Does DNA Determine Sexual Preference? | The Institute for Creation Research

Does DNA Determine Sexual Preference?

I’m often asked if there really is a “gay gene”—one that predetermines certain people to be homosexuals. From the beginning of creation, God designed men and women to be equal but not interchangeable. He designed marriage to be exclusively heterosexual. Science even supports the Bible’s answer to this important question.

The idea of a gay gene became popular from a misunderstood 1993 study in the journal Science. It reported that some male homosexuals who were related through a maternal line—such as gay sons with gay uncles on their mother’s side—shared some similarities within a large DNA region on the X chromosome.1

Though some researchers were unable to duplicate those results, a 2014 analysis of a larger group of test subjects found a similar link.2 But the similar sequences did not include a gene, nor did the research support the conclusion that any DNA directly or indirectly determines sexuality. If this DNA determines sexuality, then why does it often look the same in homosexual and heterosexual males? Also, the data show no link between gay and straight women. According to these results, DNA does not cause homosexual behavior. In general, studies confirm that human behaviors are too complicated for just one gene or region of the genome to explain.

The supposed warrior gene illustrates this. Some individuals with a certain version of the MAO-A gene, when combined with an abusive upbringing, have a much higher likelihood of eventually committing a violent crime. However, plenty of people with the same combination never commit such crimes, showing that genes and backgrounds do not directly determine behaviors.3 Nobody has yet found a gay gene or a criminal gene. They may never find one.

Even those who report subtle genetic links between some homosexuals agree that homosexuality, like other human behaviors, comes from a complicated mix of genetic and other factors. For example, Michael Bailey, senior author of the 2014 study, told International Business Times, “It is not completely determinative; there are certainly other environmental factors involved.”4

If genes do not determine homosexuality, then how does it arise? The Bible describes how turning away from God can lead to homosexuality.

Their foolish hearts were darkened….[They] exchanged the truth of God for the lie….[T]he men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful.5

When we refuse to acknowledge our Creator and His clear design for our lives, the consequences are devastating. God’s Word says that individual decisions at key points in a person’s life influence behavior, and science does not refute this. Personal choices seem to be a key precursor to homosexual behavior, and the answer for that—as for all self-serving conduct—is the redemption available to all through Jesus Christ.

Those who argue that God somehow made them homosexual by placing a gay gene inside them have no science or Scripture to stand on.

References

  1. Hamer, D. H. et al. 1993. A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science. 261 (5119): 321–327.
  2. Sanders, A. R. et al. 2015. Genome-wide scan demonstrates significant linkage for male sexual orientation. Psychological Medicine. 45 (7): 1379-1388. Published online before print November 17, 2014.
  3. Hagerty, B. B. Can Your Genes Make You Murder? National Public Radio. Posted on npr.org July 1, 2010, accessed March 18, 2015.
  4. Mintz, Z. Does A ‘Gay Gene’ Exist? New Study Says ‘Xq28’ May Influence Male Sexual Orientation. International Business Times. Posted on ibtimes.com February 14, 2014, accessed March 3, 2015.
  5. See Romans 1:21-27.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Cite this article: Brian Thomas, Ph.D. 2015. Does DNA Determine Sexual Preference?. Acts & Facts. 44 (6).

The Latest
NEWS
55-Million-Year-Old Tree Frog…Is Still a Tree Frog
In the 1990s, Australian paleontologists discovered fossil frog bones during a dig in Murgon, Queensland.1 This new species of frog—Litoria...

NEWS
Pastor and Longtime ICR Supporter Dr. John MacArthur Now with...
Faithful ICR supporter and pastor Dr. John MacArthur went home to be with the Lord on Monday, July 14, 2025, completing his 86-year pilgrimage.1...

CREATION PODCAST
Setting Sights on Scopes: The Truth Behind the Infamous Monkey...
The Scopes Trial is one of the most famous court cases in American history, and this year marks its one hundredth anniversary. Often,...

NEWS
Did Earthworms Rewrite Their DNA to Survive on Land?
An earthworm news story was recently posted that openly questions Darwin’s gradual and slow evolutionary progress in the living world.1...

NEWS
Mysterious Erosion Confirms High Flood Boundary
Two separate research reports arrived at a similar conclusion.1,2 Both found an episode of mysterious erosion had occurred near the end of...

NEWS
A Uniquely Designed Air-Filled Sac Within Birds’ Lungs
Soaring birds are a majestic sight to behold, especially when they undergo such climbing and endless spiraling so effortlessly. Not surprisingly, evolutionists...

NEWS
Liberty and the Word of God
“And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” (Psalm 119:45). July 4th is called Independence Day here in our country because on...

NEWS
July 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome...

NEWS
Valued Longtime ICR Employee Mary Smith Retires
Mary Morris Smith, an employee of the Institute for Creation Research for many years, has retired. The second daughter of ICR founder Dr. Henry M. Morris...

NEWS
Man of Science, Man of God: George Washington Carver
Who:  George Washington Carver What: Father of Modern Agriculture When: 1864 or 1865 – January 5, 1943 Where: Diamond Grove,...