Jared (left) and Adam are nine years old. Their mother says she began
to notice a difference in Adam when he was only 18 months old. Adam's
behavior is an example of childhood gender nonconformity, say
scientists. Research shows that most children with extreme tendencies
toward gender nonconformity grow up to be gay. (CBS)


(CBS) There are few issues as hotly
contested — and as poorly understood — as the question of what makes a
person gay or straight. It's not only a political, social, and religious
question but also a scientific question, one that might someday have an actual,
provable answer.



The handful of scientists who work in this under-funded and politically charged
field will tell you: That answer is a long way off. But as Lesley Stahl
reports, their efforts are already yielding tantalizing clues. One focus of
their research is twins.

The bedrooms of 9-year-old twins Adam and Jared couldn't be more different.
Jared's room is decked out with camouflage, airplanes, and military toys, while
Adam's room sports a pastel canopy, stuffed animals, and white horses.



When Stahl came for a visit, Jared was eager to show her his G.I. Joe
collection. "I have ones that say like Marine and SWAT. And then that's
where I keep all the guns for 'em," he explained.



Adam was also proud to show off his toys. "This is one of my dolls. Bratz
baby," he said.



Adam wears pinkish-purple nail polish, adorned with stars and diamonds.



Asked if he went to school like that, Adam says, "Uh-huh. I just showed
them my nails, and they were like, 'Why did you do that?'"

Check
out Public Eye's coverage of the reaction to the story, which includes producer Shari
Finkelstein's response to critics, here
and here.

Adam's behavior is called childhood
gender nonconformity, meaning a child whose interests and behaviors are more
typical of the opposite sex. Research shows that kids with extreme gender
nonconformity usually grow up to be gay.



Danielle, Adam and Jared's mom, says she began to notice this difference in Adam
when he was about 18 months old and began asking for a Barbie doll. Jared,
meanwhile, was asking for fire trucks.



Not that much has changed. Jared’s favorite game now is Battlefield 2, Special
Forces. As for Adam, he says, "It's called Neopets: The Darkest
Faerie."



Asked how he would describe himself to a stranger, Jared says, "I'm a kid
who likes G.I. Joes and games and TV."



"I would say like a girl," Adam replied to the same question. When
asked why he thinks that is, Adam shrugged.



"To me, cases like that really scream out, 'Hey, it's not out there. It's
in here.' There's no indication that this mother is prone to raise very feminine
boys because his twin is not that way," says Michael Bailey, a psychology
professor at Northwestern University and a leading researcher in the field of
sexual orientation.



Bailey says he doesn't think nurture is a plausible explanation.



Psychologists used to believe homosexuality was caused by nurture — namely
overbearing mothers and distant fathers — but that theory has been disproved.
Today, scientists are looking at genes, environment, brain structure and
hormones. There is one area of consensus: that homosexuality involves more than
just sexual behavior; it’s physiological.

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