[Praxising]

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Gayness, for want of a better word, has selective advantages because we used to be a family-oriented culture. That is, we are social primates organized into family groups. The purpose of biological life is production and reproduction: staying alive and passing on your genes. To keep offspring alive long enough to reproduce themselves and pass on those genes, it makes reproductive sense to have as many resources as possible - protection, food, and so forth. Because siblings share genes, a non-reproducing ("gay") member of the family group, provides more protection for the young and can acquire more food resources. That member's genes reside in the offspring also.

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What is this - eusociality in early human primates? Sure, I understand the notion of kin selection, but time and again various eminently plausible ideas run into the problem that a gene which causes its bearer to be less likely to reproduce must have a profound effect on the probability of its kin to survive in order for this 'back-door selection' to occur. Where are you getting this?

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Well, I "got" it from years of studying paleoanthropology in college and teaching genetics and evolutionary theory. Where do your ideas come from?

In order to make sense of altruism, we have to understand that it doesn't matter which of the examples of a specific gene survives, as long as it does. The source, which relative passes it on, becomes a matter of indifference. Once genes are deposited in the next generation, protecting that container, the individual with the genes inside, becomes the greatest driving force in behavior as long as production is constant. We don't think of the genome and how it evolves in terms of individuals, but in terms of populations. One of the most positive forces for selective fitness, is controlling the number of individuals in the population because production and reproduction are so intertwined as to be almost indistinguishable from one another.

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Ejecting gay persons from our families and communities is counter to reproductive success for the population as a whole.

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Not anymore, by your own lights.

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I have no idea what this means.

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I say ejecting gay persons from our families and communities is morally repugnant on the grounds of human liberty.

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I agree and say the same thing. But that isn't the topic of the thread.