To: onmyfeet
"Not to mention that if homosexuality is genetically recessive, straight parents can have gay kids (as in fact they do)."
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It doesn't matter whether a hypothetical gene for homosexuality is recessive or dominant. In the real world, the Weinberg equations don't apply given all the assumptions of environmental stability that must be made to get them to work.
In nature, which is red in tooth and claw, any gene like homosexuality which had a direct, negative effect on offspring production would result in its extinction.
To: applemac_g4
In nature, which is red in tooth and claw, any gene like homosexuality which had a direct, negative effect on offspring production would result in its extinction. Hmm.... But, in a primitive society (say, a group of hunter-gatherers), having a gay member of the group may actually help the group as a whole (and the group will have very similar genes). The gay member would contribute labor and help the rest of the group gather resources, while at the same time the gay member would not be having children (who contribute nothing until they are old enough to take part in hunting/gathering).
If we're assuming that the gay gene is recessive, other members of the hunter-gatherer family group would also carry the gene. Though the gay member might not pass on his genes, the other members of the group will and his contributions will help that passing on.
72 posted on
02/17/2004 9:10:25 AM PST by
Modernman
("When you want to fool the world, tell the truth." -Otto von Bismarck)
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