Alternative relationships throw a wrench into the evolutionary machine.  If jealousy is an evolved evolutionary mechanism, then what role does jealousy play in homosexual relationships?  Because homosexual individuals do no reproduce in the traditional sense, it serves no purpose in their relationships, and thus should theoretically be slowly working itself out, by way of natural selection.  Several of the studies, such as Dijkstra & Barelds went so far as to disclude their homosexual participants as to not confound their study.  However, alternative relationships offer insight into jealousy and the idea of an evolved evolutionary mechanism that other relationships do not. 

Within heterosexual relationships, there are distinct male and female roles. However, within homosexual relationships these roles often overlap.   Evolutionarily speaking, there are few advantages for a homosexual relationship.  When looking at the gender difference hypothesis in terms of homosexuality, there is even less supporting evidence. Because homosexual relationships involve two members of the same sex, there is no evolutionary value within the relationship.  From a jealousy standpoint, this should mean that the type of jealousy produced in the relationship should be the same type. However, research conducted by Wolfe and Sheets reveal that homosexual reveal a significant effect (effect size r= .46). In fact, both homosexual men and women rated both types of sexual infidelity as more distressing than did the heterosexual males and females within the Wolfe and Sheets study (Wolfe & Sheets, 2001).