I’ve never understood why we need to find a gene to explain people’s gender sexual preference. No one looks for a gene to determine why some men like short women with big butts and other men like skinny women.
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?
It’s just the opposite. People have been arguing that being gay “is not a choice” so society shouldn’t discriminate against gay people just like they shouldn’t discriminate against short people.
I’m saying that it shouldn’t matter whether it is “a choice” or not. Just treat everyone equally. I’m also saying that they could find a whole bunch of gay genes and it wouldn’t matter to religious conservatives who think it is a “sin”. It wouldn’t change their belief system. If they still “don’t believe in” evolution and think the earth is only 7000 years old as well studied as evolution is, why do people think they will accept a gay gene and change such deeply held beliefs in how wrong it is?
Just like we ignored them and struck down laws against miscegenation. We should continue to ignore them and treat everyone equally regardless of sexual preference.
The question of why homosexuality is a stable trait of our species is inherently interesting.
We decided as a society to ignore those people because they were wrong. We shouldn’t need “studies” to get the hell out of people’s bedroom. Slowly we are changing as society. But studies won’t convince people who believe that not only are “the gays” going to hell but they are the cause of all of society’s ills and natural disasters.