Homosexuality: Genetic, sociological and psychological overview

Suggested Citation: Basumatary, B. (2021, June 4). Homosexuality: Genetic, sociological and psychological overview. Queer Academia. URL

 Homosexuality: Genetic, sociological and psychological overview | Bibari Basumatary

Homosexuality has been a topic of discussion for centuries, from ancient civilization or to the modern era. People all around the world have been trying to figure out why homosexuality exists? Is it in our genes? Do our surroundings play any role in our sexuality? Or is it a disorder? What is the reason behind the rising youth homosexual suicide (Holmes, 2020)?

But first, let us have a clear overview of Homosexuality. According to the American Psychology Association (APA), Homosexuality is defined as “Sexual attraction or activity between members of the same sex. Although the term can refer to homosexual orientation in both men and women, current practice distinguishes between gay men and lesbians, and homosexuality itself is now commonly referred to as same-sex sexual orientation or activity.” The origin of the word ‘Homosexual’ is still unknown however, the earlier record can be found when Karl Maria Kertbeny used the terms homosexual and heterosexual in a letter to Karl Heinrich Ulrihs (queer activist, also a lawyer and journalist) about the discussion of strategies for queer liberation, on May 6, 1868 (Tang, 2018). This word has been modified as time passed, in some countries like China and Thailand homosexuals are called ‘同志’ (Tóngzhì) which literally means ‘same will’ in Chinese, ‘เกย์’ (Key̒) means gay in Thai (Marsh, 2012).

 To this date, we have not unwrapped the physiology of our chromosomes which consists of the genetic materials, i.e. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) (Ball, P. (2013). Who knows unfolding all the secrets of our DNA will lead us to?

There has been a new study proposed by Alan R. Sanders et. al. (2017) on Genome-Wide Association Study of Male Sexual Orientation where they researched male sexual orientation on a primarily European ancestry sample of 1,077 homosexual men and 1,231 heterosexual men using Affymetrix single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays.” SNP mentions the difference of single nucleotides at the same position in the genomic DNA sequence. Thus, they identified a gene known as SLITRK6 and TSHR based on the common genetic diseases like deafness, myopia, goiter, etc. faced by homosexual males. Even though the study has its limitations, it is difficult to understand if the ‘Gay Gene’ really exists. Although there is strong evidence that many chromosomes consist of a gay gene, as found in a twin study done by Whitam, Diamond, and Martin (1993) on Homosexual orientation in twins. They found out that "Thirty-eight pairs of monozygotic twins or identical twins (34 male pairs and 4 female pairs) were found to have a concordance rate of 65.8% for homosexual orientation. Twenty-three pairs of dizygotic twins or fraternal twins were found to have a concordance rate of 30.4% for homosexual orientation.” (Whitam, 1993).

 The LGBTQ+ community has been oppressed for ages, by their families, or society. Parents are scared that their bloodline would end or what other people will think if their child turned out to be a homosexual, so they put harsh pressure on their kids to stay straight. Whenever they see their boy child putting on nail polish or dressing up as a girl, their parents would make fun of them or even hit them. A case study was done by J Harry (1989) where he studied ‘Parental Physical abuse and sexual orientation in males’. He hypothesized that "homosexual men had been more physically abused by parents than the heterosexual men. Harry tested this hypothesis by comparing 17 gay male college students and 67 heterosexual male college students. Gay males were found to have been more abused during adolescence." Moreover, If their child turns out to be homosexual, they try to disown their own child or throw them out of the house, or gets them killed. Even though the younger generation is getting more open to the LGBTQ+ community, there is still a stigma among them that being gay, or bisexual, or lesbian is bad. In India, whenever they see a male acting like a woman, they would call them “Chakka” or “Hijra” which means Gay or transgender. Due to this, many homosexuals find it hard to come out to society due to the fear that they will not be welcomed or accepted. There was news about a 19-year-old committing suicide because he was ridiculed for being a homosexual (India Today, 2019). Another news regarding how an Indian parent won’t stop forcing her children to conversion therapy (Deol, 2020).

 Hindu corpus doesn't state anywhere that "being gay is a sin", in fact in the Hindu scriptures such as Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Isopanisad, Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc. homosexuality is not addressed explicitly, but their important teachings are equally applicable to all classes of human beings without discrimination (Shah, 2016).

Cyril Grueter, from the University of Western Australia, has conducted a documentary study in 2016, with the help of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. He was able to document the Homosexual Activity in Female Gorillas. He came to know that Female Gorillas are quite flexible in terms of sexual intercourse, they can shift to another female gorilla if the male gorilla rejects them. Even Elephants, Dolphins, orang-utans, and many other animals have been found to have an attraction towards the same-sex gender. Sometimes, the geographical location and the population ratio also matters. There is a study conducted by Therese Hesketh and Zhu Wei Xing (2006) about Abnormal sex ratios in human populations: Causes and consequences on Asian countries, they stated that “It has also been suggested that a shortage of women may lead to a rise in homosexual behavior, not implying that the shortage of women will produce homosexuals, but rather that an increasing tolerance toward homosexuality, together with the surplus of males, may lead to large numbers of covert homosexuals openly expressing their sexuality.” (Hesketh, 2006).

 According to Sigmund Freud (1905), all humans are born bisexuals (Freud, 1905). But later the psychologists rejected his hypothesis and Sandor Rado (1940, 1949) argued that “heterosexuality is natural and that homosexuality is a ‘reparative' attempt to achieve sexual pleasure when normal heterosexual outlet proves too threatening.” At first, homosexuality was considered as a disorder according to DSM-II (Diagnostic and statistical manual) which was a part of Paraphilia, but now it is removed from DSM. Although homosexuality isn’t a mental illness, it might lead to that due to the psychological effect of society’s prejudice and treatment towards them. There have been many studies done on homosexuality by many scholars, such as Kurt et. al. on Biological Explanation, Psychological Explanation, and Tolerance of Homosexuals: A Cross-National Analysis of Beliefs and Attitudes. Their analysis indicated that “Subjects who believed that homosexuals are ‘born that way’ held significantly more positive attitudes toward homosexuals than subjects who believed that homosexuals 'choose to be that way and/or ‘learn to be that way.’ (Kurt, 1989).

 Worldwide there has been various news about homosexuals committing suicide or of them being killed by the mobs because they supposedly don’t fit in the societal expectations. There is no safe place for homosexuals to find peace and acceptance, they might be present as small groups across the countries but society is trying to eliminate them. As seen in a recent case in Virginia where they ban the defense which is letting gay and trans getting panicked (CNN, 2021). And another, of a killing spree in Colombia where more than 60 LGBT people were killed. Moreover, international female footballer, Eudy Simelane was murdered for being gay (Watson, 2021).

 Homosexuality is not a disease neither a sin, the attitude towards homosexuality varies from country and cultures. With many people speaking up about their sexualities, people become more confident in opening up among their family, peers, and relatives. Although, the discriminatory attitudes towards homosexuals have altered over time with social media and people are now becoming more accepting towards other sexualities, there is still a long way to go. 

References

Holmes, J.J. (2020). Nearly half of LGBTQ youth considered suicide in the last year. That was before the pandemic. https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/07/nearly-half-lgbtq-youth-considered-suicide-last-year-pandemic/

 Tang, GVGK (2018).150 years ago, the word ‘homosexual’ was coined in secret correspondence.  https://medium.com/@gvgktang/150-years-ago-the-word-homosexual-was-coined-in-a-secret-correspondence-1803ff9a79bc

 Homosexuality. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/homosexuality

 Marsh, V. (2021). New Chinese dictionary in a row over 'gay' omission. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-18920096

 Ball, P. (2013) Nature magazine. DNA at 60: Still Much to Learn. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-at-60-still-much-to-learn/

 Whitam, F.L., et.al (1993). Homosexual orientation in twins: A report on 61 pairs and three triplet sets. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01541765#citeas

 Harry, J.(1989). Parental physical abuse and sexual orientation in males. Arch Sex Behav. 1989 Jun;18(3):251-61. doi: 10.1007/BF01543199. PMID: 2751419. - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2751419/

 India Today (2019). Not my fault I was born gay: 19-year-old commits suicide over homophobia https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/gay-man-suicide-homophobia-lgbt-helplines-1565041-2019-07-09

 Deol, T. (2020) Shock and outrage won’t stop Indian parents forcing queer children into ‘conversion therapy’ https://theprint.in/opinion/pov/shock-and-outrage-wont-stop-indian-parents-forcing-queer-children-into-conversion-therapy/425439/

 Homosexual Activity documented in the female gorillas for the first time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOtDSsn2kA

 Hesketh, T. & Xing, Z.W. (2006). Abnormal Sex ratios in human population: Causes and Consequences. PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/content/103/36/13271

 Kurt E., et. al (1989) Biological Explanation, Psychological Explanation, and Tolerance of Homosexuals: A Cross-National Analysis of Beliefs and Attitudes. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1989.65.3.1003?journalCode=prxa

 Humans are born bisexual -  https://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html

 Shah, P. (2016). Hindu Society – Transgenders And Homosexuality. Hindu Post. https://www.hindupost.in/society-culture/hindu-society-transgenders-homosexuality/amp/

 More than 60 LGBT, intersex people killed in Colombia in first eight months of 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-lgbt-idUSKBN26634G

 Watson, K. (2021) LGBT+ History Month: Eudy Simelane - the international footballer murdered for being gay. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55950480

 CNN (2021). Virginia becomes the first state in the South to ban gay and trans panic as a defense. https://www.cbs58.com/news/virginia-becomes-the-first-state-in-the-south-to-ban-gay-and-trans-panic-as-a-defense

Written by: Bibari Basumatary

Edited by: Archisha Arora

About the Author: Bibari is an academic writer at Mendlife Foundation working on the project Queer Academia.