Natural Selection?

Question

how does homosexuality and evolution work together, a friend of mine pointed out that according to evolution homosexuals are not progressing with evolution, they are weaker and therefore nature is selecting them to be phased out b/c they cannot reproduce, what are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

interesting, I wanted to wait to see what others answered, as far as them being weaker, in some way nature knows they are and therefore selects them to engage in homosexual acts so they will not reproduce, as far as some of the strongest men physically, we know that the dinos were far stronger than others yet were wiped out, in today's world I am not sure who does not have sex for pleasure, except for maybe the Moromons, LOL, I think this is a great point against evolution actually, it shows that people are above the animals, that they make choices according the their abilities to think, reason and love

Answer 2

Homosexuality is a byproduct of enjoying sex for non-procreative purposes. If it causes greater reproductive success even with some dead-ends, then it will be selected for. There are other traits with a similar equilibrium; the gene that causes sickle-cell anemia in the homozygous form provides some protection against malaria in the heterozygous form.

There's also some evidence to suggest that younger siblings are more likely to be homosexual than older ones; one possible explanation is that humans, who invest enormous resources into producing children (even before modern inventions like insurance, orthodontics, and higher education), find greater overall reproductive fitness if a small portion of the group does not personally reproduce. Your niece or nephew is still your kin, and they carry some of your genes, even though it's not a direct relationship.

Bees and other social insects take this to an extreme, with one member of a colony bearing children and all of the others committed to non-reproductive tasks.

And of course, just because you don't LIKE sex with an opposite sex partner doesn't mean you haven't ever done it. There's a lot of social pressure in the direction of heterosexuality.

Answer 3

In all honesty, you would be much better off if you were to ask this in one of the science sections---preferably biology. Over there, the majority of the people actually know what they are talking about.

As for the question, I am not sure. Homosexuals are probably not going to pass on their genes---especially the males---so I guess you could incorporate some kind of evolutionary discussion out of it.

Answer 4

Science does not tell all, but it has some good answers. For example, some species go through a purely homosexual part of their life before they become heterosexual. My opinion is that there is not gay and straight but a level of gayness/straightness. It is probably just a very loose part of our genetics to give the widest range of sexuality as possible, as reproduction is obviously the most important aspect of humans in order for us to exist.

Answer 5

In evolution anomalies turn up over and over. However I don't get how they are weaker. Some of the physically strongest men I've ever seen were gay.

Answer 6

View this from the evolutionary standpoint of a heterosexual whose sibling is homosexual. You have a close relative who will not compete with you for a mate, and who will not produce children who will compete with yours for food. On the other hand, this is an adult with all capabilities to produce food so the excess benefits your children. If some of your children have the same tendency, the others benefit.

Answer 7

Your friend is wrong, homosexuality simply reduces an individual's fitness to zero, effectively removing them from the gene pool regardless of their strengths or weaknesses. It is a neutral trait.