Gay brains mirror differences found in brains of the opposite sex.

Posted by Les on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 01:15 PM. Read 717 times. Tags: , , ,
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Don’t know if the headline gets across what I’m trying to say so I’ll just let the news article speak for itself:

Scans see ‘gay brain differences’ - BBC News

The brains of gay men and women look like those found in heterosexual people of the opposite sex, research suggests.

The Swedish study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, compared the size of the brain’s halves in 90 adults.

Gay men and heterosexual women had halves of a similar size, while the right side was bigger in lesbian women and heterosexual men.

A UK scientist said this was evidence sexual orientation was set in the womb.

[...] 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.

In other words, structurally, at least, the brains of gay men were more like heterosexual women, and gay women more like heterosexual men.

A further experiment found that in one particular area of the brain, the amygdala, there were other significant differences.

In heterosexual men and gay women, there were more nerve “connections” in the right side of the amygdala, compared with the left.

The reverse, with more neural connections in the left amygdala, was the case in homosexual men and heterosexual women.

It pretty much speaks for itself. It’s not so much a lifestyle choice as a matter of biological development. For the folks involved in the study it’s pretty much a closed case:

“As far as I’m concerned there is no argument any more - if you are gay, you are born gay,” he said.

Of course this won’t stop any of the Conservative Christian groups out there who claim they can “cure” gay people of their sinful ways, but then reality isn’t an issue for those group’s decision making processes to begin with.

Article sent in by “emopunch”.

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NeonCat United States Posted on 06/18/2008 at 02:36 PM

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Of course the more… intellectual/subtle conservative Christians will argue that even if you are born gay you don’t have to have sex with someone with similar genitals as yours.  They should suppress their evil urges and make babies like the Good Lord intended.  Happiness is guaranteed in heaven, after all, not on earth.  Love the sinner, hate the sin and all that.

KPatrickGlover United States Posted on 06/18/2008 at 06:04 PM

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Which leaves me to wonder where bisexuality fits into this equation....

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Julian India Posted on 06/18/2008 at 06:05 PM

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It pretty much speaks for itself. It’s not so much a lifestyle choice as a matter of biological development. For the folks involved in the study it’s pretty much a closed case:

“As far as I’m concerned there is no argument any more - if you are gay, you are born gay,” he said.

I really dont see how it matters. People should be free to have sex with any consenting adult or group of adults even if it is a matter of choice. Proving that homsexuality is not a choice does not take away from the fact that it’s nobody else’s business who any person chooses to sleep with.

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Canis Great Britain (UK) Posted on 06/18/2008 at 06:19 PM

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Except the person they plan on sleeping with.

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KPatrickGlover United States Posted on 06/18/2008 at 06:22 PM

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I really dont see how it matters. People should be free to have sex with any consenting adult or group of adults even if it is a matter of choice. Proving that homsexuality is not a choice does not take away from the fact that it’s nobody else’s business who any person chooses to sleep with.

From a social and political standpoint, I agree completely. However, we’re talking about science, and everything we learn is another step in further understanding and all understanding has its value.

For instance (in a vastly simplified example), suppose we learn that brain part A is entirely responsible for sexual orientation. That might be useful in a medical diagnosis in the future. Perhaps someone, at the age of 40 or so, experiences a sudden and unexplained switch in orientation, that could be a sign of a possible tumor.

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shadowwank Great Britain (UK) Posted on 06/18/2008 at 06:27 PM

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i read somewhere that apparently gays have similaries in brain to the opposite sex - it feels as if it’s quite recent i heard this but i can’t remember where or when - i saw that one of you said somethign about it which reminded me

Julian India Posted on 06/18/2008 at 07:27 PM

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However, we’re talking about science, and everything we learn is another step in further understanding and all understanding has its value.

Agreed.

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Last_Hussar Great Britain (UK) Posted on 06/19/2008 at 08:17 PM

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Which leaves me to wonder where bisexuality fits into this equation....

In the middle

Sex between a man and a woman can be wonderful, provided you can get between the right man and the right woman.

I read this particular fact about gay brains about 10-15 years ago in ‘Why Men don’t listen, and women can’t read maps’- Gay men do better at tasks where women are better- telling different shades of colour, where as lesbians can parallel park. (Ok over simplified- its 1:20am here, for GSD sake)

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