Being Gay: It Might Just be All in Your Head

You might or not know that I studied genetics in college. I wanted to be a genetic scientist. That didn't work out, but that's okay.

I am still interested enough in genetics, however, to try to understand the role genes play in homosexuality.

As you know, genes mutate from one generation to another. Sometimes these mutations make the offspring better in a certain way. A better offspring has a better chance of survival. If it survives, it passes on its genes -- including the newly mutated one. This is how animals adapt, survive, thrive and evolve over millennia.

However, one glitch in this process is the genetic predisposition for being gay. (For the sake of this discussion we will assume the prevailing science is correct that homosexuality is somehow related to genes.)

How does being homosexual help the offspring survive? And, even if it does somehow make the offspring better, how is this trait continued through other generations if gay men do not have children (and, therefore, cannot pass along that mutation)?

This is a grand question that has perplexed me (and a lot of people much smarter than me) for many years.

While science does not yet have the answer (although it is closing in on it), this article gives a really fascinating summary of the current body of thought. It turns out a lot of the answer might be in the development of male and female brains.