Discovery of a Gay Gene

Discovery of a Gay Gene
How homosexuality is 'inherited'
Scientists may be on the verge of discovering a physical basis for homosexuality, that can be passed down from generation to generation. This discovery would be a major breakthrough for the civil rights of gay people, since they could no longer be denied equal treatment under the law in the U.S.

According to the latest research, nature increases the fertility of women who pass on a "gay trait" to their male offspring. Scientists doing DNA studies on homosexual brothers found similar genetic material in a region of the X chromosome that mothers pass on to their offspring. This would keep homosexuality alive without having a separate gay gene on the DNA strand. Scientists have long been puzzled by the fact that homosexuality does not die out, despite the fact that gays have far fewer children.

As long ago as 1993, U.S. researchers decided that male homosexuality was passed from mother to son because they found strong patterns of this type of inheritance in family trees. They also noted that homosexual males often come from big families and are younger siblings with a number of older brothers. There are basic incompatibilities between the X and Y chromosomes, and scientists now think the mother develops some kind of resistance to the male Y chromosome that makes later baby boys more likely to be born gay. The predisposition to form this kind of resistance would also enable these women to be more fertile and have a larger number of children.

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