Scientists may have finally solved the puzzle of what makes a person gay, and how it is passed from parents to children. What are the implications of this discovery?
Showing posts with label dean hamer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dean hamer. Show all posts
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Kinsey Institute Welcomes Dean Hamer Archives
The Kinsey Institute welcomes the addition of the Dean Hamer collection to the Kinsey Institute Library at Indiana University. Best known as the discoverer of the “gay gene,” Hamer’s papers, correspondence, news clips and videos provide fascinating insights into the excitement and controversy that surrounded one of the most important periods in the scientific study of human sexuality.
Hamer, like Alfred Kinsey, began his career as a research biologist. He obtained his BA at Trinity College, CT, his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, and was an independent researcher at the National Institutes of Health for 35 years, where he directed the Gene Structure and Regulation Section at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. He invented the first method for introducing new genes into animal cells using viral vectors, which allowed the production of numerous biomedical products, and elucidated one of the first animal gene regulation circuits to be understood at the molecular level.
As the techniques of molecular genetics became increasingly powerful in the 1990s, Hamer turned his attention to the roles of genes in human behavior. He focused on sexual orientation because it was one of the most fundamental aspects of human biology, yet one of the least studied from a molecular perspective – a situation he believed was due to a conservative political climate that stigmatized the objective study of human sexuality.
Combining classical family studies with the newly developed technology of gene mapping by DNA linkage analysis, Hamer's group produced the first molecular evidence for the existence of genes that influence homosexuality in males, and showed that one of these genes is associated with the Xq28 marker on the X chromosome. This finding was replicated in two studies in the United States but not in a third in Canada; meta-analysis indicated Xq28 has a significant but not exclusive effect. Subsequently, several additional linked regions on other chromosomes have been described. The maternal transmission pattern was also confirmed in studies showing a possible evolutionary advantage at the level of female fecundity.
Hamer’s findings, first published in Science in 1993, ignited an international media firestorm that quickly spread across newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the internet. The research was the topic of front page stories across the world, major articles in Time and Newsweek, news and talk shows including Nightline and Oprah, and even became the subject of a Broadway play.Reactions varied from cautious support from the scientific community to passionate disavowals from religious conservatives. Many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals felt the results would increase understanding and acceptance, while others feared that they might medicalize or even eliminate non-heterosexual orientations. Hamer described his work, and the range of reactions to it, in his 1994 book The Science of Desire, a New York Times Book of the Year.
The Hamer Collection includes a wide range of scientific materials including the original research protocols, sample questionnaires and participant responses, detailed statistical analyses of the data, and drafts of the research papers. His correspondence with other scientists and laypeople reveals the diverse reactions that the research evoked. Popular materials include extensive press coverage in both mainstream and LGBT periodicals. Of special interest are the materials relating to Hamer's appearance in the Colorado Supreme Court Amendment 2 trial, in which the role of biology in sexual orientation received high level judicial scrutiny.
In more recent years Hamer's research focused on related topics in human behavioral genetics, including the discovery of the “Prozac gene,” and new biomedical forms of HIV prevention. He also became a director and producer of documentary films, including the Emmy Award-winning PBS film OUT IN THE SILENCE, which examines the reactions to his marriage to his partner Joe Wilson in a small conservative town in rural Pennsylvania.
Hamer, like Alfred Kinsey, began his career as a research biologist. He obtained his BA at Trinity College, CT, his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, and was an independent researcher at the National Institutes of Health for 35 years, where he directed the Gene Structure and Regulation Section at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. He invented the first method for introducing new genes into animal cells using viral vectors, which allowed the production of numerous biomedical products, and elucidated one of the first animal gene regulation circuits to be understood at the molecular level.
As the techniques of molecular genetics became increasingly powerful in the 1990s, Hamer turned his attention to the roles of genes in human behavior. He focused on sexual orientation because it was one of the most fundamental aspects of human biology, yet one of the least studied from a molecular perspective – a situation he believed was due to a conservative political climate that stigmatized the objective study of human sexuality.
Combining classical family studies with the newly developed technology of gene mapping by DNA linkage analysis, Hamer's group produced the first molecular evidence for the existence of genes that influence homosexuality in males, and showed that one of these genes is associated with the Xq28 marker on the X chromosome. This finding was replicated in two studies in the United States but not in a third in Canada; meta-analysis indicated Xq28 has a significant but not exclusive effect. Subsequently, several additional linked regions on other chromosomes have been described. The maternal transmission pattern was also confirmed in studies showing a possible evolutionary advantage at the level of female fecundity.
Hamer’s findings, first published in Science in 1993, ignited an international media firestorm that quickly spread across newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the internet. The research was the topic of front page stories across the world, major articles in Time and Newsweek, news and talk shows including Nightline and Oprah, and even became the subject of a Broadway play.Reactions varied from cautious support from the scientific community to passionate disavowals from religious conservatives. Many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals felt the results would increase understanding and acceptance, while others feared that they might medicalize or even eliminate non-heterosexual orientations. Hamer described his work, and the range of reactions to it, in his 1994 book The Science of Desire, a New York Times Book of the Year.
The Hamer Collection includes a wide range of scientific materials including the original research protocols, sample questionnaires and participant responses, detailed statistical analyses of the data, and drafts of the research papers. His correspondence with other scientists and laypeople reveals the diverse reactions that the research evoked. Popular materials include extensive press coverage in both mainstream and LGBT periodicals. Of special interest are the materials relating to Hamer's appearance in the Colorado Supreme Court Amendment 2 trial, in which the role of biology in sexual orientation received high level judicial scrutiny.
In more recent years Hamer's research focused on related topics in human behavioral genetics, including the discovery of the “Prozac gene,” and new biomedical forms of HIV prevention. He also became a director and producer of documentary films, including the Emmy Award-winning PBS film OUT IN THE SILENCE, which examines the reactions to his marriage to his partner Joe Wilson in a small conservative town in rural Pennsylvania.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Is It A Choice? A Scientist's View
When Tim Pawlenty said the science was "in dispute” about whether being gay is genetic, that sure came as surprise to molecular biologist Dean Hamer, Co-Director of the OUT IN THE SILENCE Campaign.
By Dr. Dean Hamer for The Advocate:
In a recent interview, Tim Pawlenty was asked “Is being gay a choice?” The presidential hopeful replied that “the science in that regard is in dispute.”
As a working molecular biologist, that was certainly a surprise to me.
In fact, the scientific community has long regarded sexual orientation – whether gay, straight, or somewhere in between – as a phenotype: an observable set of properties that varies among individuals and is deeply rooted in biology. For us, the role of genetics in sexual behavior is about as “disputable” as the role of evolution in biology. Come to think of it, pretty much the same folks are opposed to both ideas.
The empirical evidence for the role of genetics in sexual orientation has steadily mounted since I first entered the field in the early 1990s. Back then, the only quantitative data was derived from studies of unrepresentative and potentially biased samples of self-identified gay men and lesbian. But in the intervening 20 years, studies of twins – the mainstay of human population genetics – have been conducted on systematically ascertained populations in three different countries. These studies are notable because they have large sample sizes that are representative of the overall population, they’re conducted by independent university-based investigators using well-established statistical methods, and the results are published in the peer-reviewed literature.
Each of these studies has led to the same fundamental conclusion: genes play a major role in human sexual orientation. By contrast, shared environmental factors such as education, parenting style, or presumably even exposure to Lady Gaga, have little if anything to do with people's orientation. While there is a substantial amount of variation that cannot be ascribed to either heritable or shared environment, the differences might also be due to biological traits that are not inherited in a simple additive manner.
One criticism frequently leveled at my work was that sexual orientation couldn't possibly be inherited because “gays don't have kids.” As the gay father of a daughter with lesbian mothers, I always had to shake my head in disbelief – but now there is a solid scientific explanation for how genes that increase same-sex attraction might persist or even increase in the population. Careful family studies by two groups of investigators show that the same inherited factors that favor male homosexuality actually increase the fecundity of female maternal relatives, and that this effect is sufficient to balance out the decreased number of offspring for gay men and maintain the genes over the course of natural selection. This explanation may not be the only one, but it serves to show that the evolutionary paradox is not necessarily overwhelming.
Another criticism frequently brought up by politically motivated critics of the research is that there is still no single identified "gay gene." However, the same is true for height, skin color, handedness, frequency of heart disease and many other traits that have a large inherited component but no dominant gene. This doesn't mean that sexual orientation is a choice; it simply confirms that sexual orientation is complex, with many genes contributing to the phenotype.
In certain animal model systems, the precise genes involved in sexual partner choice have in fact been identified and their neuro-biochemical pathways have been worked out in detail. Humans may be more socially and culturally complex, but it is likely that some of these mechanisms are preserved, as they are for every other behavioral trait we know.
Given the accumulated evidence, why might Pawlenty assert that the scientific community is still debating the role of biology in sexual orientation? Probably because that's what the religious fundamentalist groups that vehemently oppose LGBT rights want people to think, and have spent considerable time, effort and money trying to promote.
There is good reason for their opposition to the scientific findings. Studies in college classrooms have shown that exposure of students to information about the causes of sexual orientation has a direct, positive influence on their opinions about LGBT civil rights. This fits with polling data showing that people who believe that gays are "born that way" are generally supportive of full equality, whereas more than two thirds of those who believe it is "a choice" are so opposed that they favor the re-criminalization of same-sex relations.
I would never want my life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness to be subject to a DNA test or any other sort of scientific analysis. Basic rights are just that – basic. But it is essential to acknowledge that lack of scientific knowledge can actually result in having our rights and freedoms taken away through the actions of misinformed voters, legislators and judges.
At least Pawlenty acknowledged that science has some role to play. I doubt that would be the case for his competitor Michele Bachman, who considers sexual orientation to be so malleable that people can “pray away the gay”. She's hopeless. With Pawlenty, it might just take some education – and plenty of Lady G, of course.
Dean Hamer is a molecular biologist who works on human genetics and HIV prevention and is the author of several scientific books including The Science of Desire. When he's not in the lab, he is visiting small towns and rural communities with his husband Joe Wilson on the OUT IN THE SILENCE Campaign.
By Dr. Dean Hamer for The Advocate:
In a recent interview, Tim Pawlenty was asked “Is being gay a choice?” The presidential hopeful replied that “the science in that regard is in dispute.”
As a working molecular biologist, that was certainly a surprise to me.
In fact, the scientific community has long regarded sexual orientation – whether gay, straight, or somewhere in between – as a phenotype: an observable set of properties that varies among individuals and is deeply rooted in biology. For us, the role of genetics in sexual behavior is about as “disputable” as the role of evolution in biology. Come to think of it, pretty much the same folks are opposed to both ideas.
The empirical evidence for the role of genetics in sexual orientation has steadily mounted since I first entered the field in the early 1990s. Back then, the only quantitative data was derived from studies of unrepresentative and potentially biased samples of self-identified gay men and lesbian. But in the intervening 20 years, studies of twins – the mainstay of human population genetics – have been conducted on systematically ascertained populations in three different countries. These studies are notable because they have large sample sizes that are representative of the overall population, they’re conducted by independent university-based investigators using well-established statistical methods, and the results are published in the peer-reviewed literature.
Each of these studies has led to the same fundamental conclusion: genes play a major role in human sexual orientation. By contrast, shared environmental factors such as education, parenting style, or presumably even exposure to Lady Gaga, have little if anything to do with people's orientation. While there is a substantial amount of variation that cannot be ascribed to either heritable or shared environment, the differences might also be due to biological traits that are not inherited in a simple additive manner.
One criticism frequently leveled at my work was that sexual orientation couldn't possibly be inherited because “gays don't have kids.” As the gay father of a daughter with lesbian mothers, I always had to shake my head in disbelief – but now there is a solid scientific explanation for how genes that increase same-sex attraction might persist or even increase in the population. Careful family studies by two groups of investigators show that the same inherited factors that favor male homosexuality actually increase the fecundity of female maternal relatives, and that this effect is sufficient to balance out the decreased number of offspring for gay men and maintain the genes over the course of natural selection. This explanation may not be the only one, but it serves to show that the evolutionary paradox is not necessarily overwhelming.
Another criticism frequently brought up by politically motivated critics of the research is that there is still no single identified "gay gene." However, the same is true for height, skin color, handedness, frequency of heart disease and many other traits that have a large inherited component but no dominant gene. This doesn't mean that sexual orientation is a choice; it simply confirms that sexual orientation is complex, with many genes contributing to the phenotype.
In certain animal model systems, the precise genes involved in sexual partner choice have in fact been identified and their neuro-biochemical pathways have been worked out in detail. Humans may be more socially and culturally complex, but it is likely that some of these mechanisms are preserved, as they are for every other behavioral trait we know.
Given the accumulated evidence, why might Pawlenty assert that the scientific community is still debating the role of biology in sexual orientation? Probably because that's what the religious fundamentalist groups that vehemently oppose LGBT rights want people to think, and have spent considerable time, effort and money trying to promote.
There is good reason for their opposition to the scientific findings. Studies in college classrooms have shown that exposure of students to information about the causes of sexual orientation has a direct, positive influence on their opinions about LGBT civil rights. This fits with polling data showing that people who believe that gays are "born that way" are generally supportive of full equality, whereas more than two thirds of those who believe it is "a choice" are so opposed that they favor the re-criminalization of same-sex relations.
I would never want my life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness to be subject to a DNA test or any other sort of scientific analysis. Basic rights are just that – basic. But it is essential to acknowledge that lack of scientific knowledge can actually result in having our rights and freedoms taken away through the actions of misinformed voters, legislators and judges.
At least Pawlenty acknowledged that science has some role to play. I doubt that would be the case for his competitor Michele Bachman, who considers sexual orientation to be so malleable that people can “pray away the gay”. She's hopeless. With Pawlenty, it might just take some education – and plenty of Lady G, of course.
Dean Hamer is a molecular biologist who works on human genetics and HIV prevention and is the author of several scientific books including The Science of Desire. When he's not in the lab, he is visiting small towns and rural communities with his husband Joe Wilson on the OUT IN THE SILENCE Campaign.
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Saturday, October 3, 2009
Q & A With Geneticist and Filmmaker Dean Hamer
from Scarlet & Black, the student newspaper at Iowa's Grinnell College:
Geneticist Dean Hamer came into fame in 1993 for his controversial discovery of “the gay gene”. His convocation speech Thursday, which focused on his research in behavior genetics and human sexuality, was followed in the evening by a screening and discussion of Out in the Silence, the documentary he produced chronicling the challenges of GLBT individuals in a small Pennsylvania town.
Jumi Bello: What prompted you to study genes pertaining to human behavior?
Dean Hamer: I think it was why I’ve studied genetics all my life. It got to a certain point in time where I’d done my basic research and I was looking for something that would have more social importance and it was at that same time that the Human Genome Project really started…so you could really do something significant with behavior genetics. So I put those two things together and decided to do that.
Bello: With all this research, you made findings on all types of behavioral genetics—serotonin transporters, dopamine and how it relates to anxiety/depression and even the “gay gene.” What was your motivation for pursuing this line of scientific research?
Hamer: I think that, you know, almost everyone who is a biologist thinks that all these traits have some biological underpinning. What was novel about what I did was to say, “Ok, let’s apply the technology we have and study something like sexual orientation,”and most people would shy away from stuff like that because it’s too queer or too gay or too weird or something like that. So it wasn’t really so much of a theory as the willingness to look at something that a lot of people had not investigated at all before.
Bello: Your willingness to look at something that had not been investigated before produced some findings that were very groundbreaking for the scientific world as well as the queer theory arena. How did people react when you started publishing your findings?
Hamer: The reactions were very mixed. They ranged from absolute total ecstasy: “This is wonderful, this is great,” to: “You’re some kind of Hitler madman who’s going to be destroying gay people forever.” It was very, very varied, I would say. The only people who would be consistently against it were the real right-wingers who don’t want anyone to think that being gay is anything other than a bad choice that people make. But other people who were on both sides saw things both ways.
Bello: What about your more current hypotheses on other behavioral genes? You wrote something in 2004 called “The God Gene” and you were talking about how there is a God gene for the religious experience.
Hamer: That’s actually not a gene. It’s not really for religion or for God, it’s more for the feelings of spirituality that people have. And we have this theory that spirituality again is a personality trait that is variable. Some people tend to be more spiritual and others less so.
Bello: What led to this publication?
Hamer: I’m just fascinated with how important religion has become in American society. It made me wonder why it was so important and as a biologist, I wondered whether there were biological roots. There’s been a fair amount of research suggesting that there’s some sort of biological root to spirituality and we decided to test that.
In fact, what the research looks like is that this tendency towards spirituality does have some sort of innate component, whereas religion itself is purely culture and has no biology. I also realized that that is very at the outer edge of what biology can really study in a truly scientific way. I think the research is valid but is sort of pushing the limits of how much you can study through biology.
Bello: So with all this research and publications you’ve made over the years, you managed to produce a film called Out Of The Silence, which is the story of queer people in rural communities. How did you manage to find time to do this?
Hamer: That’s a good question. Well, as you see, it’s about something that’s important to me and my partner and I felt like somebody had to document it. And since nobody was going to do it for us, we just decided to do it ourselves and we just started filming.
We’d go to Oil City, this small town, on weekends or for a couple of days at a time and film while we are there and stretch that out for a couple of years and now it’s a movie. Moviemaking is a skill in and of itself as I’ve discovered. It requires dedication and a lot of collaboration with other people.
We’ve also been very fortunate to be able to work with some very talented people. We got support from the Sundance Institute—we got two small grants from the Sundance Institute. We applied for the grants and it’s much harder to get a Sundance grant than an NIH [National Institutes of Health] grant. It’s like a thousand applications for 10 spots, but we had an interesting story and that was extremely helpful.
Bello: Has the movie been well received since it has been produced?
Hamer: It’s just beginning now and we’re beginning our outreach tour. It’s been extremely well received. We just heard from the American Bar Association who wants to use it to train their lawyers all over the country — the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] is going to use it, the Pennsylvania Holocaust Education Council is going to use it and you’ll see it’s because it really sort of shows both sides of the debate that’s going on.
It’s hopeful and optimistic. It has got a lot of qualities that most gay documentaries don’t have because it tries to really show both sides and I think that makes a big difference. I think it’s a tool that can go beyond preaching to the choir and bring two people together and discuss these issues — I hope.
For more info on OUT IN THE SILENCE
Geneticist Dean Hamer came into fame in 1993 for his controversial discovery of “the gay gene”. His convocation speech Thursday, which focused on his research in behavior genetics and human sexuality, was followed in the evening by a screening and discussion of Out in the Silence, the documentary he produced chronicling the challenges of GLBT individuals in a small Pennsylvania town.
Jumi Bello: What prompted you to study genes pertaining to human behavior?
Dean Hamer: I think it was why I’ve studied genetics all my life. It got to a certain point in time where I’d done my basic research and I was looking for something that would have more social importance and it was at that same time that the Human Genome Project really started…so you could really do something significant with behavior genetics. So I put those two things together and decided to do that.
Bello: With all this research, you made findings on all types of behavioral genetics—serotonin transporters, dopamine and how it relates to anxiety/depression and even the “gay gene.” What was your motivation for pursuing this line of scientific research?
Hamer: I think that, you know, almost everyone who is a biologist thinks that all these traits have some biological underpinning. What was novel about what I did was to say, “Ok, let’s apply the technology we have and study something like sexual orientation,”and most people would shy away from stuff like that because it’s too queer or too gay or too weird or something like that. So it wasn’t really so much of a theory as the willingness to look at something that a lot of people had not investigated at all before.
Bello: Your willingness to look at something that had not been investigated before produced some findings that were very groundbreaking for the scientific world as well as the queer theory arena. How did people react when you started publishing your findings?
Hamer: The reactions were very mixed. They ranged from absolute total ecstasy: “This is wonderful, this is great,” to: “You’re some kind of Hitler madman who’s going to be destroying gay people forever.” It was very, very varied, I would say. The only people who would be consistently against it were the real right-wingers who don’t want anyone to think that being gay is anything other than a bad choice that people make. But other people who were on both sides saw things both ways.
Bello: What about your more current hypotheses on other behavioral genes? You wrote something in 2004 called “The God Gene” and you were talking about how there is a God gene for the religious experience.
Hamer: That’s actually not a gene. It’s not really for religion or for God, it’s more for the feelings of spirituality that people have. And we have this theory that spirituality again is a personality trait that is variable. Some people tend to be more spiritual and others less so.
Bello: What led to this publication?
Hamer: I’m just fascinated with how important religion has become in American society. It made me wonder why it was so important and as a biologist, I wondered whether there were biological roots. There’s been a fair amount of research suggesting that there’s some sort of biological root to spirituality and we decided to test that.
In fact, what the research looks like is that this tendency towards spirituality does have some sort of innate component, whereas religion itself is purely culture and has no biology. I also realized that that is very at the outer edge of what biology can really study in a truly scientific way. I think the research is valid but is sort of pushing the limits of how much you can study through biology.
Bello: So with all this research and publications you’ve made over the years, you managed to produce a film called Out Of The Silence, which is the story of queer people in rural communities. How did you manage to find time to do this?
Hamer: That’s a good question. Well, as you see, it’s about something that’s important to me and my partner and I felt like somebody had to document it. And since nobody was going to do it for us, we just decided to do it ourselves and we just started filming.
We’d go to Oil City, this small town, on weekends or for a couple of days at a time and film while we are there and stretch that out for a couple of years and now it’s a movie. Moviemaking is a skill in and of itself as I’ve discovered. It requires dedication and a lot of collaboration with other people.
We’ve also been very fortunate to be able to work with some very talented people. We got support from the Sundance Institute—we got two small grants from the Sundance Institute. We applied for the grants and it’s much harder to get a Sundance grant than an NIH [National Institutes of Health] grant. It’s like a thousand applications for 10 spots, but we had an interesting story and that was extremely helpful.
Bello: Has the movie been well received since it has been produced?
Hamer: It’s just beginning now and we’re beginning our outreach tour. It’s been extremely well received. We just heard from the American Bar Association who wants to use it to train their lawyers all over the country — the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] is going to use it, the Pennsylvania Holocaust Education Council is going to use it and you’ll see it’s because it really sort of shows both sides of the debate that’s going on.
It’s hopeful and optimistic. It has got a lot of qualities that most gay documentaries don’t have because it tries to really show both sides and I think that makes a big difference. I think it’s a tool that can go beyond preaching to the choir and bring two people together and discuss these issues — I hope.
For more info on OUT IN THE SILENCE
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