A scientific study has established that there is no “gay gene”

A lot of those preferences tend to be subject to high erotic plasticity though. Sexual orientation, particularly in men, much less so.

Because it’s so much more than just sexual attraction.

Because if homosexual behavior is genetically-determined (or inalterably biologically determined) the gays can argue that they are being discriminated for what they ARE, rather than for what they CHOSE to be. There's a large number of laws which prohibit voluntary behavior of one sort or another even if there are no direct victims (drug use would be one example) so the proponents of restricting homosexuality would have it easier to argue that there's an overriding societal concern which justifies this voluntary behavior. (The existence of laws creating "victimless crimes" is an accepted part of modern legal systems, sadly, but no one other than hard-core libertarians actually oppose the concept.)

Why did we need to know what it's like to send a human to the moon?

This is science and science is asking questions about the reality we live in. That is there are a set of people who deviate from the norm in that they are interested in other people of the same sex. This also deviates from the theory of evolution in that natural selection would supposedly eliminated this trait eons ago, yet it is quite prevalent today.

It is worth asking this question and it is worth asking the question why some men like fat women and some men like skinny and what are the biological implications of it? Yes it is.

A bigger question is why in the world would you question this research into a gay gene over the billions of dollars spent on getting the man to the moon (with little economic results to show for it).

I think I have an answer. Because our society has become so politically correct and so afraid of racial inequality that ANYTHING even remotely suggesting things are unequal is attacked. The truth of the matter is, we are all unequal and we are all different. That is a reality that is staring us in our faces yet we choose to ignore it because we have become afraid of inequality under all circumstances. Life is unequal. And it is worth studying the differences. A counterpoint to your analogy: we study why men have penises and why women have vaginas, or in other words sexual dimorphisms... why not study sexual preference?

A simple Darwinian analysis would indicate that since homosexuals don't produce offspring, the trait should disappear, but instead it persists across generations. We don't know why this is the case.

The question of why homosexuality is a stable trait of our species is inherently interesting.

To paraphrase The Economist's own words, the headline might instead have been:

Human sexuality is a complex interplay of genes and environmental factors

You're right. No one should care who fucks who, when all parties are consenting. And it's completely irrelevant from ones ability to be awesome.

You're probably right on the multigenic origin of homosexuality. One theory goes around that it exists because of some relationship to other、 evolutionarily beneficial factors. Twin studies also imply the possibility of epigenetic impact here as well, though I haven't read much of the literature there.

> I suspect there might not be "one gene" that makes a person a homosexual, but a collection of genes that increase the odds of someone being homosexual.

One theory I've heard is that having lots of boys in the home, increases the likelihood that the next baby born will be gay (from Professor Adam Grant of the Give & Take fame). Somehow, all that testosterone in the home seeps through the womb and flips a switch on the unborn male baby.

> I know several people who are gay and what's very interesting is most of the people I know, is there are people in their family, sisters/brothers/uncles/etc. That are also homosexuals. I suspect there might not be "one gene" that makes a person a homosexual, but a collection of genes that increase the odds of someone being homosexual.

Easily explained away by that such people see their family members engaging in homosexual activity, and are accepting of it, so they also in turn engage in the same behavior. Practically nurture in effect.

Can't tell if sarcastic or not, but that question will certainly be resurrected.

Psychological trauma (Spiced up with 2000 year old memes) has always worked to ruin minds, if that is what you mean.

Who said anything about "Conversion Therapy"? I'm lost to what this comment is in reference to?