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So what do you think about pre-natal testing for gay gene?



>So what do you think about pre-natal testing for gay gene?

First I have to say that I'm unaware of a "gay gene". It may exist, it may not. There are plenty of mechanisms that could lead to being born gay without a gay gene.

As one possibility, refer to:

>Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) is a type of environmental sex determination in which the temperatures experienced during embryonic development determine the sex of the offspring.[1] It is most prevalent and common among amniote vertebrates that are classified under the reptile class,

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_deter...

Sure, this doesn't pertain to humans but it would not be surprising to me that other non-gene influencers might cause someone to be gay before birth.

Having gotten that out of the way, I would be against any kind of testing for anything but the most critical gene defects. Anyone that thinks we should test for all gene defects should check out www.23andme.com. You'll discover (like I did) that the average person has several gene defects that can shorten their life and be passed on to their offspring. Trying to breed these out of humans would mean most people alive today wouldn't be alive today.


Which brings us almost right back to Turing's research on morphogenesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_Basis_of_Morphogen...


If Hitler hadn't killed 11 million people, most people alive today wouldn't be.

Returning to the original point. The question about pre-natal gene testing does not seem to be about actually doing it routinely.

Suppose that we devised a genetic test that can determine if a fertilized egg will grow into a gay adult if brought to maturity. If such a test works, it would mean that ones genes carries sufficient information to deterimine if one is gay. Wheater or not we actually use this on a given person does not change the fact that their genes are still sufficient.




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