RBSC

**Bricktop** · December 3, 2012, 09:27 PM

http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2011/...s-pioneer.html

**Exile** · December 3, 2012, 11:42 PM

Whats the relevance of that? Is she a friend of yours you want to introduce?

**Exile** · December 3, 2012, 11:44 PM

Publicity hound...no gays are turned away from the airport, no one asks your sexual preference, no one turned away....so probably just a test case and publicity...

**Peter R** · December 4, 2012, 10:33 AM

Very true... over the years a at least a couple of (obviously ) gay persons have worked for my employer, obtaining work permit etc. and going back and forth to Canada where they are from, without ever having any problem at the airport.

The law is one that is obviously still on the books but never enforced. test case and publicity as you say.

**Gamma** · December 4, 2012, 10:33 AM

dis breddah yah ... is a case study!

**Bricktop** · December 4, 2012, 10:40 AM

That TnT a b@ttyman place...she?!?!?

**Muadib** · December 4, 2012, 12:30 PM

Don't ask don't tell ??

**Exile** · December 4, 2012, 03:05 PM

More than Jamaica? Or anywhere else on earth? Get real...

**Bricktop** · December 4, 2012, 03:39 PM

Uhmm yes...you just called a man a "she"...i rest my case

**Exile** · December 4, 2012, 05:22 PM

Explain yuself...

**Bricktop** · December 4, 2012, 05:35 PM

i think you are the one with explaining to do:

Originally posted by Exile

Is she a friend of yours

**Exile** · December 4, 2012, 10:41 PM

That was deliberately aimed at you. Duh! Yu slow...is yu go look fi har...

**Bricktop** · December 5, 2012, 07:49 AM

sure Flexile...

**World Fan** · December 12, 2012, 03:05 PM

Scientists uncover possible source of homosexuality

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1218017

Scientists uncover possible source of homosexuality

The answer may lie in epi-marks, ‘temporary switches’ typically erased from generation to generation, that can be passed from father to daughter or mother to son.
Comments (65)
By Christine Roberts / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 6:11 PM

Couples exchange vows during a mass wedding for 25 same-sex partners at Seattle First Baptist Church on December 9, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. Today is the first day that same-sex couples can legally wed in Washington state.
David Ryder/Getty Images

Couples exchange vows during a mass wedding for 25 same-sex partners at Seattle First Baptist Church on Sunday in Seattle, Wash.

Scientists say they may have discovered the source of homosexuality.

The answer may lie in epigenetics, or how the expression of genes is controlled by “temporary switches” known as epi-marks, researchers from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis explained in a study released Tuesday.

Sex-specific epi-marks are usually “erased” from generation to generation.

But when they do not disappear, they can be passed from father to daughter or mother to son, resulting in homosexuality in children, scientists suspect.

“Transmission of sexually antagonistic epi-marks between generations is the most plausible evolutionary mechanism of the phenomenon of human homosexuality,” Sergey Gavrilets, the study’s co-author, said in a release.

Researchers have long believed that sexual orientation had some hereditary component.

However, scientists say that homosexuality, in terms of evolution, cannot be solely genetic, because the trait would eventually disappear given that homosexuals aren’t expected to reproduce.

Epi-marks, on the other hand, are thought to have an evolutionary advantage that keeps them within the population.

For instance, some epi-marks work to protect a female fetus from becoming too masculine if testosterone spikes in late pregnancy.

“These epi-marks protect fathers and mothers from excess or underexposure to testosterone — when they carry over to opposite-sex offspring, it can cause the masculinization of females or the feminization of males,” William Rice, the study’s lead author, told U.S. News & World Report.

Rice said that epi-marks are “highly variable” and only those that are especially strong would potentially lead to homosexual children.

The evolutionary biologist said that while his theory still needs to be tested on parents and their children, it is the most plausible explanation so far.

“We've found a story that looks really good," Rice said. “This can be tested and proven within six months. It's easy to test. If it's a bad idea, we can throw it away in short order."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...#ixzz2EreleTUt
__________________________________________________ ___________

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-sfe120612.php
Public release date: 11-Dec-2012

Contact: Catherine Crawley
ccrawley@nimbios.org
865-974-9350
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS)
Study finds epigenetics, not genetics, underlies homosexuality

KNOXVILLE – Epigenetics – how gene expression is regulated by temporary switches, called epi-marks – appears to be a critical and overlooked factor contributing to the long-standing puzzle of why homosexuality occurs.

According to the study, published online today in The Quarterly Review of Biology, sex-specific epi-marks, which normally do not pass between generations and are thus "erased," can lead to homosexuality when they escape erasure and are transmitted from father to daughter or mother to son.

From an evolutionary standpoint, homosexuality is a trait that would not be expected to develop and persist in the face of Darwinian natural selection. Homosexuality is nevertheless common for men and women in most cultures. Previous studies have shown that homosexuality runs in families, leading most researchers to presume a genetic underpinning of sexual preference. However, no major gene for homosexuality has been found despite numerous studies searching for a genetic connection.

In the current study, researchers from the Working Group on Intragenomic Conflict at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) integrated evolutionary theory with recent advances in the molecular regulation of gene expression and androgen-dependent sexual development to produce a biological and mathematical model that delineates the role of epigenetics in homosexuality.

Epi-marks constitute an extra layer of information attached to our genes' backbones that regulates their expression. While genes hold the instructions, epi-marks direct how those instructions are carried out – when, where and how much a gene is expressed during development. Epi-marks are usually produced anew each generation, but recent evidence demonstrates that they sometimes carryover between generations and thus can contribute to similarity among relatives, resembling the effect of shared genes.

Sex-specific epi-marks produced in early fetal development protect each sex from the substantial natural variation in testosterone that occurs during later fetal development. Sex-specific epi-marks stop girl fetuses from being masculinized when they experience atypically high testosterone, and vice versa for boy fetuses. Different epi-marks protect different sex-specific traits from being masculinized or feminized – some affect the genitals, others sexual identity, and yet others affect sexual partner preference. However, when these epi-marks are transmitted across generations from fathers to daughters or mothers to sons, they may cause reversed effects, such as the feminization of some traits in sons, such as sexual preference, and similarly a partial masculinization of daughters.

The study solves the evolutionary riddle of homosexuality, finding that "sexually antagonistic" epi-marks, which normally protect parents from natural variation in sex hormone levels during fetal development, sometimes carryover across generations and cause homosexuality in opposite-sex offspring. The mathematical modeling demonstrates that genes coding for these epi-marks can easily spread in the population because they always increase the fitness of the parent but only rarely escape erasure and reduce fitness in offspring.

"Transmission of sexually antagonistic epi-marks between generations is the most plausible evolutionary mechanism of the phenomenon of human homosexuality," said the study's co-author Sergey Gavrilets, NIMBioS' associate director for scientific activities and a professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

###

The paper's other authors are William Rice, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Urban Friberg, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden.

The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) brings together researchers from around the world to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to investigate solutions to basic and applied problems in the life sciences. NIMBioS is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Citation: Rice WR, Friberg U, Gavrilets S. Homosexuality as a consequence of epigenetically canalized sexual development. The Quarterly Review of Biology. Published online 11 December 2012.

Contact Information:

Catherine Crawley at ccrawley@nimbios.org; 865-974-9450

Bill Rice at william.rice@lifesci.ucsb.edu; 805-893-5793

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