One subdivision of this council's web-site deals with the genetic studies being done to locate a possible "gay gene". Given that many people today, who participate in contested sexualities, (homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, and transgenderism), view their sexuality as an essential part of their personality, many studies are being conducted to prove or negate their claims. The general idea for many members of the contested sexuality community is that the discovery of a "gay gene" will end the debate on contested sexualities as a choice vs. an essential part of one's biological make-up, and thus end discrimination. Although the Council for Responsible Genetics, (CRG), hopes aspects that may deal with sexuality, they understand that find and detail all biological "problems rooted in poverty, racism, and other forms of inequality," (Mission Statement, pg. 1), can not be remedied by technological advances alone. Thus CRG has set up numerous programs dealing with biotechnology regulation, including programs that seek to prevent discrimination due to predictive genetic tests.
The following analysis of this web-site reveals that CRG is pro-queer and realizes that despite being a "double-edged sword", their genetic studies can validate, and empower the contested sexuality community, while hopefully ending the debate and discrimination these people are facing everyday.
In the debate regarding the origins of sexual behavior and orientation, many people are presenting a variety of possible causes and arguments ranging from environmental factors, individual choices, and biological or genetic predisposition. Although many scientists agree that sexuality is a by-product of both societal and biological factors, people-those usually within the current dominant group-want exact percentages and figures, in order to find new and lucrative ways to discriminate. For this reason alone, people are becoming fixated with locating and identifying a genetic component for sexual orientation. This fixation has resulted in numerous studies, although the current findings up to date are pretty weak.
The most noted study for claiming the existence of a "gay gene" comes from a study conducted by molecular biologists, under Dean Hamer, at the National Institute of Health. Dean Hamer's study has been under investigation by the Federal Office of Research Integrity for alleged scientific misconduct; one of his study collaborators claims that data, which would have reduced the statistical significance of the results, were surpressed for a specific outcome, (Gay Gene, pg.3). In the experiment, Hamer's group takes DNA samples from self-identified gay men, and other homosexual family members. The research shows that a "marker" appears on most, though not all, gay men within a family on the X chromosome. Even though later studies are concluding that lesbian women do not show any "marker" of this nature, Homer's study has been frequently used to endorse the idea that homosexuality is biological.
CRG and other scientists are criticizing this study, because a comparison with straight men in the same family was never done, to search for the presence of this X chromosome marker. Aside from conducting possibly biased studies later on-all of which failed to change Homer's initial findings-Homer only uses self-identified or "real" gay men in his research; thus he reduced the statistical significance by failing to use the large population of men, who do not identify as gay, but have sexual relations with men. In addition to ignoring married men with children, who later claim to be gay, CRG and other researchers have lowered the relevance of Homer's research for not taking into account the vast array of sexual identities. But more importantly, Homer's results have not found any single gene that may be responsible for human sexual orientation.
Neurophysiologist Simon LeVay conducted another study stating that "a specific structure in the brain is smaller in gay than in straight men," (Gay Gene, pg. 3), suggesting that biology and genetics influence the brain to have unique, homosexual characteristics. LeVay's studies are demonstrating that the hypothalamus-a part of the brain that influences sexual behavior and sexual expression-in gay men resembles the hypothalamus found in heterosexual women. Basically because certain men tend to have brain structures, which are molded into the shape associated with women, then sexual desire and preferences are altered to yield a homosexual identity.
Some of the criticism of Simon LeVay's study is that all of his subjects are dead! He uses only the brains of cadavers who died of AIDS-a disease known throughout the medical world to sometimes affect brain structures. LeVay's failure to use living breathing individuals, and specifically people who do not have HIV or AIDS, results in a lower statistical significance in his studies.
Two other studies are showing a possible genetic link to sexuality, but more work needs to be done. Michael Bailey and Richard Pillard, Northern University and Boston University School of Medicine researchers also measured sexual behavior and orientation in brothers of gay men. Although their findings are showing that 10% of the adoptive and non twin brothers of gay men are gay, 22% of fraternal twins, and 52% for identical twins, further tests are being conducted to see if environmental factors are playing a larger role than biological or genetic factors. This concern is due in part to the fact that many twins, (especially identical twins), are often thought of as one person, so feelings by one twin brother, may be automatically transferred to the other.
Finally there are the tests in progress trying to determine if in-utero development may influence sexuality. The hypothesis is that an excess of specific hormones, or the bad timing of hormonal release in pregnant women, may cause one's sexuality to be altered. Despite the lack of any specific test results, this new hypothesis is gaining popularity in society, and future studies may be able to confirm or negate this latest hypothesis.
As the CRG web-site has shown, the scientific argument
for a genetic or biological basis for sexual behavior and orientation is
still very weak. In the meantime, CRG hopes that the homophobia and discrimination
that exists will be quelled without the aid of technological findings.
This hope has arisen because history has shown us that once genetic data
was found to be responsible for biological differences in sex, skin color,
and culture, heavier discrimination resulted, that prompted the need for
the Civil Right, Women's and L.G.B.T. movements.