There is just no simple answer to the question, ‘Are some people born lesbian or gay?’ There are some theories which stress biological differences between heterosexual and homosexual adults, suggesting that people are born with their sexuality already determined.

What we have here is a scientific and moral controversy. While there are those who are proponents of the “gay gene” theory, there are others who suggest possible psychological, social or even spiritual trauma. During the past years, homosexual activists have staked their political strategy on claims that homosexuality is an inherited trait, like left-handedness. Homosexuality, they argue, would then be a “natural” condition and something with which you are born.

American researcher Dean Hamer published research that seemed to prove that homosexual orientation is genetically transmitted to men on the X chromosome, which they receive from their biological mothers. However when this study was replicated it failed to yield the same results. A follow-up study on which Dean Hamer collaborated– also failed to reinforce his earlier hypothesis.

The most recent, credible research published in April 1999 by George Rice and George Ebers of the University of Western Ontario has cast serious doubts on Hamer’s theory. Rice and Ebers’ research also tested the same region of the X chromosome in a larger sample of gay men, but failed to find the same ‘marker’ that Hamer’s research had produced. Some unproven claims from eccentric social activists state that the part of the brain known as the hypothalamus is key in determining sexual orientation; however none of these theories have yet to be substantiated through research.

Homosexual activists downplayed the research study but appeared to retreat from any claim of a biological basis for homosexuality. David M. Smith, speaking for the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual-rights political organization, told The Washington Post that, “In the final analysis it should not matter whether there is a biological basis or there is not.” This was quite a shift from the group’s previously established stand.

Time and time again research has failed to prove that it is possible to be born gay; in fact, research has actually supported the improbability of being born gay. Just as a bird is made to soar in the sky and not underwater or as a fish is made to swim and not fly or walk, so men and women are equipped with certain biological components with a definite purpose and use.

Psycho-social explanations offer a variety of factors that could contribute to the development of a person’s homosexuality, for example, a female-dominated upbringing in a gay man’s past, with an absence of a male role model. Others stress adherence or deviance from conformity to gender roles, and individual psychological makeup. While none of these factors alone completely answers the question, ‘What causes homosexuality?’ they rule out some things.

What is clear is that people’s behavior is influenced by their family environment, their experiences and their sense of self. Beliefs about sex are initially shaped by family values. Later on these beliefs may be shaped by pleasant or unpleasant experiences with sex that may also affect their choice of activities and partners. Throughout life, a person’s sense of who and what they are has a strong impact on their sexual development and experience.