Left-handed links to homosexuality

TORONTO, July 7 (Reuters) - Homosexual men and women are more likely to be left-handed than their heterosexual counterparts -- a finding that indicates sexual orientation, like handedness, may be determined before birth -- Canadian researchers said.

In a study published in the July issue of "Psychology Bulletin," researchers said that a meta-analysis of 20 studies involving more than 23,000 men and women had found the odds that gays and lesbians would be left-handed was 39 percent greater than heterosexual people.

A meta-analysis is a statistical technique using the results of previous studies to reach a reliable conclusion.

The study found gay men were 34 percent more inclined toward left-handednesss than non-gay men while the chances were even greater among homosexual women, where they were 91 percent more likely to be left-handed than heterosexual women.

"This is one more piece of evidence that sexual orientation is at least partly determined in utero," said Ray Blanchard, head of the Clinical Sexology Programme at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, and one of the study's authors.

-- Anonymous, July 07, 2000