How does genetic variation impact on behavioural differences and how does this relate to free will and personal identity? Denis Alexander examines these questions.

Front-page headlines last July reported the discovery of a gene marker for male homosexuality. Now the scientist who made the discovery describes his history-making research and the far-reaching implications of this first genetic link to behavior.

A compelling behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge scientific inquiry, as well as a brilliant examination of the ramifications of genetic research, The Science of Desire is a lasting resource in the increasingly significant debate over the role that genetics plays in our lives. In July 1993, a scientific event made front-page news: the discovery that genetics plays a significant role in determining homosexuality. In The Science of Desire, Dean Hamer—the scientist behind the groundbreaking study—tells the inside story of how the discovery was made and what it means, not only for our understanding of sexuality, but for human behavior in general. In this accessible and remarkably clear book, Dean Hamer expands on the account of his history-making research to explore the scientific, social, and ethical issues raised by his findings. Dr. Hamer addresses such tough questions as whether it would be possible or ethical to test in utero for the gay gene; whether genetic manipulation could or should be used to alter a person's sexuality; and how a gay gene could have survived evolution. A compelling behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge scientific inquiry, as well as a brilliant examination of the ramifications of genetic research, The Science of Desire is a lasting resource in the increasingly significant debate over the role that genetics plays in our lives.

Reinventing the Male Homosexual: The Rhetoric and Power of the Gay Gene examines the assumption that embracing the biological research on homosexuality is a viable political strategy for the gay rights movement. The biological argument for gay rights is treated as a "bio-rhetoric," a means of incorporating scientific research into public debates. The book investigates the biological research on which this gay rights argument is based, and explores how male homosexuality is conceptualized in the fields of behavioral genetics, neuroendocrinology, sociobiology, and evolutionary psychology. Robert Alan Brookey demonstrates that most biological research begins with the assumption that male homosexuality is a state of physical effeminate pathology. Although biological research may seem to support a pro-gay rights agenda, the same research can actually be used to support conservative political interests.

From the IX Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church, the first openly gay person elected to the episcopate and the world’s leading religious spokesperson for gay rights and gay marriage—a groundbreaking book that persuasively makes the case for same-sex marriage using a commonsense, reasoned, religious argument. Robinson holds the religious text of the Bible to be holy and sacred and the ensuing two millennia of church history to be relevant to the discussion. He is equally familiar with the secular and political debate about gay marriage going on in America today, and is someone for whom same-sex marriage is a personal issue; Robinson was married to a woman for fourteen years and is a father of two children and has been married to a man for the last four years of a twenty-five-year relationship. Robinson has a knack for taking complex and controversial issues and addressing them in plain direct language, without using polemics or ideology, putting forth his argument for gay marriage, and bringing together sacred and secular points of view.

Front-page headlines last July reported the discovery of a gene marker for male homosexuality. Now the scientist who made the discovery describes his history-making research and the far-reaching implications of this first genetic link to behavior.