Through this factsheet, we will be answering the age old question of whether being homosexual is a choice or is in born.
Research has shown that there are clear links between male sexual orientation and two specific regions of human genome.
Genes
Scientists tested the DNA of 400 gay men and found genes on at least two chromosomes affected whether a man was gay or straight. A region of the X chromosome called Xq28, identified in 1993 and 8q12, spotted in 2015, had some impact on men’s sexual behaviour.
The lead scientist, Alan Sanders declared that the research “erodes the notion that sexual orientation is a choice”. However, he stresses that with complex human traits like sexual orientation there are many influencing factors, both genetic and environmental.
Brain
The structure of the brain might influence sexual preference.
Studies seem to show that the hypothalamus, which controls the release of sex hormones from the pituitary gland, in gay men differs from the hypothalamus in straight men.
The third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH3) was found to be more than twice as large in heterosexual men as in homosexual men.
So the brain influences your sexual preference even before you were born. This can explain why many gay people feel that they have always been gay.
Can sexual preference be changed?
No. Not at all.
Studies have proven that trying to change someone’s sexual identities is extremely unethical as well as emotionally draining. Imagine if you were sent to a doctor only because you like the opposite sex and not the same sex?
Science doesn’t change in order to support political opinions or your religious or cultural rights.
LGBTQ are humans, just like you and me.
