The Boston Globe - 30.08.2019

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019 The Boston Globe Nation/World A

By Lindsey Bever

THE WASHINGTON POST

There is no one gene that de-

termines a person’s sexual ori-

entation, but genetics — along

with environment — play a part

in shaping sexuality, a massive

new study shows.

Researchers analyzed DNA

from hundreds of thousands of

people and found that there are

a handful of genes clearly con-

nected with same-sex sexual be-

havior. The researchers say

that, although variations in

these genes cannot predict

whether a person is gay, these

variants may partly influence

sexual behavior.

Andrea Ganna, lead author

and an instructor at Massachu-

setts General Hospital and Har-

vard Medical School, said the

research reinforces the under-

standing that same-sex sexual

behavior is simply ‘‘a natural

part of our diversity as species.’’

The new study, published

Thursday in the journal Sci-

ence, is not the first to explore

the link between genetics and

same-sex behavior, but it is the

largest of its kind, and experts

say it provides one of the clear-

est pictures of genes and sexual-

ity.

Ganna and an international

team of scientists examined da-

ta from more than 470,000 peo-

ple in the United States and the

United Kingdom to see whether

certain genetic markers in their

DNA were linked to their sexual

behavior. Specifically, the re-

searchers used data from the

UK Biobank study and from the

private genomics company

23andMe, which included their

DNA data and responses to

questions about sexual behav-

iors, sexual attraction, and sex-

ual identity.

More than 26,000 partici-

pants reported at least one sex-

ual encounter with someone of

the same sex. Earlier studies,

the researchers said, weren’t

large enough to reveal the sub-

tleeffectsofindividualgenes.

The researchers were able to

find five genetic variants that

were statistically associated

with same-sex sexual behaviors,

but none had a large effect and

none could itself predict same-

sex behaviors. One of the vari-

ants was found in a stretch of

DNA that includes several

genes related to the sense of

smell. And another one of the

genes is related to male pattern

baldness, which the authors

said could suggest that sex hor-

mone regulation may somehow

be involved.

These variants, along with

thousands of others in the hu-

man genome that have even

smaller effects, together ac-

counted for 8 percent to 25 per-

cent of variation in same-sex

sexual behavior, the analysis

showed. Some of the variants

were correlated with same-sex

sexual behavior in men, others

in women, and some in both.

Eric Vilain, director of the

Center for Genetic Medicine

Research at Children’s National

Health System, said the study

marks the end of ‘‘the simplistic

concept of the ‘gay gene.’ ”

‘‘It just shows us that same-

sex sexual behavior is much

more complex than this idea of

having just one gene influenc-

ing it all,’’ said Vilain, who was

not involved in the study.

Zeke Stokes, chief programs

officer for GLAAD, said in a

statement that the new re-

search on the genetics ‘‘pro-

vides even more evidence that

being gay or lesbian is a natural

part of human life, a conclusion

that has been drawn by re-

searchers and scientists time

and again. The identities of LG-

BTQ people are not up for de-

bate.”

Studyfindsno‘gay

gene,’butgenetics

linkedtobehavior

Data from more

than 470,

used in research

By Freida Frisaro
and Adriana Gomez Licon
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Florida residents
picked shelves clean of bottled
water and lined up at gas sta-
tions Thursday as an increas-
ingly menacing-looking Hurri-
cane Dorian threatened to
broadside the state over the La-
bor Day weekend.
Leaving lighter-than-expect-
ed damage in Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands, the second
hurricane of the 2019 season
swirled toward the US main-
land, with forecasters warning
it will draw energy from the
warm, open waters as it closes
in.
The National Hurricane
Center said the Category 1
storm was expected to strength-
en into a potentially catastroph-
ic Category 4 with winds of 130
miles per hour and slam ashore
on Monday, somewhere be-
tween the Florida Keys and
southern Georgia — a 500-mile
stretch that reflected the high
degree of uncertainty.
‘‘If it makes landfall as a Cat-
egory 3 or 4 hurricane, that’s a
big deal,’’ said a University of
Miami hurricane researcher,
Brian McNoldy. ‘‘A lot of people
are going to be affected. A lot of
insurance claims.’’
President Trump canceled
his weekend trip to Poland and
declared Florida is ‘‘going to be
totally ready.’’
With the storm’s track still
unclear, no immediate mass
evacuations were ordered.
Along Florida’s east coast,
local governments began dis-
tributing sandbags, shoppers
rushed to stock up on food, ply-
wood, and other emergency
supplies at supermarkets and

hardware stores, and motorists

toppedoff theirtanksandfilled

gasoline cans. Some fuel short-

ages were reported in the Cape

Canaveral area.

Josefine Larrauri, a retired

translator, went to a Publix su-

permarket in Miami only to

find empty shelves in the water

section and store employees

who were unsure of when more

cases would arrive.

‘‘I feel helpless, because the

whole coast is threatened,’’ she

said. ‘‘What’s the use of going

all the way to Georgia if it can

land there?’’

Tiffany Miranda of Miami

Springs waited well over 30

minutes at BJ’s Wholesale Club

in Hialeah to buy hurricane

supplies. Some 50 vehicles were

bumper-to-bumper, waiting to

fill up at the store’s 12 gas

pumps.

‘‘You never know with these

hurricanes. It could be good; it

could be bad. You just have to

be prepared,’’ she said.

The hurricane center’s pro-

jected track had the storm

blowing ashore midway along

the Florida peninsula, south-

east of Orlando and well north

of Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

But because of the difficulty of

predicting its course this far

ahead, the ‘‘cone of uncertain-

ty’’ covered nearly the entire

state.

Forecasters said coastal ar-

eas of the Southeast could get 5

to 10 inches of rain, with 15

inches in some places, trigger-

ing life-threatening flash floods.

Also imperiled were the Ba-

hamas, with Dorian’s expected

track running just to the north

of Great Abaco and Grand Ba-

hama islands.

Jeff Byard, an associate ad-

ministrator at the Federal

Emergency Management Agen-

cy, warned that Dorian is likely

to ‘‘create a lot of havoc with in-

frastructure, power, and roads,’’

but gave assurances that FEMA

is prepared to handle it, even

though the Trump administra-

tion is shifting hundreds of mil-

lions of dollars out of FEMA

and other agencies to deal with

immigration at the Mexican

border.

‘‘This is going to be a big

storm. We’re prepared for a big

response,’’ Byard said.

Florida Governor Ron De-

Santis declared a state of emer-

gency, clearing the way to bring

in more fuel and call up the Na-

tional Guard, if necessary.

Royal Caribbean, Carnival,

and Norwegian began rerout-

ing their cruise ships, and ma-

jor airlines began allowing trav-

elers to change their reserva-

tions without a fee. At Cape

Canaveral, NASA decided to

move indoors the mobile

launch platform for its new

mega rocket under develop-

ment. A Rolling Stones concert

scheduled for Saturday at Hard

Rock Stadium near Miami was

moved up to Friday night.

Dorian rolled through the

Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico

as a Category 1 hurricane on

Wednesday. The initial blow did

not appear to be as bad as ex-

pected in Puerto Rico, which is

still recovering from Hurricane

Maria two years ago, with tarps

covering 30,000 homes and the

electrical grid still fragile. But

the tail end of the storm un-

leashed heavy flooding on the

eastern and southern coasts.

Cars and homes in Humacao

were halfway submerged after a

river burst its banks.

Florida

girdsas

Dorian

threatens

Hurricane apt to

reach Category 4

ERIKA P. RODRIGUEZ/NEW YORK TIMES

Residents of Maunabo, Puerto Rico, prepared for Dorian on Wednesday; the storm mostly

spared the island, which is still recovering from Hurricane Maria two years ago.

By James McAuley
and Liz Sly
THE WASHINGTON POST
JERUSALEM — Israel un-
veiled new details Thursday
about Iran’s shadow operation
in Lebanon, days after a string
of attacks blamed on Israel
against Iranian-allied targets in
three countries escalated ten-
sions across the Middle East.
The Israeli army accused
Iran and Hezbollah, Iran’s
proxy in Lebanon, of pushing
forward with an operation to
produce precision-guided mis-
siles on Lebanese soil, a pro-
gram that Israel said puts Leba-
nese civilians in danger.
Israel’s accusations followed
a drone strike outside a Hezbol-
lah media center in the south-
ern suburbs of Beirut early Sun-
day, which Hezbollah attribut-
ed to Israel. Hassan Nasrallah,
Hezbollah’s secretary general,

vowed there would be a re-

sponse to what he called ‘‘a new

phase imposed by the enemy.’’

Israel neither confirmed nor

denied responsibility for the

Beirut drone strike, but Lieu-

tenant Colonel Jonathan Conri-

cus, a military spokesman, told

reporters on Thursday that

Iran’s missile operation in Leba-

non has used sites in and

around the capital.

Israel has seen Iran ‘‘en-

hance the pace,’’ Conricus said,

saying that meant ‘‘faster in

terms of buildings, facilities, lo-

cations, conversion-and-manu-

facturing facilities — and it

means more people, operatives,

involved in doing so. More loca-

tions.’’

He also said, however, that

Hezbollah ‘‘does not yet have an

industrial capacity’’ to manu-

facture the missiles in question

on a mass scale.

‘‘What we’re doing is trying

to shed light on the strategic

picture and on the context of

what’s going on,’’ he said, ‘‘to

convey to the Iranians and per-

haps most importantly, the Leb-

anese government, that it’s

time for them to understand

their responsibility and the fact

that what they’re letting Hez-

bollah and Iran do on Lebanese

soil is endangering Lebanese ci-

vilians.’’

Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, who faces a second

round of contentious elections

in mid-September, said in a

news conference that Thurs-

day’s revelations should ‘‘make

clear that we will not stand idly

by and let our enemies arm

themselves with deadly weap-

ons. Already this week, I told

our enemies: Watch your ac-

tions. And today we say to

them: ‘Dir balak — pay atten-

tion.’ ”

The recent strikes — con-

firmed or alleged — could also

indicate that within Israeli in-

telligence circles, anxiety may

have reached a tipping point

over the extent of Hezbollah’s

weapons capabilities, even if

those remain limited.

Conricus said that the num-

ber of accurate missiles Hezbol-

lah has now is not substantial.

IranianmissilepushreportedbyIsrael

Military official

says operation

seeninLebanon

By Matt Viser
andGregJaffe
WASHINGTON POST
HANOVER, N.H. — Joe
Biden painted a vivid scene for
the 400 people packed into a
college meeting hall. A four-
star general had asked the
then-vice president to travel to
Kunar province in Afghani-
stan, a dangerous foray into
‘‘godforsaken country’’ to rec-
ognize the remarkable hero-
ism of a Navy captain.
Some told him it was too
risky, but Biden said he
brushed off their concerns.
‘‘We can lose a vice presi-
dent,’’ he said. ‘‘We can’t lose

many more of these kids. Not a

joke.’’

The Navy captain, Biden re-

called Friday night, had rap-

pelled down a 60-foot ravine

under fire and retrieved the

body of an American comrade,

carrying him on his back. Now

the general wanted Biden to

pin a Silver Star on the Ameri-

can hero who, despite his

bravery, felt like a failure.

‘‘He said, ‘Sir, I don’t want

the damn thing!’ ” Biden said,

his jaw clenched and his voice

rising to a shout. ‘‘’Do not pin

it on me, sir! Please, sir. Do not

do that! He died. He died!’ ”

The room was silent.

‘‘This is the God’s truth,’’

Biden had said as he told the

story. ‘‘My word as a Biden.’’

Except almost every detail

in the story appears to be in-

correct.

Based on interviews with

more than a dozen US troops,

their commanders, and Biden

campaign officials, it appears

as though the former vice

president has jumbled ele-

ments of at least three actual

eventsinto one storyofbrav-

ery, compassion, and regret

that never happened.

Biden visited Kunar prov-

ince in 2008 as a US senator,

not as vice president.

The service member who

performed the celebrated res-

cue that Biden described was a

20-year-old Army specialist,

not a much older Navy cap-

tain.

And that soldier, Kyle

White, never had a Silver Star,

or any other medal, pinned on

him by Biden. At a White

House ceremony six years af-

ter Biden’s visit, White stood

at attention as President Ba-

rack Obama placed a Medal of

Honor, the nation’s highest

award for valor, around his

neck.

The upshot: In the space of

three minutes, Biden got the

time period, the location, the

heroic act, the type of medal,

the military branch, and the

rank of the recipient wrong, as

well as his own role in the cer-

emony.

One element of Biden’s sto-

ry is rooted in an actual event:

In 2011, the vice president did

pin a medal on a heartbroken

soldier, Army Staff Sergeant

Chad Workman, who didn’t

believe he deserved the award.

In a statement Thursday,

Biden’s campaign spokesman

Andrew Bates said Workman’s

valor was ‘‘emblematic of the

duty and sacrifice of the 9/

generation of veterans.’’

The campaign has not dis-

puted any of the facts in the

Post report, which was pub-

lished midday Thursday.

In an interview with Wash-

ington Post opinion columnist

Jonathan Capehart after the

report was first published,

Biden suggested he was telling

Workman’s story in New

Hampshire, although almost

none of the details he offered

matched what actually hap-

pened to Workman.

‘‘I was making the point

how courageous these people

are, how incredible they are,

this generation of warriors,

these fallen angels we’ve lost,’’

hesaid.‘‘Idon’tknowwhat

the problem is. What is it that

I said wrong?’’

Biden, 76, has struggled

during his presidential cam-

paign with gaffes and mis-

statements that hark back to

his earlier political troubles

and have put a spotlight on his

age. In 1987, Biden dropped

out of the presidential race

amid charges that he had pla-

giarized the speeches of a Brit-

ish politician and others.

One big question facing

candidates and voters more

than 30 years later is whether

President Trump’s routine

falsehoods have changed the

standards by which other pres-

idential aspirants, including

Biden, should be judged.

From the beginning of his

presidency until the middle of

last month, Trump has uttered

more than 12,000 false or mis-

leading statements, The Wash-

ington Post has found.

He has continued to add to

that total since then.

Ashecampaigns,Bidentellsamovingbutfalsewarstory

Ex-vicepresident

appears to meld

3 incidents into 1

(617) 204-