2010-08-25, 12:13 PM
QFT Eos, and adding my theory of sexual orientation as an individual trait heavily influenced by genetic factors of autosomal incomplete dominance. The classic textbook example of incomplete dominance shows two snapdragons, one red and one white, producing a pink offspring, and seeing as how sexual orientation is not a cookie-cutter, black-and-white phenomenon, but exists in varying degrees on a wide spectrum, it makes sense (at a basic, fundamental level) that the alleles involved with the specific coding of a personal's sexuality both have a share in determining the resultant trait.
All this being said, this is a crapshot theory that even high school Biology students with a simple grasp of Mendelian genetics could brainstorm, and one that could be invalidated by logic (ex. is being 100% "gay" impossible due to reproductive inability between two homosexuals, which would produce someone with two "gay" alleles? Are bisexuals only the product of a homosexual and heterosexual reproducing, and an equal pairing of respective alleles? These are just two of a million different questions that would determine the validity of such a theory). In the end, though, it's important to regard sexual orientation as occurring on a spectrum of possibilities as opposed to the cookie-cutter paradigm, especially when searching for potential genetic markers.
All this being said, this is a crapshot theory that even high school Biology students with a simple grasp of Mendelian genetics could brainstorm, and one that could be invalidated by logic (ex. is being 100% "gay" impossible due to reproductive inability between two homosexuals, which would produce someone with two "gay" alleles? Are bisexuals only the product of a homosexual and heterosexual reproducing, and an equal pairing of respective alleles? These are just two of a million different questions that would determine the validity of such a theory). In the end, though, it's important to regard sexual orientation as occurring on a spectrum of possibilities as opposed to the cookie-cutter paradigm, especially when searching for potential genetic markers.

