Brain Changes Seen in Gay Sheep, U.S. Study Finds

reuters uk ^ | 3/8/04

[Ophiucus]

I remember reading about hypothalamic abnormalities in homosexual males years ago, and the response from the homosexual activists was to demand suppression of the findings.

I was in grad school right after the research was published. It did set off a firestorm. I remember the gay activist angry response and their dismay when they found out one of the lead researchers was gay and denounced their activism. The suppression efforts failed and a new avenue of research took off.

A biological disorder cannot be tolerated as the origin of sexuality deviation from the norm, after all. What if a treatment might be developed?

Yep - that is the fear. A treatment means that homosexuality would be reclassified as a disease or a disorder. Treatment would mean that homosexuals would be relegated to less political status than diabetes patients.

[TASMANIANRED]

"were different in homosexual men when compared to heterosexual men and were closer to size and density to female hypothalami"

I have a question , it doesen't apply to me of course because I am a succulent, lady redhead ( at least I used to be)

If the homosexual hypothalami is closer to size and density to the female hypothalami then why is that homosexual males don't always have a headache and never want to do it. This is opposed to real life homosexual behavior where they want to do it as often as possible, frequently with out an introduction, or without even viewing someones face as in the glory holes all over San Fran.

The female like hypothalami should be inhibitory not provocatory.

[TASMANIANRED]

Now, was this stallion normal or did it prefer wooden horses?

He prefers trojan horses.

[potlatch]

So they're just a ram in sheeps clothing? Ewe!!!

[Ophiucus]

If the homosexual hypothalami is closer to size and density to the female hypothalami then why is that homosexual males don't always have a headache and never want to do it. This is opposed to real life homosexual behavior where they want to do it as often as possible, frequently with out an introduction, or without even viewing someones face as in the glory holes all over San Fran.

The female like hypothalami should be inhibitory not provocatory.

That's funny.

More than one issue there. One is that the homosexual lifestyle, especially the one you bring up, is a deviant lifestyle no matter what the PC movements try to claim. There are many psychological problems in members of that community - drug addictions, abuse behaviors, depressions, etc. Unaddressed, these lead to greater aberrant behaviors like the startling levels of promiscuity. It's as if the circuitry of sexual behavior and emotional feedback is broken so the deeper satisfaction of a committed, mature sexual relationship becomes incredibly difficult to attain if at all possible. So, the behaviors get more and more frantic and deviant in an effort to accomplish an impossible goal. The psychological problems worsen and the cycle of deviancy becomes more extreme.

The second issue of the "inhibitory" female headaches you bring up is a social issue, if anything. American culture spent so long in the sex as a woman's "unpleasant duty" mode that many women, and men, have really messed up conceptions of sex in a relationship. The pathways in other species, other primates, are involved stimulatory behaviors and the 'not tonight, I have a headache' seems to be an almost exclusive American or English/American phenomenon.

[King Prout]

no desire to get into heated debate, but I must point out one thing: recessive alleles. Many lethal traits are passed genetically on recessive alleles. These traits become phenotypically evident only in the homozygous recessive genotype. Heterozygous recessives can be slightly evident or non-evident for these traits in phenotype. There is so far no genetic evidence one way or the other about a genetically inherited code for homosexuality.

[fire_eye]

A treatment means that homosexuality would be reclassified as a disease or a disorder.

Ever since the research was first published, I've maintained that this is the tack conservatives should take w/r/t the "gay" problem. Vilifying them for religious reasons is counterproductive.

The most interesting thing is how the "Gay" "Community" - like all leftist enclaves - cares nothing for the scientific facts of the matter; any and all facts and conclusions must conform to the orthodoxy and objectives of whatever vapid socialist group is involved at the moment.

Horowitz documents how the "Gay" "Community" intimidated the government of San Fagdisco into refusing to close the bathhouses during the early stages of the AIDS epidemic, and went to great lengths to ensure that AIDS was always characterized as a disease affecting the entire population and not just homosexuals - both of which tactics helped delay any epidemiologically effective countermeasures, and thereby ensured the establishment of a permanent reservoir of the virus. In other words, protecting "Gayness" as a political status was even more important than preventing "Gay" men from dying of AIDS!!

Research to determine whether homosexuality is biologically determined should be pursued without regard to whether or not the resulting conclusions are "politically correct" or palatable to the "Gay" community. And if it is determined that "Gays" are simply biologically defective, it will be no more than they deserve, for their willingness to subjugate scientific objectivity to their political and social objectives.

[maryz]

These Animals are not sexually active all year long, but only once a year. When the female ewe (Pronounced "you") ovulates she gives off an odor that attracts the males. So, HOW DO THESE MALES ATTRACT OTHER MALES IF THEY DO NOT OVULATE?
The same goes for several other species.

You're absolutely right. I saw a Q&A column on pets once; one letter asked about two neutered male dogs (or maybe it was cats). One occasionally seemed to try to "mount" the other. The answer was that this was not actually sexual behavior at all but an assertion of dominance.

[ThirstyMan]

one letter asked about two neutered male dogs (or maybe it was cats). One occasionally seemed to try to "mount" the other. The answer was that this was not actually sexual behavior at all but an assertion of dominance.

Well my female Boston Terrier dog enjoyed mounting my male cat. The cat didn't like it.....both were neutered and so, yes, dominance is a likely answer.
I've never seen any animal allow a member of the same sex to actually penetrate. That's fighting behavior for sure. Seems to me that the "gay" rams in this study aren't the ones doing the penetrating,[dominating] but the ones who would allow themselves to be penetrated by a fellow male. That's over the line!

The question of actual penetration and domination aren't dealt with in the article.
And also never addresssed, were any lesbian sheep observed?

[ThirstyMan]

Thanks for the response and clarifying the point of the study more for me, development vs. genetics.
I've never heard of a species that can change from being a male to a female, or vice versa. That would mean that this lizard is born with both sets of sexual organs, wouldn't it? an entirely different situation. Interesting. I'd like further information for my own study. A step further, isn't the cockroach capable of fertilizing "it"self as well?

[NeoCaveman]

The results, published in the latest issue of the Journal Endocrinology, tend to support studies in humans that have found anatomical differences between the brains of heterosexual men and homosexual men.

And when this can be detected in utero, will homosexuals become pro-life. I mean we already have sex selection abortions, can sexual orientation selection abortions be far behind?

[Montfort]

Yes. When homosexual tendencies can be predicted in utero, the left will agree to-- in fact insist on-- a limitation on the right to abort. A woman will be able to abort if it is a bad time for her, if it would make her unhappy to give birth to the child, if she doesn't like the hair color the child will have, any reason whatsoever. Except that under no circumstances can a child who is determined to have a tendency toward homosexuality or lesbianism be aborted, unless he or she is also likely to have birth defects on a list made up by some liberal judge.

The penalties for violating this law will be serious, and the whole thing will be made up by some courts.

[Ophiucus]

government of San Fagdisco

"San Fagdisco" - tasteless but funny :-)

Re: Disease or disorder - Ever since the research was first published, I've maintained that this is the tack conservatives should take w/r/t the "gay" problem. Vilifying them for religious reasons is counterproductive.

I agree with you there. The religious "attacks" are too easily seen as prejudiced, holier-than-thou, pompous arrogance. Whereas, individuals refusing to get treatment for a disease or disorder are easily seen as irresponsible.

In other words, protecting "Gayness" as a political status was even more important than preventing "Gay" men from dying of AIDS!!

Exactly. Even worse, once new AIDS cases began to decrease from prevention, a new grotesque fad started in the gay communities -- deliberately having unprotected sex with HIV/AIDS infected people for a thrill and to "share" the disease experience. Some sort of negligent homicide charge should be brought against those involved.

[dfwgator]

"Super!"

[gitmo]

What a load of garbage. Anyone who has spent any time at all around animals knows that males (or females) mount a member of the same sex for dominance - not copulation.

You're right. But in herd & pack animals males who are too low on the pecking order (no pun intended) to ever have a chance at the real thing will mount other males out of desperation.

[Ophiucus]

I've never heard of a species that can change from being a male to a female, or vice versa. That would mean that this lizard is born with both sets of sexual organs, wouldn't it?

It's been a few years since I gave that seminar but I believe the studies used different species of whiptail lizards.

Other animals used are protandry and protogyny. Animals that are "protandry" begin life as males and then switch to females. "Protogyny" refers to animals that begin as females but the switch to males.

For example, cleaner fish are all female but one dominant male. If the male is killed or leaves, the largest female becomes male. There is an actual phenotypic change, not just the presence of both sex organs. The organs develop at different times - female develops then disappears as male develops. This avoids self-fertilization.