Is there a gay gene in my family?

[Sometimes Steffi]

I just got a wedding invitation from a second cousin. She's marrying another girl.

One of my dad's first cousins was gay (and married to a woman, and they had children together), my first cousin is a Lesbian, and now one of my second cousins is a Lesbian. Plus of course me, a hetero CD. All related by blood lines. That makes 3, me, one of my first cousins and one of my second cousins (that I know of) all with sexual, gender or presentation issues.

So is this a strange coincidence or the indications of a "gay gene"?

[amyjacks2014]

^.^

My brother and I are both female. We're both bisexual. My sister is straight.
My mom and grandmother were straight, so not sure


Amy M. Jackson

[Erica Marie]

Sounds like you have a very diverse family, which could be a good thing if everyone is accepting of each other.

[Andy66]

Do you have way more than the average percentage of LGBT people in your family?

There are so many factors that could mess up the accuracy of a study, but many people do suspect there may be an LGBT gene.

[Rhonda Jean]

Probably just a very open-minded family.

[sandra-leigh]

As best I understand, after a lot of looking, no-one has found a LGBT gene. Instead, I gather, there are a number of genes (100 was the count I recently read) that have been found to be influential. There might be several different paths, or it might need a combination of genes, or it could be a combination of genes together with epigenetic factors (that is, something in the surrounding environment influences which genes become active and the protein forms they generate.)

[ReineD]

How many people are in each of your extended family, and your father's and mother's?

If I count absolutely everyone in my generation and both my parents, there are about 300 people. There is an average of 3.5% LGBT in the US, so this means that I should normally have 10 family members who fall within those groups.

If all your and your father's family members (all the aunts, uncles, first and second cousins) total about 170, your family falls within the norm with about 6 LGBT members. An average means that some families will have slightly higher than 3.5% while it will be slightly lower for other families, but each family will still fall within the norm unless they have a huge percentage like 10% or more.

Here's the data that supports the estimates. Both these articles estimate the LGBT population of the US at about 9,000,000 people, which is about 3.5% of the total adult US population.

http://helenhill.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/ucla-study-estimates-approximate-700000-transgender-people-in-the-usa/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/9-million-americans-estimated-to-be-gay-or-bisexual-but-solid-figures-elusive/2011/04/06/AFfvfJsC_story.html

[Katey888]

Steffi, it's the media....! Don't listen to what they tell you...!!!

Despite the affirmed number of LGBT folk now, the vast majority of muggles would rather not be exposed to such aberrations and therefore would love to have a cure for it...

The media play to the masses and so they trot out the pursuit of identifying a gene or genes that control this, because with the magic of gene therapy, if they find the aberrant gene, they can fix it, right? :)

No more gays, lesbians, trans... Perfect world, right? :eek:

Hardly...

Do genes determine our personality, our psyche, our character...? I don't think so... Eye colour, hair colour, propensity for certain diseases, immunity, straight legs (I have slightly 'bandy' legs I inherited from my mum, dammit! But at least they were longer than my dad's.. bless him - I digress...) yes - but psyche - no. These things that are a determining part of our personality don't just reside in a gene... too many other factors...

It's just coincidence... sleep soundly... :hugs:

Katey x

[CrossJess]

Hmmm gay maybe womanly gene.


I come from a family of military men tough guys that could light matches of there face stubble they are so manly, I’m the only one in our family that is openly gay, perhaps there were more but nothing ever came to light perhaps they had a lot to loose so kept any feeling like that to them selves, I have 2 brother both married to woman and don’t show any sign of being gay, usually I can read a person straight away when it comes to this stuff, I'm fairly excepted in our family, my brothers treat me like a sister and so very protective.

My up bringing could of played a part to why I went the way I did who knows being allowed to cross dress from such an early age and always being into girls stuff being the youngest and a mummies boy, then again my brothers were treated the same and their straight and do normal guy things so I have no idea perhaps it is something in the make up I certainly don’t feel like a guy inside and perhaps that maybe the thing that’s going on in your family things just getting a little mixed up and mismatched.

[kimdl93]

Could be. The data really isn't definitive. Birth order is the strongest documented influence...presumably related to hormonal influences in the womb, but even that only accounts for about 10% of the homosexual population. It's probably a bomb inaction of factors.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Steffi, Statistics can be bent to show anything that you want, But you may be on to something.

[amyjacks2014]

^.^

A recent poll whose results are confusing showed that 10-15% of respondents in the United States stated that they had ever had a thought that was gay or lesbian. Now, I work in the field of collecting statistics, and the way they lumped in certain responses with certain others ... the real number is more around 3-4%. BUT, my friends, that is still 9-12 million people! So I understand the increased prevalence of LGBT members of our society, and the increased importance of all of the issues surrounding this growing community.

Also, we have to consider that in this age of internet anonymity and everyone doing their own thing, that more people are reporting, or being reported as having these issues. Back probably as recent as the 1970s or possibly the 1980s, it was not acceptable to be anything other than straight, so those who were not straight kinda suffered in silence. You can kinda see hints of it on this forum, when the more senior members talk about how they first got into cross-dressing or TS/TG issues. And as a recent thread in the forum makes clear, even though there is more acceptance of LGBT people in general, you can still run across the occasional individual or group that are bigoted and need to be avoided. (So BE SAFE OUT THERE, LADIES!)

As I said, I work in statistics, specifically, I do survey work, and our center has often done tobacco surveys for state governments and the CDC, and the last question on most of them is about gender identity, and I can tell you that I get more people who laugh at the question, than answer anything other than straight. With this in mind, that is why I can see the 10-15% figure being possible, even though only 3-4% were put in the correct statistical category for LGBT. It's called under-reporting. It goes to what Andy66, Katie888, and Blue Orchid said about statistics, except that in some cases, the fudging happens even before the results are released. :)

So I am not surprised that the issue is still out there, and I am not surprised by your story. I hope you accept the invitation and have fun!


Amy M. Jackson

[Desirae]

I've often wondered this about my family, too. I have a half sister on my mother's side who is lesbian. My nephew [my father's daughter's (my other half sister) son] is gay. My 2nd cousin on my father's side is lesbian. I think there is another 2nd cousin on my mother's side, also, who is lesbian, but she's not "confirmed".

[Sometimes Steffi]

It's a pretty small family

The 1st generation (my grandmother and her 3 siblings) consisted of 3 girls and one boy.
The 2nd generation consisted of 3 girls and 3 boys. One of the boys was gay, but had 2 children, a boy and a girl.
The 3rd generation consisted of 5 girls and 8 boys. One of the boys (me) is a hetero CD. Two of the girls are Lesbians.

Seems like a lot of sexual, gender and presentation issues for such a small family.

[sometimes_miss]

I really hate to burst anyone's balloon, but if there were indeed a 'gay gene' it would have been removed from the gene pool a few thousand generations ago.

[Beverley Sims]

There is a gay Jean in my family, that is the only positive lead I have.