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Assuming there exists a necessary genetic component to homosexuality, will the population go to zero someday?

Asked by blaze626 (151points) July 7th, 2011

Note that I do not wish this on the population in any way, I’m asking purely as an academic curiosity. I’ve read related threads, but am unsatisfied with the answers I’ve found.

The gay population is inherently less evolutionarily fit than their heterosexual counterparts, so it seems the population would disappear someday. It makes sense that it hasn’t happened yet due to cultural pressures to reproduce in the past (in order to maintain a straight façade), supporting a synthetic fitness that has allowed the gay population to increase with the majority population. But now that cultural pressure is mostly gone, it will be less likely for a gay couple to have biological offspring than a straight couple, thus driving the gay population to zero.

I imagine we don’t see the gay animal population driven to zero because they continue to have reproductive sex in addition to gay sex (Possibly at an even higher rate, considering hormonal implications).

Of course, if it turns out there is not a genetic precondition necessary to be truly gay, my entire question is moot. And of course I acknowledge there will always be people who have gay sex just for fun. My question refers to the population of genetically gay humans only.

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