Homosexuality is natural

I have three arguments which I will be focusing on during this debate.1. Homosexuality is transfered through the genesThe question often comes up whether homosexuality is genetics or simply a decision that one must make. Often the argument is made that it is simply a decision, however this is not the case. A study was conducted, surveying all pairs of adult twins(20-47 years old) in Sweden. A total of 3826 twin pairs who identified themselves in same sex relationships were studied. In men 34-39% of cases of homosexuality cases could be described by genetics and woman 18-19% of homosexuality cases could be described by genetics[1]. The other factor, which accounted for a large proportion in both cases was individual environmental factors. In sight of this information and the strength of this study, isn't this a good indication that perhaps homosexuality is natural? We can extend this idea into other parts of nature, specifically the animal kingdom.2. Animals, part of nature also exhibit homosexual behaviourIt is often the assumption that animals do not possess some of the qualities that humans do, but homosexuality is one where this assumption does not hold. Little do most people know, some animals do show homosexual behaviour. Couldn't it then be argued, since animals are apart of and partly represent nature homosexuality is natural? A passage in "Animal Homosexuality" states that "other primates, but also rodents, various social mammals and some bird species express intimate sexual contacts between members of the same sex on a regular basis. .. "[2]. This highlights homosexuality in a natural world. To go a step further, there are many animals that are very familiar to us that have been observed expressing homosexual behaviour, including the brown bear, cats, cattle, dogs, chickens, horses, seagulls, bearded dragon and many many more. [3]So as said many times before, if so many animals in nature exhibit homosexual behaviour, this mounts a strong case for the argument that homosexuality is natural. But often the argument that arises out of this is how does homosexuality survive through natural selection?3. Natural selection promotes the homosexuality geneOur common sense would have us infer that homosexuality should be eliminated through the process of natural selection. Since homosexuality does not allow for reproduction, the consequential laws of natural selection should phase it out. How can this not be the case if it is natural? Well, this requires us to take a deeper look into natural selection. The theory of natural selection states that genes/traits that are detrimental to the survival of a species will not be selected in future generations. But it is often forgotten that genes can correspond to multiple traits. So in theory, if homosexuality is natural, and there is a gene associated to it, if this gene also contained a trait that benefitted survival/reproduction more than homosexuality detracts from it, then this gene would be transfered through natural selection. As stated in another twin study on homosexual behaviour, it was found that the evidence was in line with the above idea. They went further, using their evidence to theorise that genes influencing homosexuality have two effects. Not only do these genes increase the risk of homosexuality, but they also increase sex-atypical gender identity which could increase the chance of mating in hetrosexuals. [4] In other words, the risk of homosexuality caused by this gene would be out weighed by the benefits of increased mating success amongst heterosexuals. SummaryIn summary of the above three arguments, they clearly present a strong case that homosexuality is a natural trait. In a comprehensive study of twins, a decent proportion of homosexuality was found to be caused by genetics. Homosexuality is also prevelant in the animal kingdom, and surely that can be considered natural. Finally, it was shown that homosexuality could work under the laws of natural selection, with the heterosexual benefits of the homosexual gene outweighing the negative effects. Despite the apparent downfalls of homosexuality being genetic, the above arguments have shown that this is indeed a possibility and that the evidence supports this. Hence homosexuality has a strong case towards being natural. References(1) Långström, N. , Rahman, Q. , Carlström, E. , & Lichtenstein, P. (2010). Genetic and environmental effects on same-sex sexual behavior: A population study of twins in sweden. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39(1), 75-80. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9386-1(2) Poiani, Aldo (2010). Animal Homosexuality : A Biosocial Perspective. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved July 05, 2012, from Ebook Library. (3) . http://en.wikipedia.org...(4) ZIETSCH, B (01/01/2008). "Genetic factors predisposing to homosexuality may increase mating success in heterosexuals". Evolution and human behavior , 29 (6), p. 424.