Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

The prevailing scientific view of the fundamental nature of homosexuality has undergone a significant evolution in the last several decades. Where once the scientific and medical establishment maintained an unqualified belief that homosexuality was a form of psychological deviance, today a solid majority of psychiatrists and psychologists themselves believe that biological factors (genes, brain, prenatal chemistry) also play an important role.  Dr. Dean Hamer’s research for the first time examined at a molecular level how our sexual identities are rooted in our biology. He has gone on to study the role that biology plays in our faith. In his works and books, Dr. Hamer reveals that inclination toward religious faith is in part due to our genes and may even offer an evolutionary advantage by reducing stress, preventing disease, and extending life. We will discuss these and other works that bring in the role of culture, such as transgender identities in Polynesia. Dean Hamer is an American geneticist, author,