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Homosexuality and inbreeding

Cíntia Fragoso; Paulo Roberto Machado de Lima; Laura Maria Nogueira; Elaine Correa Marin; Márcia Regina de Oliveira Krigner; Patricia Valéria Cavana; Soraia Santi D'Antonio; Paulo Alberto Otto; Oswaldo Frota-Pessoa

Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 11461, 05422-970 São Paulo, SP, Brasil, Send correspondence to O.F.-P.

ABSTRACT

Overt homosexuals were interviewed in an attempt to find out if the consanguinity rate of their parents was greater than that of the couples in the general population. We found parental consanguinity in five among 175 male homosexuals and one in 106 homosexual women, the rate of consanguineous individuals (2.2%) did not differ significantly from that of a control sample of 695 university students of both sexes, among whom 2.9% had consanguineous parents. Our data do not conform to the suggestion, made by Kerr and Freire-Maia (Rev. Brasil. Genet. 6: 177-180, 1983), that parental consanguinity is greater in male homosexuals than in the general population.

Keywords: homosexuality; inbreeding.

REFERENCES

Freire-Maia, N. (1957). Inbreeding in Brazil. Am. J Hum. Genet. 9: 284-298.

Frota-Pessoa, O. (1989). 0 dano na prole de primos e de casais de 35 anos ou mais. Ciénc. Cult. 41: 474-483.

Haffner, D.H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V.L., Hu, N. and Pattatucci, A.M.L. (1993). A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science 261: 321-327.

Kerr, W.E. and Freire-Maia, N. (1983). Probable inbreeding effect on inale homosexuality. Rev. Brasil. Genet. 6: 177-180.