GaySoFla.com writer G.P. Harris may have some scientific support for his recent observation that many gay men are more likely to relate to the characters from Sex and the City than to their straight male counterparts.  A recent scientific study indicates that the brains of gay men resemble those of straight women.

The research, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, provides more evidence of the role of biology in sexual orientation.

Using brain-scanning equipment, researchers said they discovered similarities in the brain circuits that deal with language, perhaps explaining why homosexual men tend to outperform straight men on verbal skills tests - as do heterosexual women.

The area of the brain that processes emotions also looked much the same in gay men and straight women - and both groups have higher rates of depressive disorders than heterosexual men, researchers were quoted as saying.

The study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, found that the brain similarities were not as close in the case of gay women and straight men, the Times said.

Previous studies, it said, have found evidence that sexual orientation is influenced by biological factors. More than a decade ago, neurobiologist Simon LeVay reported that a key area of the hypothalamus, a brain structure linked to sexual behavior, was smaller in homosexual men than in heterosexual men.

The latest study, led by Ivanka Savic of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, was significant in that it looked at areas of the brain that have nothing to do with sexual behavior, suggesting that there was a basic biological link between sexual orientation and a range of brain functions, the paper said.