So let's clear this all up. This study was the largest ever to be conducted on this matter. It used the data from around half a million human subjects. It found that there are lots of different genes that result in a person's same-sex attraction, and around one-third of the variation in homosexual identity is explained by genetics.
This does not mean that the other two-thirds of variables are environmental or based on choice, however. Several non-genetic things happen during the gestation of a baby, such as the hormonal environment presented to a foetus in the womb. These aspects also play a vital role in dictating a person's sexuality.
What this means is there's no way genetic information can be used precisely to predict whether or not a human will have homosexual desires once they are born. Sexuality is simply too complex to be able to say, "I have THE gay gene, that's why I'm attracted to men" and vice versa.
This isn't the most interesting part of the study to me. I never thought one single gene could possibly be responsible for my overall sexuality. I'm more of the opinion that I'm gay because my makeup is like a soup: sprinklings of genes here, gestational developments there, and I can't rule out that environmental factors aren't the salt that pulls the whole pot together.
Rather, the study really illustrates that sexuality is indeed a spectrum. Do you hear that? "Science confirms sexuality is on a scale" should be the real headline today. People are not necessarily heterosexual or homosexual. We exist on a continuum of attraction to males and females. Some people (like me) are overwhelmingly attracted to the same sex but aren't entirely unattracted to the opposite gender. Likewise, you can be mostly attracted to the opposite sex, but have vague curiosities about intimacy with another male, or another female.
It's not acting on these feelings that makes you gay or straight – it's your unique physiological disposition that has put you somewhere on the gamut. Maybe you're 80 per cent attracted to other men or other women, or maybe you're 10 per cent? Perhaps you'll feel different ways during different stages of your life, based on experiences.
Unfortunately, there are still many people around the world – and indeed 71 international governments – that believe homosexuality is not normal, but a deviance. A sickness, even. They won't submit to studies like this which confirm a person's sexual orientation is made up of a tapestry of normal biological factors.
I hope for a day where these people actually listen to gay people when we speak about our sexuality. I wish they would understand that it's often something we discover in early childhood, years before sexual feelings develop in our pre-teens. For a lot of us, the only reason we don't realise our same-sex attraction is society's continual reinforcement of heterosexuality as the only "acceptable" position.
It can take a significant amount of time (and a long journey through shame) to understand and acknowledge who we are. Yet because of phenomena like religion and puritanical thinking, the belief still exists that homosexuality is something that "happens" to you. They tell themselves the lie that it's not "really" who you are.
The scientists behind this study have set up their own website to ensure a very clear message is put out into the world on this matter. "This study provides further evidence that diverse sexual behaviour is a natural part of overall human variation," they say.
"Natural part of overall human variation."
Repeat that with me.
Though many will continue to debate it, they can officially go in the same category as flat-earthers and climate change-deniers. If anyone is a "deviant"; he or she who departs from normal and accepted standards, it's them.
