Family?

[KrisParr]

I have two older brothers and a younger sister. They are all married and have given me a total of seven nieces and nephews. Everyone is straight as far as I can tell. I also have many “first” cousins, twenty-one at last count. Two of them are “out” as am I. My gay relatives live quite a distance, but we see each other a few times a year. The last time we met, the discussion turned to statistics, i.e. the percentage of gays in a given family. Is anyone aware of such a study? Not to turn this post into a long-winded thread, but I’m a bit curious as to the demographics of this fine group of readers. Are you the lone gay in your clan?

[+ azdr0710]

one unmarried sibling (brother), seven first cousins, no nieces or nephews.......

 

one of the cousins (Dad's sister's daughter) is lesbian......no other known gay relatives at all......

[+ Cash4Trash]

Gay sister, other sister and brother straight.

[MikeBiDude]

I’m oldest of 6. My next younger brother is 3 years younger than me, gay, out, has a partner of 20+ Years. 10 nieces and nephews, so far one gay nephew.

[mike carey]

I have a total of 7 siblings and first cousins, only one other, my sister, is gay. No other relatives are gay, as far as I know. My sister came out 30 years ago when I was still in denial, has been partnered most of the time and is getting married in a couple of weeks to her current partner of 15 years..

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I have two sisters; both are straight. Between them I have three nephews. One of the three is gay.

[+ pdxleo]

One sister and four brothers, all irredeemably straight. Two nephews and two nieces, both the girls are lesbians.

[+ poolboy48220]

One gay sister, two straight sisters. No idea on my cousins, I haven't seen much of them since my mid-teens. Three nephews and two nieces (one adopted), all straight so far.

[gallahadesquire]

Step siblings and siblings are 7 in total, of whom two are gay. My step sister is married for economic reasons.

[liubit]

I am the only one who’s gay among my siblings, but I do have two gay nephews -from two different sisters-, both in their 20s.

[+ Charlie]

I'm an only child; I had 16 first cousins, only one of them gay to my knowledge. My spouse has three younger brothers, one of them also gay and married to his longtime partner. Three of his four nieces are unmarried, close to middle age, and have never had boyfriends to our knowledge, but if they are lesbians, they have never come out to either of their openly gay uncles and their husbands.

[+ WilliamM]

There are far more twins in my family, including me, than. homos.

[+ sniper]

Studies have shown that odds of boys being gay increase with maternal age and the number of previous male children the mother had. So it's likely a hormones in utero situation as much as an explicitly genetic situation.

[+ poolboy48220]

Huh. Mom had just turned 27 when she had me. I'm the only boy. Although I have a feeling that she had several miscarriages, maybe there was a boy miscarried before I was born?

[Guest]

... The last time we met, the discussion turned to statistics, i.e. the percentage of gays in a given family. Is anyone aware of such a study? ...

Studies have shown that odds of boys being gay increase with maternal age and the number of previous male children the mother had. So it's likely a hormones in utero situation as much as an explicitly genetic situation.

I believe that the percentage of those identifying as gay in the US seems to be in the 4 to 4.5 % range:

https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/visualization/lgbt-stats/?topic=LGBT#density

 

Percentages vary by country. Japan and Spain seem to have higher numbers, some lower (such as Australia):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation

 

I don't think that hormones have been shown to cause the difference. There is a study which showed that the number of older brothers one has increases the odds of being gay. I have one older brother. I'm not aware of any study showing an effect of maternal age. Hormones could be involved, but others have speculated antibodies from the mother could be involved. The mechanism isn't known for sure at this time.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-12-link-older-brothers-odds-homosexual.html

 

"The women's antibody reactivity was measured to two proteins (PCDH11Y and two forms of NLGN4Y) found only in males, both of which are expressed in the male fetal brain.

 

The team found that mothers of gay sons, especially those with older brothers, had significantly higher antibody levels to both forms of NLGN4Y than did the control samples of women, including mothers of heterosexual sons.

 

"It seems that some women during their first male pregnancy, or just after their first male birth, begin to detect this foreign substance (the NLGN4Y protein) and start to develop an immune response. And then later, with further male pregnancies, the high levels of antibodies directed toward this substance may change brain development in these later born males," Bogaert said.

 

This confirms that the older brother effect is very likely immunological in origin."

[+ Charlie]

In my spouse's family, it is the two older brothers who are gay, and the two younger brothers who are straight, which doesn't fit that pattern.

[rocky]

Wow, three sisters, no gay, in my family that I'm aware or hometown back in the sixties and seventies no one was openly gay although there were two men who everyone said were gay.

[RM]

My twin brother. None of my 5 first cousins. My sister has three sons. Two are straight; not sure about the middle son.

[+ Charlie]

These are interesting observations. In general, I would have expected that across large family groupings, the overall gay/non-gay percentages would parallel that of the general population. But then, I see instances noted above with large incidence in single family groups...which implies cultural/social/environmental influences may be a factor.

 

In my own family, I know of one incidence of gay (a first cousin once removed) rendering an incidence in the extended family about equal to that of the general population.

Nature or nurture? As with other characteristics, it is usually a combination of factors. It is also worth remembering that being "gay" is a relatively recent phenomenon: it is not the same thing as being sexually attracted to--or having sexual relations with--members of the same sex. Then there is the complication of bisexuality, in both orientation and activity, which is not being considered.

 

We are all reporting mostly our impressions of other family members, which may not be accurate. For instance, I mentioned my spouse's three nieces, all around 40 and physically attractive, who to my knowledge have never been romantically involved with anyone, male or female, yet in truth I know nothing about their inner life. Two of them live in a house they own together like a couple: incestuous lesbians? How would I know?! If my father had been asked this question, he would have said that there was no one in his family, yet his favorite male cousin, who lived his whole life with his mother, had a special male "friend," who was treated like one of the family, and I would have counted him as one of my "gay" relations based on my impression.