Homosexuality and inbreeding

Overt homosexuals were interviewed in an attempt to fmd out if the consanguinity rate of their parents was greater than that of the couples in the general population. We found parental consanguinity in five among 175 male homosexuals and one in 106 homosexual women, the rate of consanguineous individuals (2.2 per cent) did not differ significantly from that of a control sample of 695 university students of both sexes, among whom 2.9 per cent had consanguineous parents. Our data do not conform to the suggestion, made by Keff and Freire-Maia (Rev. BrasiL Genet. 6: 177-180, 1983), that parental consanguinity is greater in male homosexuals than in the general population.