additional regions on autosomes that were moderately linked to male sexual orientation. Hamer's results were robustly replicated in 2012 in a large, comprehensive multi-center genetic linkage study of male sexual orientation conducted by several independent groups of researchers. Analysis of 409 pairs of gay brothers with over 300,000 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers confirmed the Xq28 linkage by two-point and multipoint LOD score mapping. Significant linkage was also detected in the pericentromeric region of chromosome 8, overlapping with one of the regions detected in the Hamer labʻs previous genomewide study. The authors concluded that "our findings, taken in context with previous work, suggest that genetic variation in each of these regions contributes to development of the important psychological trait of male sexual orientation." In August 2019, a genome-wide association study of 493,001 individuals concluded that hundreds or thousands of genetic variants underlie same-sex sexual behavior in both sexes, but in contrast to linkage studies they found no excess of signal on Xq28 or the rest of the X chromosome. This study was questioned on account of its reliance on a dichotomous ever/never measure that lumped together predominantly heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual individuals, including those who only experimented once with a same-sex partner, possibly resulting in misleading associations to personality traits. Hamer said that the findings of the 2019 study do not reveal any biological pathways for sexual orientation, but stated he hoped it would be the first of many to come. Hamer’s findings provoked extensive public reaction, often based on misunderstanding of the science, which led to his interest in explaining the data to a wide audience through a book written in collaboration with a journalist. Social science surveys have shown that research on the origins of sexual orientation has a strong positive influence on people’s attitudes of acceptance and inclusion of LGBT people. Hamer and colleagues also investigated the genetic roots of anxiety and found that a promoter region polymorphism in the gene for the serotonin transporter, which is the target of antidepressant drugs such as Prozac, is associated with mood and personality. This finding has been extensively replicated and extended and its activity has been confirmed by direct brain imaging studies. In 2004, Hamer used data from ongoing behavioral genetics studies in his lab to explore the possibility of genetic influences on spirituality. In The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes, he proposed that a quantitative measure