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From: mwfolsom@hydra.unm.edu (Mike Folsom)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med,sci.psychology,soc.motss
Subject: Re: The persistance of homosexuality in a gene pool
Message-ID: <1990Jul31.012219.3299@ariel.unm.edu>
Date: 31 Jul 90 01:22:19 GMT
References: <32214@cup.portal.com> <1619@oravax.UUCP> <8250@pitt.UUCP>
Sender: Michael W. Folsom (mwfolsom@hydra.unm.edu)
Organization: Dept. of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Lines: 46


In article <8250@pitt.UUCP> rozin@speedy.cs.pitt.edu.UUCP (Roman Rozin) writes:
>
>It is not necessary to know the particular mechanism, to know that there
>is *some* mechanism at work there.  There are cases of homosexual behavior
>in lower animals too.  For examle, lesbian gulls, described in
>R.L. Trivers's _Social Evolution_.

I was just about to add this to the discussion.  There ARE cases of what
can be called homosexuality in various groups of animals other than man.  
I have heard of reports in cattle ( can you imagine buying a $20,000 gay
bull ) and insects. Infact there is a mutation called "rape" in the 
fruit fly where a male tries to mount and copulate with another male.  
I really don't like the name "rape" for this mutation but it exists.  

To add my two cents.  I have been keeping an informal record fo MZ   
lesgay twins for years.  So far out of about 6 MZ twins I have found 
only one who "says" that his brother is straight. 

I'm starting to wonder if homosexuality isn't a mix of genetics and 
environment.  This is not my area but I've always wondered about
pheromones and if they have any involvement in the whole process.
I believe in some group of animals it has been shown that males and
females emit different pheromones.  WHAT IF ( and I admit its a big
if ) males usually are attracted to one set of pheromones, those 
of the females, and females to another set, those of the males.  If 
such a thing were true then any change in the human genome which 
caused a change in the ability to perceive a pheromone or, alternately,
any change in the genome that would cause an individual to be only 
attracted to "self" pheromone could affect their sexual orientation.  
In a similar vein if the change simply destroyed the ability to 
perceive a pheromone or caused an individual to be attracted to
all pheromones then they could be bisexual.  Since Kinsey (sp) said,
as I remember the numbers, that most people are bisexual then most
folks would "key in" on both "sets" of pheromones.  Which one 
attracted them the most would be the one that would "control" their
sexual orientation.  

Anyway, as I said this is not my area but I've been thinking about
this for some time.  Comments, corrections, etc -

Now, be kind!  

Mike F.  (mwfolsom@unmvm -=-or-=- mwfolsom@unmvm.unm.edu)