Homosexuality - A New Theory


The theory of human sexual evolution appearing on this website was first published in two installments in the Journal of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association in spring and summer 2000 (True Nature – A Theory Of Human Sexual Evolution, C. Gomes, JGLMA Vol.4, No.1 and Vol.4, No.2).

‘True Nature’ presents arguments from various fields of study to show that the sexuality of human beings evolved over the course of millions of years, alongside and as a direct consequence of, increases in intelligence. Far from it being static over millennia and largely aligned with heterosexuality, a review of human sexual history spanning the globe – providing the ultimate litmus test of humanity’s true sexual nature - reveals the incredible plasticity of our sexual behavior, and humanity’s predilection for homosexuality.

This ever-present homosexual bias in humans remained unsuspected till now because the ubiquity of heterosexuality always presented an overarching prejudice when interpreting human sexual history, and also because a theoretical framework capable of making sense of its perplexing and contradictory nature was lacking.


Conclusions Regarding Homosexuality


1. We are unique in the animal world in not possessing a sexual instinct that would compel us to engage
    in heterosexual intercourse.

            What indications are there that this is true?



  • Humans are the only animal species that can choose not to have offspring. All other sexually reproducing animals are compelled to engage in heterosexual intercourse and reproduce when they sense the right combination of seasonal, pheromonal, and/or visual cues. This proves that humans do not rely on environmental cues, neither pheromonal nor visual, to dictate their sexual behavior.

  • Humans are the only species where exclusive homosexual subgroups exist. In all other animal species where homosexual activity is seen, the same individuals invariably also engage in heterosexual intercourse because their sexual behavior is underpinned by a reproductive instinct.


2. It was the tremendous rise in intelligence in the course of human evolution that made the loss of our
    sexual instinct possible.

            Why was a sufficiently high intelligence level necessary?



  • For our species to continue surviving, the human line could not lose its sexual instinct until it was possible for reproduction to be relatively assured without it. And this was only possible after humans had first found a benefit in producing offspring (realizing that children could provide care and protection in old age), and then discovered what caused reproduction (linking heterosexual intercourse to it). The tremendous insight required for both discoveries was only made possible by a sufficiently high intelligence level.


3. The loss of the sexual instinct and the resulting full conscious control of reproduction was highly
    advantageous to humans.

  • It made monogamy possible within a multi-family group setting because individuals were no longer compulsively drawn to mate with other individuals of the opposite sex emitting sexual pheromones, thus reducing sexual tension and permitting increased social cohesion.

  • It allowed births to be planned and timed appropriately with the availability of food and shelter resources as humans forged their way into new environments during various periods of global expansion, thereby reducing the mortality of infants and expectant mothers.

  • It allowed competing groups of human beings to increase their populations in response to ongoing conflict and competition.


4. Lacking a sexual instinct, human sexuality is completely determined by individual experience.

            What are the implications of this?



  • Heterosexuality is not genetic in human beings. No genes have ever been found as a cause for heterosexuality. Heterosexuality is learned.

  • Homosexuality is not genetic in human beings. No genes have ever been found as a cause for homosexuality. Homosexuality is learned.


5. A universal set of childhood sexual exploration behaviors exists that most strongly biases a homosexual
    orientation development, over a heterosexual one, or a bisexual one. Therefore, though not inborn,
    homosexuality is natural in humans, heterosexuality is not.

            What gives rise to these childhood sexual exploration behaviors?



  • All children have a natural tendency to sexually explore and stimulate their bodies from infancy, primarily the sensitive genital area, in attempts to derive tactile and olfactory pleasure from it. This pleasurable behavior has a much stronger potential to create same-sex attraction than opposite-sex attraction - if societal deterrents and/or a sufficiently strong heterosexual conditioning environment are absent.

            What indication is there that homosexuality is indeed natural in human beings?



  • If we review the history of human sexuality we see that throughout recorded history in diverse cultures spread across the globe whenever homosexual behavior has been embraced and permitted, it has been so widespread and dominant that every such culture found it necessary to condemn exclusive homosexuality in order to ensure that a sufficient level of heterosexual activity existed to enable its survival. If heterosexuality was indeed an innate, largely universal characteristic of human beings, this historical regulation of homosexuality and enforcement of heterosexuality would not have been necessary.

6. Heterosexuals vastly outnumber homosexuals in the world because societies - needing to maintain their
    populations - universally encourage heterosexuality while discouraging, or forbidding, homosexuality.