How is the 'Gay Gene' alive? Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins Explains

I shall be spending the whole of September, and the first week of October, in North America, speaking in ten different cities from Dallas to Vancouver. I am 83 years old, and travel is more irksome than it was. The maxim, “Quit while you’re ahead” has recently received a welcome boost, and I anticipate that this will be my last American tour. My swansong. My final bow.

There’ll be a Q & A at every event. And I’ll be signing any or all of my 19 books, including The Genetic Book of the Dead, which will be just published. This will probably be your last opportunity to tell me how profoundly you disagree with everything I’ve written and said. Or the reverse if that is the case. Either way, I look forward to seeing you.
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Richard Dawkins talks about the potential evolutionary explanations of the "Gay Gene," trying to explain the counterintuitive but true nature of natural selection of Homosexuality.
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[agunaboumuzocha]

Nobody is going to comment on how great Richard looks for an 83- year old?

[brober]

Calvin Kleins are undisputably Gay jeans.

[johnwilliamtuckey]

I am a gay Uncle also the youngest of 4 siblings 3 boy's 1 girl .
My oldest brother's son divorced and received custody of his two boy's when the boy's were 7 and 8 yrs old.
I at that moment stopped working and for 10 year's went to his house at 6:30 am so he could go to work.
Feed them breakfast and walk them to school; pick them up after school did their wash and looked after them till my nephew got home.
Out of all the things I've done in my life; living in France for 10 year's and traveling.
Taking care of those two boy's was the most rewarding thing I have done in my life.
Michael the oldest will be turning 20 this week and going into junior year of college.
Jack will be going off to be a freshman in college.
They call me Gruncle.
Thank you for your research.

[Yazz]

My step dad had 3 homosexual siblings (2w+1m) out of 7 kids. This was back in the 70’s so way before it became “trendy” if you know what I mean. Later on I knew of a family that had 2 out of 6, I knew then that this had to be an inherited trait. That makes 5 out of 13 and they were all raised the same way, so as far as I was concerned that eliminated environmental factors that people back then were too ready to believe. The blame it on mommy was debunked. I think homosexuality is a recessive trait because if it was a dominant trait there would be more of them. And if this were to be the case that would mean that the gene would be passed down (not 100% of the time) from a man and a woman who each have it in their genetic pool, not unlike blue eyes, blond hair or white skin. I’ve always believed that homosexuality exists to keep the population from getting out of hand, it’s mother nature’s way of keeping the numbers down in order to be able to feed everyone. I sometimes see it as homosexuality is pruning the tree of life and disease is dead heading it. Evolutionary theories are fascinating.

[andreglenn]

I’m a gayy uncle and I helped my sister to raise my nephew, since he was 6 months old. He is 24 Now and I helped him troughout his life, cuz his father was somewhat absent and irresponsible. I’m a doctor, widower since 2018, and never thought about having children, but the circunstances made me step up and help the kid.

[yueyjon]

Homosexuality has existed throughout all of history, in every culture and across many many other species. It’s a reality that only religious people refuse to accept. However being religious is a choice whereas sexuality is not. The world needs to wake up to who’s the problem.

[ParvaizRaja]

I know a family here in Pakistan with five sons, four of whom are gay, and two daughters, they all are married with children. One of the gay sons has eight sons, six of whom are gay, and seven daughters, three of whom are lesbians from 3 different wives—all married with children. So, the idea that the youngest son of many siblings is always gay doesn’t hold true.

[derekspitz]

Interesting conversation. I do however question what seems to be the assumption that gay men are inherently effeminate. I know that some gay men could physically better some alpha heterosexual men. Gay isn't a synonym for weak or subordinate.

[janinebjorkman]

It's awful watching the camera swinging back and forth every time the speaker changes.

[douglasphillips]

It's Interesting that half of the population was barely mentioned.

[brianmetcalf]

Homosexuality has been found to be present in other species, not just humans. The evolutionary explanation should therefore exclude any human specificity.

[montecigno]

am i the only one who finds it funny to hear the words 'sneaky fucker' coming out of prof. dawkins mouth?
what a treasure he is.

[rae]

I've had two friends who were gay.
One from Uruguay who couldn't understand why we in Canada needed to have separate bars and clubs for gay people. It seems where he came from there was, or still is, a "culture" that fostered an inclusive atmosphere for all people.
Another fellow was from somewhere in India. He fully expected that he would go "home" and then get married and have children. Even so, he fully expected to continue his gay relationships as well.
At 85, and "gay" from age of puberty, I tried the hetero lifestyle with a female wife. We played house for 4 years until it became too obvious that neither of us was getting out of life what we wanted. I then found a male partner with whom I've enjoyed 48 years and counting.
Hopefully, in another 100 years, we humans will have evolved to simply stop ASSUMING some fictitious "norm" and, instead, EXPECT people to be DIFFERENT... and celebrate that diversity.

[col]

The "gay activist" is oh so wrong about the extent of bisexuality amongst men, its a prevalent trait possibly as much as purely straight men from my almost 70 year experience. He seems to be indulging in wishful thinking and I say that as a solely gay man.

[rick-hmlv]

Like many other gay men and women, I've known that I was gay from as far back as I can remember. It's just always been in my psyche. I have, however, met gay men who state emphatically that they didn't realize they were gay until their teens or even later in their lives. I do take exception with the idea that gay men can be recognized by the fact that they're effeminate. I have never been effeminate in any way

[kendelvalle]

I had a gay uncle. He was a professor at the University of Chicago. He was my intellectual mentor.

[daodejing]

All I know is that my sexual orientation has always been present. It is unchangeable. If it were changeable, there would be no homosexuals.

[JoeCuv]

Why did the conversation sound like passing a gay gene is more of a male role? The examples seemed to sound more about being the gay man left behind from the hunt. Or the gay uncle is the one who passes the baton so to speak. It could just be females passing a recessive gene as they are forced to reproduce. This would be consistent with their families survival from generation to generation. Or that homosexual females with homosexual feelings choose to procreate despite their physiological and psychological attractions as they fulfill the role as mothers in their clans and societies. The desire to procreate and being a homosexual can be deliberate, and it can have motivating factors beyond sexual attraction. In later human societies, the motivators may not have been as strongly for the survival of the tribe, and procreating factors may or may not become more complex. There are reasons that gay men and women may decide that they too would like to have a legacy, a family, and children to pass on their heritage, culture, and possessions to. Really the more interesting argument is why does it exist in animals with potentially little or no societal pressure to reproduce, is it not? Or convince me we are just animals and we can only follow our primal urges. Or the converse is true, animals are more complex than many humans give them credit, and we have more in common with animals and their families than we generally believe. Or it's all true to some extent, and that is all we need to pass along a gay gene. Anyone have any psych and or bio data on any of this?

[runnermcturtle]

What I did not find in the conversation was an obvious observation that homosexuality is not homogeneous. There is an entire spectrum of homosexuality. This way it is very likely that it is caused by many genes and their combinations with other genes.

[Jay-ate-a-bug]

My ex-Girlfriends Father was Gay. Gay and Catholic. He, very smartly, found a wife to have children with who was open to his homosexuality allowing him to move his partner into the home. He had three children with his wife. It was a marriage of convenience but he still loved his wife and kids and provided for them. The church was just none-the-wiser.