Originally posted by Reilly
There have actually been a number of studies that suggest sexual orientation is biological. For instance:
1. A study by Simon LeVay, a neuroanatomist at the Salk Institute, in 1991, found brain structural differences between gay and straight people dealing with the size of the hypothalamus gland.
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I am not a neuroanatomist, and I don't think anybody else on the board is either. So, for all we know, the hypothalamus gland might be the poor bastard in charge of convincing the anus that it's an entrance. That Herculean task alone could account for the size difference.
No, seriously- since this study obviously involved confirmed homosexuals, they had to be adults, right? So who's to say that some element of homosexual behavior doesn't alter one's neurological makeup? There are minute traces of an unknown substance in the brains of practicing alcholics that are not found in the brains of recovering or non-alcoholics(remember that a non-alcoholic is not necessarily a non-drinker). Behavior can, and does, change physiological structure. Too thin, Reilly. Try again.
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2. Psychologist Michael Bailey of Northwestern University conducted sibling studies that found siblings are more likely to share a sexual orientation.
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Come on, you can do better than that. Siblings typically share an environment, do they not?
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3. Studies by J.A.Y. Hall and D. Kumura at the University of Western Ontario at London ON Canada compared the number of ridges(finger prints) on the index finger and thumb of the left hand with corresponding digits on the right hand. They found that 30% of homosexuals had excess ridges on the left hand digits, while only 14% of heterosexuals showed the same characteristic.
Because fingerprints are fully developed in the fetus before the 17th week and do not change thereafter, this study may suggest a genetic link to sexual orientation that is determined before birth, perhaps at conception.
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A less "loaded" study would have sought the answers to other questions, as well. What do the ridges say about whether a person is right-handed or left-handed? What percentage of homosexuals are left-handed? The life of a left-hander is an uphill battle as it is. Give that to a sufficiently unstable person, add enough other stressors, and help the whole mix along with a morally lax culture which celebrates perversion in all it's forms, and that person might stumble into homosexuality.
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4. National Cancer Institute compared the DNA of 40 pairs of homosexual brothers. They found that almost all shared a genetic marker in the Xq28 region of the X chromosome (one of the two sex chromosomes). While this study hasn't precisely isolated a gay gene, it suggests that sexual orientation may have a genetic component.
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It might suggest that to someone who desperately wants to see it. I'm sorry-I'm unmoved.