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Ha. How is it not a choice? I read something that one of you posted about there being studies that indicate that some people don't really have a choice in the matter, where are these studies?

Pheromones are intraspecific chemical signals important for mate attraction and discrimination. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, hydrocarbons on the cuticular surface of the animal are sexually dimorphic in both their occurrence and their effects: Female-specific molecules stimulate male sexual excitation, whereas the predominant male-specific molecule tends to inhibit male excitation. Complete feminization of the pheromone mixture produced by males was induced by targeted expression of the transformer gene in adult oenocytes (subcuticular abdominal cells) or by ubiquitous expression during early imaginal life. The resulting flies generally exhibited male heterosexual orientation but elicited homosexual courtship from other males.

A population-genetic model indicates that if there is a gene responsible for homosexual behaviour it can readily spread in populations. The model also predicts widespread bisexuality in humans.

Hamer and colleagues studied the family histories of 114 gay men and found that their brothers, maternal uncles, and maternal male cousins were more likely to be homosexual than would be expected among the general male population. In some families, gay relatives could be traced back for three generations. Because the homosexual uncles and male cousins of the gay subjects were raised in different households, the scientists hypothesized that a genetic factor was involved. Furthermore, the maternal link suggested that homosexuality might be associated with the X chromosome, which is the sex-linked chromosome that men inherit only from their mothers.

Explicit evidence for a genetic link was obtained by studying the X chromosome DNA of 40 pairs of gay brothers. The scientists used a technique called linkage mapping to search for patterns of similarity in the genetic information of related individuals. Thirty-three of the gay sibling pairs had coinherited genetic markers in the same chromosome region called Xq28, suggesting that 65 percent of the families studied were transmitting a gene for homosexual orientation.

"The statistical significance of the results was better than 99 percent, which means that the possibility of obtaining our findings by chance is extremely unlikely," said Hamer. However, he noted that replication on an independent population of families will be necessary to confirm the results.

The scientists do not know why 7 of the 40 pairs of gay brothers did not coinherit the Xq28 genetic marker. Hamer postulated that these gay men may have inherited other genes that are associated with homosexuality, or they might have been influenced by environmental factors or life experiences.

Other studies have been conducted that look at twin brothers rather than brothers of different ages. Bailey and Pillard (1991) did a study of twins that determined a Ò52% concordance of homosexuality in monozygotic twins, 22% for dizygotic twins, and 11% for adoptive brothers of homosexual men (8). These results, like Hamer's, provide further support for the claim that homosexuality is genetically linked. Studies very similar to the Bailey and Pillard study have been done both with female homosexual siblings and siblings of both sexes. The results for both of these studies were only off from Bailey and PillardÕs by a few percentage points. Putting all of these results together, it seems like genetics are at least 50% accountable for determining a personÕs sexual orientation (8).

Just read it..

A survey of Italian men has provided evidence that homosexuality may be partly influenced by genetics. The same genes that are proposed to predispose to homosexuality may also boost reproduction in women, solving the apparent paradox of why these genes have not been removed by natural selection.

Where do animal behaviours come from and are they controlled by genes? This is the fundamental question posed by the field of neurogenetics. Pioneering work from the 1960s in Seymour Benzer's laboratory demonstrated for the first time that Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies could be mutated to obtain animals with insomnia, learning disabilities and homosexual courtship behaviours.

TBH I do not even see why this is such a big issue especially in today's society, though unless the towns people are like some sort of crazy christian westboro baptist church type people...then I'm not surprised.

its in mississippi, whaddya expect

jhb