Well, it's not a guaranteed thing, by any means.
The statistics aren't straightforward; with two brothers, if one is gay the other is much more likely to be gay if they're twins than if they're non-twin brothers. And that's true even if they're dizygotic (that is, from two different eggs fertilized and implanted at the same time). But it's also true that if one boy in a family is gay, his brothers are more likely to be gay than the avarage likelihood of being gay in the general population.
It's been studied mostly by people looking for genetic influences on being gay. With two twins from the one egg, then the fact that if one is gay the other is more likely to be as well suggests either a genetic component or some influence in the womb; that fact that even if the twins are from two different eggs the likelihood is higher that the second twin will also be gay *could* be a matter of genes, but suggests it ight be the environment in the womb (which is why they're now looking at influences like the mother's hormones during gestation); BUT if it was as simple as either genetics or womb hormones, or even both, then you would think that it would be fairly predictable that if one twin was gay, the other would be as well.
It's just not that easy, unfortunately. And that's one of the things that religious groups seize on as supposed "evidence" for gayness being a "choice".
The only studies I've read on this were relating to male children. I don't know what the pattern is with women, whether it's the same or different.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
reply
share