the only chromosome inherited exclusively from themother. Whatever its ultimate scientific significance, however, the study'ssocial and political impact is potentially even greater. Does DNA make some men gay?Newsweek, p. Born gay? (1993, 16 July). If Hamer's study,asserts Pillard, holds up, it would be the first example of a higher-orderbehavior that has been found to be linked to a particular gene (Henry,1993, p. In a related, unpublished study, Hamer added to growing evidence thatmale homosexuality may be rarer than was long thought--about two percent ofthe population, versus the four to 1 percent found by Kinsey and others.Hamer noted that he defined homosexuality very narrowly. Parents might be more relaxed about allowing children tohave gay teachers, Boy Scout leaders, and other role models, on theassumption that the child's future is written in his or her genetic makeup. According to the Rev. Louis Sheldon, chairmanof the Traditional Values Coalition, the fact that homosexuality may begenetically based will not make much difference for us from a public policyperspective. 59). It would benecessary to see an independent replication. Opponents of such changes as endingthe ban on gays in the military argue that homosexuality is voluntarybehavior, legitimately subject to regulation. More likely, inheritance and experience together shapesexual orientation. Instead, Hamer says it seems likely thathomosexuality arises from a variety of causes, genetic, and perhapsenvironmental as well. Dr. Richard Pillard,professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and co-author of some twin studies--showing that identical twins of gay men have a5 percent chance of being gay--is almost as laudatory. The researchers examined many pairs of brothers,looking for a stretch of DNA that all or most of them had in common. To look for a possible homosexuality gene, Hamer and his colleaguestook a two-step approach. Hamer, who hasalready begun collecting data for a follow-up, says he is confident thathomosexuality linkage will stand up better than some of the earlier workthat attempted to link behavioral conditions to particular chromosomes.Several of those studies fell apart when the diagnosis changed for one ortwo key individuals--when, for example, a subject who had previously shownno symptoms developed manic-depression (Pool, 1993, p. A. When Hamer and his colleagues performed their analysis, they foundthat such a shared stretch did indeed exist. --a technical measure that translates to a 99.5 percent certaintythat there is a gene (or genes) in this area of the X chromosome thatpredisposes a male to become a homosexual. Even gays admit that Irvine is partly right. Earlier studies hadalso found that brothers of homosexual men are more likely to be homosexualthan are men in the general population (Pool, 1993, p. The answersuggested by the new research is that genes for male homosexuality can becarried and passed to children by heterosexual women, and those genes donot cause the women to be homosexual (Henry, 1993, p.37). The DNA evidence,however, is much stronger than the twin studies. It may also promote bettermental health for gays themselves because now they do not have to thinkthat their sexual orientation is wrong. Furthermore, employers mightrefuse to hire someone with a "gay" gene (Begley & Hager, 1993, p. This implied that, for some male homosexuals at least, the trait ispassed through female members of the family. 59). Yet, this study will also havelegal, social, and political ramifications which could lead to morediscrimination against gays, in terms of their employment and even whetherthey have a right to be born. 59.Carlson, M. Despite this caution, researchers familiar with the work say thisstudy appears to have a good chance of holding up because it avoids some ofthe methodological problems of earlier work. To research this gene, Hamer recruited 4 pairs of homosexualbrothers, took DNA samples from each, and performed a genetic linkageanalysis using gene markers. Until people accepthomosexuality, all the scientific evidence will not do anything to changehomophobia. People had to beexclusively or predominantly gay, and had to be known to family members andan outside investigator, such as Hamer, as homosexuals. Furthermore, earlierstudies often relied on incomplete genetic maps, while Hamer used 22markers that covered the X chromosome. Its veryexistence, they believe, implies that homosexuality is wrong and defective. According to geneticist JeremyNathans of Johns Hopkins University, Hamer's methods should make the studystronger and less likely than earlier work to break down upon furtherinspection, although, he, too, warned that it must be replicated. Time, pp. Eric Juengst of the National Center for Human Genome Research warnsthat this study is a two-sided sword. Homosexuality is notsimply programmed but is a complex expression of values and personality.As researcher Hamer states, Genes are part of the story, and this generegion is a part of the genetic story, but it is not all of the story. Assuming that Hamer's linkage study does hold up, he will findhimself with another difficult problem--that of finding the malehomosexuality gene that his data indicated is there, somewhere, in Xq28.Unfortunately, there are probably several hundred genes in that region,according to Hamer, and most of them are unidentified. Ifsuch a stretch exists, then it probably contains the target gene. Another factor that inspired confidence in other scientists for thisstudy, is Hamer's reputation as a very careful worker. Hamer warns, however, that this one site cannot explain all malehomosexuality. Irvinestates that it is a little more complicated than just saying one can provethere is a hereditary factor. ReferencesBegley, S., & Hager, M. Moreover, gays are worried that precise identification of a"gayness gene" might prompt efforts to tamper with the genetic code of gayadults or to test during pregnancy and abort potentially gay fetuses.Indeed, in a play called "The Twilight of the Golds," now playing inWashington D.C., a woman learns that her unborn son will be gay and debateswhether to abort him (Begley & Hager, 1993, p. Although his analysis showed that the homosexuality traitis usually maternally inherited, he did see some families where the traitseemed to be passed paternally. Simon LeVay, who won wide publicity for an analysis of differences inbrain anatomies between straight and gay men, acknowledges that the brainshe studied were of AIDS victims, and thus he cannot be sure that what hesaw was genetic, rather than the result of disease or some aspect of gaylife. 4 -41.Henry, W. 39). First they recruited 76 homosexual men andtraced out pedigrees for each, determining which other members of eachfamily were themselves homosexual. 291). Preliminary results, however, from the lesbian study dosuggest that female sexual orientation is genetically influenced. Additionally, what does the gene do in women? On one hand, the study may promote tolerance towardgays, in terms of ending their discrimination in the military (Carlson,1993, p. Over the past few years, several groups ofresearchers have reported locating genes for various mental illnesses--manic depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism--only to see their evidenceevaporate after they assembled more evidence or reanalyzed the originaldata. Thomas Stoddard,director of the Campaign for Military Service, states that it is easy toimagine the science of the future manipulating information of this kind toreduce the number of gay people being born. While thisis lower than previous estimates of four percent to 1 percent, otherrecent studies have come up with similar low figures. It can be used to benefit gays byallowing them to make the case that the trait for which they are beingdiscriminated against is no worse than skin color. In addition,Hamer has not tested the DNA of heterosexual men to see if any carry thegene, so it may be too soon to conclude that it always causeshomosexuality. 38). Gay brothers surveyed for the study welcomed its findings. Ifthe finding can be confirmed, it might eventually lead to a betterunderstanding of the biological basis of homosexuality and of sexualorientation in general. 4 ) and in other avenues of society. Gays have countered thatthey are acting as nature--or in other words, their genes--intended.Gregory J. Time, pp. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.