The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party: A No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel

Dean Hamer and his team of researchers at the National Cancer Institute made a remarkable discovery: in families with two gay brothers, 33 out of 40 pairs shared a distinctive pattern in one region of the X chromosone, a far higher number than chance alone would predict. DNA and family studies confirmed a much higher than average rate of homosexuality among male relatives on the mother's side of the family. The discovery of the gene marker - popularly, though inaccurately called the "gay gene" - launched a furious international debate about profound scientific, social and ethical issues. Would it be possible to test prenatally for it? And would parents abort a foetus with the gene? The author tackles these and other important questions with a mixture of scientific objectivity, scepticism and compassion.