As a gay acquaintance of mine told me when I asked him, "Considering the facts that being gay can make you an outcast with a large number of people, can get you fired from you job or not hired in the first place, can get you repeatedly dragged into a back alley and beaten up, and could even get you killed, who with half a brain would ever choose to be gay?"

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Widely accepted by whom, Ake?

The science of genetics is considerably more complex than you are trying to make it sound. Yes, certain specific genes can be traced back to antiquity, but the interaction of certain combinations of genes, especially if some of them are recessive, is a much more complicated matter.

The fact that sexual orientation has a genetic component is not in doubt by the vast majority of geneticists (see, for example, several articles in "Scientific American" and "Psychology Today."). True, a specific gay gene has not been found and there may not be one—as such! But it has been noted that same sex orientation tends to run in extended families. Which is to say that an unusual number, but nowhere near every male (obviously!) in a particular extended family, is gay. And this holds true even when cousins or uncles and nephews have never met, so the idea of an uncle molesting his nephew or teaching him to be gay simply doesn't wash in this context.

And abuse, sexual or otherwise (a simplistic explanation at best), is not at issue, because it manifests itself in several discrete families within and extended family.

This is significant in terms of genetic research. It is believed by some geneticists that the gene(s) involved are carried by some females in the extended family, although it does not seem to affect that particular female as far as her sexual orientation is concerned.

MOST genetic issues are far more complex that simply locating a single gene.

And sorry, Goofballupagus. Just because YOU don't want to see the moon and you hide under the bed whenever it's out, does not mean it isn't there.

The vigor you display in denying the existence of genetic components in same-sex orientation are a clear indication that you are emotionally invested in the matter.

Busted!

Don Firth