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Study: Link Between Having Older Brothers and Homosexuality

Posted on Jun 27, 2006

Having one or more older brothers boosts the likelihood of a boy growing up to be gay—an effect due not to social factors but biological events that occur in the mother’s womb, according to a study published Tuesday. More evidence—alas, Bible-thumpers still need it—that homosexuality has nothing to do with outside factors and has everything to do with biology.

L.A. Times:

Having one or more older brothers boosts the likelihood of a boy growing up to be gay—an effect due not to social factors, but biological events that occur in their mother’s womb, according to a study published Tuesday.

In an analysis of 905 men and their siblings, Canadian psychologist Anthony Bogaert found no evidence that social interactions among family members play any role in determining whether a man is gay or straight.

The only significant factor was the number of times a mother had previously given birth to boys, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Each older brother increases the chances by 33 percent. Bogaert said that assuming the base rate of homosexuality among men is 2 percent, it would take 11 older brothers to give the next son about a 50-50 chance of being gay.

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By incognito, January 29, 2007 at 6:47 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I don’t have any older brothers. Guess I was just dealt a royal flush, eh?

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By R. A. Earl, June 28, 2006 at 11:35 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I sure hope there wasn’t any public funding of such a “study.”

It’s so preposterous… “they” keep studying homosexuality to find the “cause” as if there was something WRONG with being gay or lesbian. The only problems homosexuals have that everyone else doesn’t have, is the psychological impact of negative HETEROSEXUAL ATTITUDES!

I sure wish there was someone working on finding a vaccine to prevent FASCISM, FUNDAMENTALISM, SEXISM, RACISM and other such profound human stupidities. (Fortunately, such mental illness is restricted to human beings and not found amongst the rest of the animal kingdom.)

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By anonymous, June 27, 2006 at 3:01 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

saw it on tv over a month ago

I think Leslie Stahl did the story.

I don’t know any little brothers that are gonna buy into this one.

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By C Quil, June 27, 2006 at 11:39 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Homosexuality is just part of the range of behaviors in the human spectrum. It has always been there and therefore must have a biological basis. But since bible-thumpers won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story, nothing will change their minds if they’ve already made them up.

The key, I suppose, is education and open-minded enquiry. The close-minded can believe what they like, but they should not be allowed to shape public policy for the majority who do not share their beliefs, and should never be allowed to strip the rights from any group or single one out for persecution.

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