“At what age did you choose your sexual orientation?”

That is the question Chris Ousley, a physical education lecturer, said he asks his human sexuality class at the beginning of every semester. He said he thinks sexual orientation is not something someone chooses.

“It’s a discovery of how one feels rather than ‘I’m choosing to be this way,'” Ousley said.

According to Wendell McKenzie, an alumni distinguished professor of genetics, studies show that there is a correlation between sexual orientation and genetics. He said homosexuality is not unnatural in humans or other animals. Only society deems it as abnormal, he said.

Not many studies have been done on humans, he said, because they are difficult to have as subjects in a study. McKenzie said it is hard to have a controlled study of genetics with humans because society ends up playing too large of a role.

Subsequently, the best studies have involved genetics and sexual behavior in nonhuman species because the researcher is able to control the situation completely. McKenzie said scientists make crossings and keep track of which offspring show what sexual behaviors.

However, McKenzie said some successful studies of human genetics and sexual orientation have occurred dealing with twins. He said there is a greater similarity in sexual behaviors of identical twins compared to fraternal twins.

“It is reasonable to conclude that having the same genes — identical twins — compared with having only half of the same genes — fraternal twins — explains a major part of the greater similarities in this characteristic,” McKenzie said.

However, in these studies, only about 50 percent of the time did identical twins have the same sexual orientation, according to McKenzie.

“There must be other factors — environmental ones — that must be contributing,” he said.

Ousley agreed. He said sexual orientation falls under the multifactoral model combination. This model says genes may be a flavoring but they aren’t the complete program.

However, Dr. Richard Tyler, a counselor at the Student Affairs Counseling Center, said sexuality is hard-wired into a person.

“There is no way of changing one’s sexual orientation,” Tyler said.

He said it is malpractice is a person comes to him and asks to have their sexual orientation changed. He said the medical and mental health community believe sexual orientation is a part of a person and therefore should not be changed.

Ousley does not think varying sexual orientations is abnormal, though. He said he believes science proves there is a connection between sexual orientation and genetics.

“It’s as normal as blowing your nose in the morning,” he said.

Ousley also said the more research that comes out supporting varying sexual orientations, the more accepting people will become of it. He said one of the main problems with the research though is that it focuses mainly on homosexuality and does not ask why people are heterosexual.

Tyler agreed. He also said the research can be negative because it puts homosexuals on the defensive. He said people are not required to demonstrate why their skin colors are what they are, so he does not think people should be required to demonstrate why they like who they like.

“It’s observed in almost every species,” he said.

One question McKenzie said people challenge is how the gene is passed on if those who are homosexual do not have children to pass it on. He said most genetics aren’t passed on by those who exhibit the trait, though. The brothers and sisters of the people who exhibit the trait are the ones who pass it on because they are the carriers, McKenzie said. He said sterility is highly genetic, and it is passed on by the people who are related to those who are sterile.

In the not too distant future, McKenzie said scientists should be able to figure out exactly which genes cause sexual orientation. He said the human genome project is finished and should help researchers find the exact connection between genetics and sexual orientation.

However, this breakthrough is something that scares Tyler. He said he is afraid that people will then try to find a way to change people’s genetic makeup. Tyler said more research is dangerous and that society needs to just move on.

“We need to accept that gay people are,” Tyler said.