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[Steve]

turns out, the gay gene is selfishly altruistic

Well, we knew it had to be somehow, huh?
That's cool. "Super-uncles"

I wonder why, if homosexuality really works evolutionarily, why couldn't a gene for sterility work just as well?

And a gay gene is easier to pass on than a sterility gene, for obvious reasons.

[Iconoclast]

When I raced pigeons

You get my award for the least expected statement in a thread about homosexuality.

I separated the cocks

that's just a funny sentence fragment

[BaMan]

Evolutionarily, wouldn't pure homosexuality be selected against? I am thinking in a gene frequency sort of way. Whatever gene(s) cause ones sexual preference, since homosexuality can not be passed through reproduction, wouldn't that be a pressure against it? Would be interesting if we as a species evolved the ability to reproduce regardless of gender.

[Citizen Skeptic]

Since the human genome has been mapped, and there is a large sample of people across the sexuality spectrum, why haven't they been able to nail the gene(s) down? I think I've read that traits can be inherited without a specific gene. Is that part of the complexity?

[pandamonium]

Evolutionarily, wouldn't pure homosexuality be selected against? I am thinking in a gene frequency sort of way. Whatever gene(s) cause ones sexual preference, since homosexuality can not be passed through reproduction, wouldn't that be a pressure against it? Would be interesting if we as a species evolved the ability to reproduce regardless of gender.

the assumption that gays don't have biological offspring is completely false. i had a coworker who was a lesbian, but had been in a hetero marriage and had a kid. one of my friend's father is gay. there are others. our modern concept of gay is modern - strictly homosxual relationship are extremely rare if not nonexistent before the 50s or so.

also, don't forget that homosexuals still have the urge to have babbies. modern tech makes that possible thru sperm banks and whatnot. lesbians really don't need guys, despite what the porn would have you think. unfortunately, gays need women to surrogate still.

[Citizen Skeptic]

Evolutionarily, wouldn't pure homosexuality be selected against? I am thinking in a gene frequency sort of way. Whatever gene(s) cause ones sexual preference, since homosexuality can not be passed through reproduction, wouldn't that be a pressure against it? Would be interesting if we as a species evolved the ability to reproduce regardless of gender.

the assumption that gays don't have biological offspring is completely false. i had a coworker who was a lesbian, but had been in a hetero marriage and had a kid. one of my friend's father is gay. there are others. our modern concept of gay is modern - strictly homosxual relationship are extremely rare if not nonexistent before the 50s or so.

also, don't forget that homosexuals still have the urge to have babbies. modern tech makes that possible thru sperm banks and whatnot. lesbians really don't need guys, despite what the porn would have you think. unfortunately, gays need women to surrogate still.

I think guys think they can "convert" lesbians. They just haven't had the right man yet.

This goes hand in hand with the fantasy that all strippers are working their way through college.

[BaMan]

Evolutionarily, wouldn't pure homosexuality be selected against? I am thinking in a gene frequency sort of way. Whatever gene(s) cause ones sexual preference, since homosexuality can not be passed through reproduction, wouldn't that be a pressure against it? Would be interesting if we as a species evolved the ability to reproduce regardless of gender.

the assumption that gays don't have biological offspring is completely false. i had a coworker who was a lesbian, but had been in a hetero marriage and had a kid. one of my friend's father is gay. there are others. our modern concept of gay is modern - strictly homosxual relationship are extremely rare if not nonexistent before the 50s or so.

Hence why I said "pure homosexuality". Of course when speaking evolutionarily we as a species have thrown a wrench in "natural"selection with the advent of modern technology. The question I was posing was merely theoretical.

[pandamonium]

"pure homosexuals" don't exist, though, not in the way that you seem to be framing it. there's a spectrum of sexuality: some people are exclusively hetero and some people exclusively are homosexual but some people aren't either. and then there's the question of seperating homosexual acts from sexual orientation. straight men have been known to engage (willingly) in homosexual acts, like mutual masterbation and kissing. same goes with straight women - aka university lesbians. having gay sex doesn't make you not straight, just like eating a salad doesn't make you a vegetarian.

besides, exclusive gays and lesbians still have the urge/want to have kids. before modern technology, it meant performing heterosexual sexual acts. and i'm pretty sure that a combination of social and biological pressures kept homosexuals more or less bisexual until recent times.   

[spiney]

But surely, wouldn't a lower sex drive make you "less likely to have offspring"?

[Citizen Skeptic]

I loved that show. I had all the spy toys. 

[pandamonium]

lower sex drive? who said anything about a lower sex drive? and a lower sex drive doesn't necessarily mean lower fertility.

[I am Nintendo]

lower sex drive? who said anything about a lower sex drive? and a lower sex drive doesn't necessarily mean lower fertility.

However, the reverse is true based on the subject's self-confidence.

[Chas B]

But surely, wouldn't a lower sex drive make you "less likely to have offspring"?

You clearly haven't met many homosexuals lol

[pandamonium]

But surely, wouldn't a lower sex drive make you "less likely to have offspring"?

You clearly haven't met many homosexuals lol

yeah, not worrying about getting or giving preggers is faaaabulous. 

[Alex]

also, don't forget that homosexuals still have the urge to have babbies. modern tech makes that possible thru sperm banks and whatnot. lesbians really don't need guys, despite what the porn would have you think. unfortunately, gays need women to surrogate still.

I just can't wait for the day that science allows me to gestate a fetus inside my abdominal cavity!