Brain Scans Vs Homosexuality! Fight!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7456588.stm
The brains of gay men and women look like those found in heterosexual people of the opposite sex, research suggests.
A group of 90 healthy gay and heterosexual adults, men and women, were scanned by the Karolinska Institute scientists to measure the volume of both sides, or hemispheres, of their brain.
When these results were collected, it was found that lesbians and heterosexual men shared a particular "asymmetry" in their hemisphere size, while heterosexual women and gay men had no difference between the size of the different halves of their brain.
Dr Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in cognitive biology at Queen Mary, University of London, said that he believed that these brain differences were laid down early in foetal development.
"As far as I'm concerned there is no argument any more - if you are gay, you are born gay," he said.
If this all shakes out it certainly could have a very large impact on how we talk about homosexuality. Not that I think that people who are firm in disliking homosexuals will come around due to this. But this study could put a big hole in the "Homosexuality is a choice," argument. And the "cure homosexuality" folks' ideas as well.
While more study will certainly have to be done, I can't help but wonder just how a firm answer on the origins of homosexuality might mean. I recall in college two friends of mine got into a heated argument about this very thing and afterwards tried not to be in the same room if it all possible. I'd really like to think that answer here might prevent that from happening to others.
Also, if it is all due to the brain I can't help but wonder if this might lead to homosexuality being put back in the books as a medical condition. I don't see great odds of that happening, but it's still something to think about.
The brains of gay men and women look like those found in heterosexual people of the opposite sex, research suggests.
A group of 90 healthy gay and heterosexual adults, men and women, were scanned by the Karolinska Institute scientists to measure the volume of both sides, or hemispheres, of their brain.
When these results were collected, it was found that lesbians and heterosexual men shared a particular "asymmetry" in their hemisphere size, while heterosexual women and gay men had no difference between the size of the different halves of their brain.
Dr Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in cognitive biology at Queen Mary, University of London, said that he believed that these brain differences were laid down early in foetal development.
"As far as I'm concerned there is no argument any more - if you are gay, you are born gay," he said.
If this all shakes out it certainly could have a very large impact on how we talk about homosexuality. Not that I think that people who are firm in disliking homosexuals will come around due to this. But this study could put a big hole in the "Homosexuality is a choice," argument. And the "cure homosexuality" folks' ideas as well.
While more study will certainly have to be done, I can't help but wonder just how a firm answer on the origins of homosexuality might mean. I recall in college two friends of mine got into a heated argument about this very thing and afterwards tried not to be in the same room if it all possible. I'd really like to think that answer here might prevent that from happening to others.
Also, if it is all due to the brain I can't help but wonder if this might lead to homosexuality being put back in the books as a medical condition. I don't see great odds of that happening, but it's still something to think about.