John Peck November, 2019
A new study adds to a growing body of
evidence demonstrating that the dominant narrative about sexual
orientation—that it is genetically determined—simply cannot be true.
Instead, the science shows that a person’s sexual orientation and choice
of partners depends heavily on the development and expression of
personal autonomy regarding one’s own sexual possibilities. People with
same-sex attractions should be legally and culturally free not to
identify with or act on them.
Late last month, a team of MIT and Harvard scientists published a landmark study of the genetic basis for sexual orientation in the journal Science.
The study, which was based on an examination of the genetic material of
almost half a million individuals, definitively refutes the idea that
being gay is an innate condition that is controlled or largely compelled
by one’s genetic makeup.
The study contained two key findings. First, it found that the effect
of the genes we inherit from our parents (known as “heritability”) on
same-sex orientation was very weak, at only .32 on a scale from 0 (none)
to 1 (total) heritability. This means that a person’s developmental
environment—which includes diet, family, friends, neighborhood,
religion, and a host of other life conditions—is twice as influential on
the probability of developing same-sex behavior or orientation as a
person’s genes are. More
