Does birth order affect sexuality?

Here is an interesting article. Read it and discuss. I would like to hear from those of you who are gay if you have an older brother? And if you do, what do you think your birth order affected your sexuality?

If you are not gay, what do you think of this article?

I don't agree with the use of the words sexuality and homosexuality to refer to the LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transger) community. But that is another discussion.

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Does birth order affect sexuality?
Men with big brothers more likely to be gay, researchers assert

11:04 PM CDT on Monday, June 26, 2006
Los Angeles Times


Having one or more older brothers boosts the likelihood of a boy growing up to be gay – an effect due not to social factors, but biological events that occur in their mother's womb, according to a study published Tuesday.

In an analysis of 905 men and their siblings, Canadian psychologist Anthony Bogaert found no evidence that social interactions among family members play any role in determining whether a man is gay or straight.

The only significant factor was the number of times a mother had previously given birth to boys, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Each older brother increases the chances by 33 percent. Mr. Bogaert said that assuming a 2 percent base rate of homosexuality among men, it would take 11 older brothers to give the next son about a 50-50 chance of being gay.

"Biological older brothers, even ones they are not reared with, seem to be increasing the likelihood of male homosexuality," Mr. Bogaert said.

In a previous study, Mr. Bogaert and his colleagues estimated that about one in seven gay men in North America – roughly 1 million people – can attribute their sexual orientation to fraternal birth order.

Mr. Bogaert said he doesn't know what mechanism is behind the effect, which he and a colleague first identified 10 years ago.

The leading theory is that women pregnant with boys are exposed to male proteins that their bodies view as foreign, and they respond by making antibodies to fight them, said Mr. Bogaert, a professor at Brock University in Ontario.

Those antibodies could affect the developing fetus, and the more times a woman has carried boys, the stronger the antibody response would be.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062706dnnatorientation.17caebb.html