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Your Momma Made You Gay (or Bisexual)

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, science has given us a new “You might be….” clue of queerness. A new study by researchers at the University of Padua in Italy uncovered the evidence, leading to genetic markers for bisexuality among men, according to a report published in The New Scientist.

• If your momma was a bit of a ho, you might be a bisexual man.
• If you have lots of brothers and sisters, you might be a bisexual man.
• If your mom’s sisters created enough cousins for you to fill a fundamentalist Mormon compound, you might be a bisexual (or gay) man.

That’s because bisexual men may be motivated by the same gene that makes their mothers really, really into guys. It’s what scientists have dubbed, “hyper-heterosexuality.”

Earlier studies by the same Italian team, led by Dr. Camperio Ciani, suggested that genes influencing sexual orientation in men also make women more likely to reproduce. The previous research showed that female relatives of homosexual men tend to have more children. That implies that the genes on the X chromosome are responsible for male homosexuality. Now the Italian team has shown that the same holds true for bisexuality in a paper published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.  Their findings showed that the mothers, grandmothers and maternal aunts of bisexual and gay men had more children than those same relatives of heterosexual men.  The presence of the unidentified genetic factor on the X chromosome affects a woman’s attitudes toward men.  While it would not impact her fertility, it would make it more likely for her to have more children. And it would make it more likely that her sons and nephews would be really, really into guys too.

California neuroscientist Simon LeVay (a somewhat controversial figure) weighed in on the research.  The “hyper-heterosexuality” label was his addition to the discussion.  In The New Scientist, LeVay suggested that the research from Italy could explain how homosexual behavior is passed on through the generations.  Apparently, some scientists assume that homosexuals don’t naturally procreate.  Apparently they aren’t familiar with closet cases, late bloomers, Sen. Larry Craig and turkey basters.

Transgender Confusion: When an Ex-boyfriend Becomes an Ex-girlfriend

I received an e-mail today that knocked my knees out from under me and left me feeling dizzy. It was my first love of 30 years ago contacting me to tell me about his life. Through the use of government search engines, my resume, personal website and social networks were discovered. It took awhile, but he found me. “I’ve been looking for you for 10 years, ever since my marriage broke up in 1999,” he said. “You look just like you did when you were 16. I should never have let you go.”

More stunning news was yet to come.  He was no longer a he; he was now a she. Julianna, formally known as Julian, will have an operation in January to make his “out-ee” an “in-ee.” Hormones have softened once hard cheekbones, erased musculature and created breast tissue.  She sent pictures. “Are those real breasts?” I asked. “Yes. They’re real.”  And the bigger question, “Will you be able to have orgasms?” He responded affirmatively and added, “It’ll be just like a woman’s.”

My next question was the hardest for me to ask, “When did this happen? Why?”

It seems after I moved 1200 miles away, and she married the next girl down the line, she began cross-dressing. “I still dated women. Until last year,” she said. “Now I date men.”

Normally, I’m not stunned by personal revelations. My own history was unique enough. “I dated women exclusively for 25 years. Now I date both,” I told her. She wanted to know if she was the cause of my bisexuality. I laughed and said, “No. It was a beautiful, blue-eyed blonde in high school.”

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Bisexuality is its Own Team, Study Shows

Should bisexuals just “pick a team?” Why don’t they just “get off the fence?” These are some of the common frustrations aimed at bisexuals from the straight and LGBT communities alike. But a new study finds that, at least in women, bisexuality is not a result of sexual confusion. Nor is it a transitional phase between homosexuality and heterosexuality. ABC News reports that a new study by Lisa Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah, found bisexuality in women to be a “natural state.” Diamond told ABC that her findings suggest that bisexuality should be recognized as a distinct sexual orientation.

The small study followed 79 bisexual women for 10 years, and while some occasionally waivered in their sexual preference, few described themselves as “switching” to become either lesbian or straight. The research also challenged the notion that bisexual women are less likely to be successful in committing to a long-term relationship. The majority of the study participants were in monogamous relationships that lasted five years or more.

The study will be published in the January issue of the American Psychological Association’s journal, Developmental Psychology. Diamond has also written two books on female sexuality: Rethinking Positive Adolescent Female Sexual Development (2006) and the forthcoming book (to be published by Harvard University Press on February 15, 2008), Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire.

Bisexual Men More Rare?

Larry Craig and the “on the down low” phenomenon notwithstanding, other research has found that bisexuality is more common in women than men. Diamond’s research suggests that women have different patterns of sexual response than men do. But Diamond says her research should not be construed to mean that male bisexuality does not exist, but rather than more study is needed to define its unique characteristics.

In my experience, lesbians often struggle to describe how female relationships are different. It’s an emotional thing. It’s about the connection, as much or more so than sexual intimacy.

Biologists Say Bisexuality Smells; Gays are “Gender Blind”

A group of neurobiologists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have figured out how to put the “fruit” in fruit flies. Researchers at the Featherstone Lab have discovered that sexual orientation in fruit flies is controlled by a gene they named “gender blind,” or GB. If the fly’s GB gene is “mutated,” the fly is gay. The “mutation” causes the flies to overreact to pheromones, the chemical smell that identifies the gender of other flies.

Associate Professor David Featherstone, Ph.D. and his fellow scientists also found a way to turn homosexuality on and off in the fruity little flies using drugs. By spiking apple juice, the flies’ synapses could be weakened, causing GB-mutated fly fags to stop engaging in homosexual behavior. The scientists also achieved the reverse, giving hetero male files drugs that strengthened their synapses, causing them to court both males and females. Biologists can make flies bisexual.

Featherstone told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I never thought we’d be able to do that sort of thing, because sexual orientation is supposed to be hard-wired. This fundamentally changes how we think about this behavior.”

The significance of fly sex should not be dismissed: biologists say that fruit flies and humans share essentially all of the same molecules and mechanisms to build and operate our respective brains. Fruit flies are often used in research because they use something called “glutamatergic synapses” for brain function and controlling complex behavior, same as us. In an attempt to explain glutamate to the non-scientist, the Featherstone lab describes this amino acid as “the voice by which brain cells speak ” and their receptors as “the ears by which they hear.”

I am no scientist, but this research smells like trouble. I suppose there is good news and bad news when you extrapolate fly sexuality to human sexual orientation. On the one hand, Featherstone’s biology suggests that queerness is in our cells. It is nature, not nurture. On the other hand, it offends me that the study, and many of the articles written about it, are describing homosexuality as a “mutation.” This seems to me to imply imperfection or damage. Perhaps mutation has a slightly less sinister meaning for scientists, but it seems a dangerous word to inject into mainstream coverage of science. And in an audio interview with Dr. Featherstone, he describes heterosexuality as “the normal behavior.” I don’t mean to overreact, but it bugs me.

Of course, human brains are far more complex than the fruit fly, and this research may not ultimately have implications for human sexual behavior. But I would not be surprised to see social conservatives try to turn this science against us.

Perhaps queers should be prepared to leverage this biology to our advantage. If Christian Conservatives think there’s a gay agenda now, imagine the right-wing hetero fear of Homo Mutant Glutamate Sex. Queer smellers with the strong synapses. Gender blind with lust. How’s that for weird science?

To learn more, check the following links:

Gene Makes Fruit Flies Bisexual,” Chicago Sun-Times

In Fruit Flies, Homosexuality is Biological But Not Hard-wired,” Science Daily

The Featherstone Lab’s recently published scientific article on their research is not for the non-scientist. But for the scientifically inclined, you can see a free abstract of the research (or purchase the entire article) at the Website for the journal Nature Neuroscience: “A Glial Amino-Acid Transporter Controls Synapse Strength and Homosexual Courtship in Drosophila.”