Johns Hopkins Research: No Evidence People Are Born Gay Or Transgender

Scholars at Johns Hopkins University released a new report on Monday (8/21/2016), which argues that there is not sufficient evidence to suggest that lesbian, gay, or transgender people are born with this sexual orientation or gender identity.

"The idea there that sexual orientation is fluid, that people change as people grow," Lawrence Mayer, a co-author of the report and a scholar-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University's psychiatry department, as well as a professor of statistics and biostatistics at Arizona State University, told The Christian Post. "There are probably some people that identify as hetrosexual [sic] that then later on identified as homosexual, so it goes both ways. The importance there is the fluidity and flexibility that these things change in time."

The three-part, 143-page report, which appeared in the Fall 2016 edition of The New Atlantis, also investigated other commonly accepted ideas about homosexuality and transgenderism. Mayer and his co-author Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins, challenged the claim that discrimination and social stigma are the only reasons why homosexual and transgender people suffer higher rates of mental health problems and are more likely to commit suicide.

The study breaks down in three parts: First, Mayer and McHugh examined whether homosexuality is an inherited trait, and concluded that people are not simply "born that way." Second, they looked at the causes of the poor mental health associated with gay and transgender people, concluding that social stress does not explain all of it. Finally, they studied transgenderism, concluding that it is not innate and that transgender "treatments" are associated with negative outcomes.

The report found insufficient evidence to back up the idea that people are born with innate sexual attractions. Mayer and McHugh examined past studies which show a modest association between genetic factors and sexual orientation, but these studies have not been able to pinpoint particular genes responsible. Other hypothesized biological causes, such as prenatal development and hormones, have also been linked to sexual orientation, but that evidence is also limited.

"Studies of the brains of homosexuals and heterosexuals have found some differences, but have not demonstrated that these differences are inborn rather than the result of environmental factors that influenced both psychological and neurobiological traits," the report explained. "One environmental factor that appears to be correlated with non-heterosexuality is child sexual abuse victimization, which may also contribute to the higher rates."

The report cited the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, which tracked the sexual orientation of children aged 7 to 12 in 1994-1995 and again in 2007-2008. Eighty percent of male respondents who had reported same-sex attraction and both-sex attraction in childhood later identified as exclusively heterosexual, while more than half of the females who reported both-sex attraction as children reported exclusive attraction to men as adults.

Mayer and McHugh also analyzed twins. They pointed to a 2010 study by psychiatric epidemiologist Niklas Långström which analyzed 3,826 identical and fraternal same-sex twin pairs. Both twins had at least one same-sex partner in only 18 percent of male identical twins, and 11 percent of male fraternal twins. For women, both twins had at least one homosexual partner in 22 percent of identical twins and 17 percent of fraternal twins.

"Summarizing the studies of twins, we can say that there is no reliable scientific evidence that sexual orientation is determined by a person's genes," the researchers wrote. "But there is evidence that genes play a role in influencing sexual orientation."

"So the question 'Are gay people born that way?' requires clarification. There is virtually no evidence that anyone, gay or straight, is 'born that way' if it means that their sexual orientation was genetically determined," the report explained (emphasis added). "But there is some evidence from the twin studies that certain genetic profiles probably increase the likelihood the person later identifies as gay or engages in same-sex sexual behavior."

Next Page: What about transgender people? Are they "born that way"?

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Johns Hopkins.

How can someone possibly be born gay? It's like saying for example someone was born a murderer.
It's how you get brought up & how society & media or whatever influences you...i'm sure bruce jenner never thought he would end up being married to & having to deal with so many vaginas around him 24/7 that it would eventually rub off on him

From the article:


So this is a bit disingenuous:


At least it should be:

So true.
There is no evidence at birth they can play the piano either.

Yup. Again. Lack of proof is not proof of the opposite. And if you read what was said, instead of relying on the entirely misleading headline, you also find little things like this:



This is like saying "we can't prove anyone is born gay or straight, but we do see that some people are born sort-of gay-ish."

I'd definitely fire whoever wrote that title, for simple incompetence.

Personal aside, since sexuality and sexual likes and dislikes and tendencies have proven to be EXTREMELY varied and complicated, I am expecting that the biological determinants of that sexuality will likewise be EXTREMELY varied and complicated.

Hhhaaa... I don't like the topic.
 I  don't like the findings, it shatters what I have been repeatedly told by the media, since the 1970's (which, therefore must be true).

So I will attack the writter, & deflect, since I can't attack John Hopkins or the creator.

Should have been
No Evidence People Are Born Gay, Transgender or heterosexual

Evidence is that newborns don't have sexual desire
Although all genders prefer female breasts initially

Yup gotta agree with this. How can you in one sentence say "no evidence" and in the next say "well maybe some"?????

I doubt Johns Hopkins put their name on this. It is probably another internet load of B.S..

I doubt Johns Hopkins put their name on this. It is probably another internet load of B.S..
_________
I am not doing all the work, for ya

John Hopkins people are not born gay

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=John+Hopkins+people+are+not+born+gay&t=abpbrowser&ia=web/

Ah so glad to see everyone on mingle2 agree for once.

Now go tell the gays since they are the ones that have been saying they were born that way for decades now.

Haha the false premise of absolutism where it is held that it must be one thing or the other when in fact it is usually both things to some degree as well as additional things influencing the cause even if the other things are unknown.

I believe we are born with a susceptibility to being gay or straight and environment plays a part in determining the outcome.

Just because we don't know the degree to which genetics or environment play in determining the result doesn’t mean there is no indication that they do play a part.

Oh and another factor in play here is that denying evidence is not the same as no evidence

Can we agree on this

"The Gays" ??? What is that; a rock band????

Social and Environmental experiences and influences in my opinion play the biggest role of all and then the determining result is individual preference and choice

As soon as most straight people state for the record that they are and have always been just as sexually attracted and turned on by BOTH genders, I will start to consider the possibility that sexual orientation is a choice.

Until then, however, I'm going with the FACTS and with LOGIC.

And again, as regards this "report," with what it ACTUALLY SAYS, as both I and someone else actually read all the way through.

Just for the record, I myself have been sexually drawn to FEMALES, since I was in kindergarten. So I am confident that unlike the people who support this HEADLINE, that I was born "straight."

Ummmm, i understood there would be coffee and donuts???

it's all a choice... people are born with no sexual desires, they acquire them later in life, which is a choice everyone makes... i'm pretty sure thats what the article is saying...

Yeah, but again, for it to be a CHOICE, you have to find yourself attracted to both genders. And that hasn't been my own experience, or any but a very few people I know.

You choose to go through puberty?

you choose who you have sex with...no matter how anyone looks at it, that's the choice...