A massive new study that examined data from half a million participants reached previously-contested conclusions about the role that genes and the environment play in defining human sexuality—more specifically, same-sex behavior. As it turns out, the answer is far more complicated than most people previously thought.
Two harmful myths debunked
The research did clearly bust two long-standing myths, though, each of which have been misused to harm the LGBTQ+ community. The first one is the “gay gene” idea, which suggested there was a single gene, or a small set of genes, that single-handedly determined wether a person was gay or not. The myth instilled fear in the community because of the possibility that misguided minds could use this as an excuse to find and impose a “cure” to same-sex sexuality, even if just preemptively. In an era where genetic engineering and “designer babies” are a real possibility, hateful individuals could opt to “edit” their babies’ “gay gene” to prevent them from being anything but heterosexual—which would be a terrible thing.
On the other extreme of the imaginary balance, there was the “lifestyle choice” myth, which wrongly suggests that gay people simply choose to be gay—paving the way for the pseudo-scientific horrors of conversion therapy. Thinking that gay people decide whether to be gay or not has made it easy for conservatives to bully or otherwise discriminate against the community by attempting to blame them for who they are and shame them into going against their preferences.
But now we can finally put both those myths to rest.
The study
Instead, this research has shown that multiple genetic and environmental factors play an important role in determining sexual preferences. One of the study’s coauthors, Dr. Benjamin Neale, said that the results highlight “both the importance of the genetics as well as the complexity of the genetics, but genetics is not [the] whole story.” In short, the conclusion is that thousands of variants are involved, each of which is small in and by itself and all of which are jointly responsible for a complex interplay to eventually establish an individual’s sexual behavior.
The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and led by an international team of researched from multiple prestigious universities around the world.
How the study worked
First, the team analyzed data from around 500,000 people collected for the UK Biobank project, where about 4% of men and 3% of women reported to have had same-sex sexual activity throughout their lives.
From this, they estimated the variation rate in same-sex behavior by looking at the participant’s self-reported sexual behavior in general and how each of them was related to one another. They found that about a third of this variation is explained by genetics.
But the team was also quick to point out that the rest of the variation is not necessarily due to cultural factors or upbringing. There are many non-genetic factors before birth that are thought to play a major role in same-sex behavior, such as the hormonal levels the baby is exposed to in the womb, for example.
Having established a link between heritability and same-sex behavior, the researchers then looked into which genetic variants might account for it. To determine this, the team used data from over 400,000 participants in the UK Biobank project, plus the data of almost 70,000 individuals collected by the company 23andMe. They found five such genetic variants, all of which are clearly linked to same-sex behavior.
But even these explain less than 1% of the overall variation at play, which means there’s probably other genetic factors (as well as many non-genetic ones) that are still to be discovered. All in all, the team concluded that because of the sheer amount of variables and complexity involved, it is not possible to predict whether someone will have same-sex relationships based on genetic information alone. But genetics are definitely involved nonetheless, and there’s enough evidence to throw the “lifestyle choice” notion straight into the garbage can of bad ideas.
A few limitations
The study, vast and thorough though it was, is not without its limitations. The researchers themselves pointed out that they only examined people of European ancestry, with a limited age range, and relied on self-reporting from its participants to draw its conclusions—which thus makes the whole study vulnerable to the dangers of misreporting, deliberate or otherwise.
The study also didn’t include transgender people or individuals with a non-binary identity. These limitations do not mean the results are insignificant, however; they just mean there’s still plenty of research left to do. So, don’t expect future studies to radically contradict these findings. Some details and technicalities might change, and some mysteries explained, but it’s safe to say the “gay gene” and “lifestyle choice” myths are dead for sure.
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