that still doesn't account for only children.. and first borns...

I'm the first in my family and I'm gay

unless the genes are passed from grandmother to mother... since my mom has 2 other brothers

would that raise the chance of me being gay by 60%? or am I looking at this wrong

Note it reads, "More likely" not the only cause/reason.

Personally, I'd like to see the entirety of the research.

The average percent of participants with one older brother who were gay in the study was 3%. The likelihood increased up to 5% depending on the number of older brothers the participant had. So 30% of 3% isn't such a huge jump as some believe the article may insinuate.

Its not hormonal, its a preference...an attraction...
How about being athletic? Or if you enjoy broccoli? Would that be different if I had two older sisters??
I like to wear jeans...That might just be because I'm the eldest.

This is just another liberal biased study to give legitimacy to homosexuality and their agenda to legalize gay marriage. Sorry but I don't buy into that junk.

This is just another conservative biased comment to give legitimacy to gay-bashing and to further the bashers' agenda to make it constitutionally illegal for gay people to marry, simply because they don't fit into the conservatives' idea of what a family should be. I don't buy into THAT junk.

You'll need alot more data to prove causality between biological older brothers and homosexuality. For one thing, you'll need to prove that it is developmentally induced. If it is, then genetic variations and contributing factors would need to be identified to support the claim. Until then, be willing to accept homosexuality as a preference and not a condition.

What about lesbians? There are two genders after all, and both have the possibility of being homosexual. Considering this is a 'scientific' study, why didn't they take information on the other gender as well? Just something to ponder.

I also question the 'statistics'. Considering that a certain percentage of the population is homosexual, it stands to reason that every child you have could be gay if the prior ones are not. That's an oversimplification of statistics, but you can probably understand what I mean.

This study fails to acknowledge one last variable: How the mother's treatment of the kids may differ. It's not conclusive untill _all_ variables but birth order are controlled for.

Even still, I'd think 2% (the difference between average and 'younger brother' rates of homosexuality) would be within a margin of error myself...

Being homosexual is just a way of life, not anything that can be genetically induced. If that were the case, my grandmother who gave birth to 5 girls would have had at least one that was a lesbian, and gave birth to 4 sons and none of them are gay. Overanalyzing statistics causes errors like these in which are "likely" but not probable.