HOMOSEXUALITY AND INBREEDING

Overt homosexuals were interviewed in an attempt to find out if the co nsanguinity rate of their parents was greater than that of the couples in the general population. We found parental consanguinity in five am ong 175 male homosexuals and one in 106 homosexual women, the rate of consanguineous individuals (2.2%) did not differ significantly from th at of a control sample of 695 university students of both sexes, among whom 2.9% had consanguineous parents. Our data do not conform to the suggestion, made by Kerr and Freire-Maia (Rev. Brasil. Genet. 6: 177-1 80, 1983), that parental consanguinity is greater in male homosexuals than in the general population.