An American geneticist thinks he can explain, from a genetic perspective, based on a conspicuously miniscule number of genetic variations across a diminutive sample size, why some people go trans.

Dr Ricki Lewis has conducted a study on 30 transgender individuals and says that he has isolated roughly 20 genetic variations that they share in common. It is Dr. Lewis’s perception that these genetic mutations could possibly be the reason that these people have rejected their physical biology in favor of their feelings of sexual anxiety. Dr Lewis said “I think people will be excited by this.” The Daily Mail reports:

Scientists have uncovered 20 genes linked to being transgender – supporting claims that the condition has a physical basis. Researchers believe the gene variations may contribute to people identifying with the opposite sex. Critics of transgender identity say the condition is ‘all in the mind’, and transgender people have a psychological problem rather than a medical one. But by highlighting genetic mutations that affect brain development, the latest findings point towards transgender identity having a physical basis. US researchers tested 14 female-to-male and 16 male-to-female patients at gender reassignment clinics. Presenting their research at the Society for Reproductive Investigation conference, the researchers said: ‘We identified genetic variants in 20 genes that may play a role in transgender identity. ‘The most promising of these include variants of genes involved in neurologic development and sex hormones.’ Dr Ricki Lewis, a geneticist, said: ‘These are highly reputable folks going about this exactly the right way, searching the genomes of transgender people to highlight which genes they have variants in. It lends legitimacy, if that needs to be added, that transgender is not a choice but a way of being.’

Dr Lewis’s research follows a very similar path as the search for legitimacy throughout the LGBTQ community has progressed over the years, namely the search for the elusive “gay gene”. Dr. Lewis remarks that this is particularly about legitimizing transgenders when he says ” It lends legitimacy, if that needs to be added, that transgender is not a choice but a way of being.”

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