Ron Jr. on the rerd: the son of Ronald Reagan breaks his silence regardg the whisper mpaign that he is gay. - Free Onle Library

Contents:

• AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
• IS ROBERT DOWNEY JR. GAY? HERE IS THE TTH
• RON JR. ON THE RERD: THE SON OF RONALD REAGAN BREAKS HIS SILENCE REGARDG THE WHISPER MPAIGN THAT HE IS GAY.
• 5 TIM SPIR-MAN ACTORS HAVE PLAYED GAY
• BOXER WEARS PRI ARMBAND AFTER OPPONENT SUAT HE IS GAY
• GAY YOUTH COMG OUT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?

When did you first know that you were gay? Some kids know they are gay high school but don’t tell anyone until years later.

One of the ma issu wh trackg when kids start to intify as gay is that most people assume that all kids start out straight. The realy is that many kids know they are gay at a younger age than you might expect – even elementary school.

They found that one percent of kids ag 9-10 intify as gay, bisexual, or transgenr. 48% of College Stunts Knew They Were Gay High School.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

While a portn of kids intify as gay elementary school, what is the age when most kids e out as gay? That beg said, some rearchers om the Sexualy Informatn and Edutn Council of the Uned Stat talked wh llege stunts who intify as gay and bisexual to learn when they were aware of their sexual preferenc.

48% of gay and bisexual llege stunts knew their sexual preferenc high school.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

20% of gay and bisexual men knew junr high school pared to six percent of women. 17% of gay and bisexual men knew gra school pared wh 11% of women. This data prov the vast majory of LGBTQ+ kids intify as gay before they leave for llege – or intify their sexual preferenc shortly after.

IS ROBERT DOWNEY JR. GAY? HERE IS THE TTH

There isn’t a that flips when kids turn 18 that term whether or not they are gay. In some s, the olr adults didn’t realize that openg up about beg gay was an optn.

One man, Kenh Felts, knew he was gay om the age of 12. “As long as I was the closet, all of my cisns — both nsc and subnsc — were guid by not wantg people to know I was gay, ” Felts told the Washgton Post. Both lbians and gay men often have a history of cross-sex-typed behavrs: ltle boys beg fatuated wh their mother's makp k; ltle girls enamored of field hockey or profsnal wrtlg.

RON JR. ON THE RERD: THE SON OF RONALD REAGAN BREAKS HIS SILENCE REGARDG THE WHISPER MPAIGN THAT HE IS GAY.

Prehomosexual boys tend to be more attracted to solary sports such as swimmg, cyclg and tennis than they are to rougher ntact sports such as football and soccer. Children who show pronounced sex-atypil behavrs may have more of a geic loadg to their homosexualy. The behavral patterns are feared, loathed and often spoken of directly as harbgers of adult homosexualy.

It is only relatively recently, however, that velopmental scientists have nducted ntrolled studi to intify the earlit and most reliable signs of adult homosexualy.

5 TIM SPIR-MAN ACTORS HAVE PLAYED GAY

In lookg refully at the childhoods of gay adults, rearchers are fdg an trigug set of behavral ditors that homosexuals seem to have mon. Curly enough, the age-old homophobic fears of many parents reflect some genue predictive currency.

Zucker, both psychologists, published a semal paper on childhood markers of homosexualy 1995. So on the basis of some earlier, shakier rearch, along wh a good dose of mon sense, Bailey and Zucker hypothized that homosexuals would show an verted pattern of sex-typed childhood behavrs—ltle boys preferrg girls as playmat and beg fatuated wh their mother's makp k; ltle girls strangely enamored of field hockey or profsnal wrtlg—that sort of thg. Given that a small proportn of the populatn is homosexual, prospective studi require a large number of children.

BOXER WEARS PRI ARMBAND AFTER OPPONENT SUAT HE IS GAY

Although only 12 percent of the women grew up to be genr dysphoric (the unfortable sense that your blogil sex do not match your genr), the odds of the women reportg a bisexual or homosexual orientatn were up to 23 tim higher than would occur a general sample of young women.

And the same holds for gay men. Bailey and Zucker, who nducted a retrospective study which adults answered qutns about their past, revealed that 89 percent of randomly sampled gay men relled cross-sex-typed childhood behavrs exceedg the heterosexual median. The thors found that “those targets who, as adults, intified themselv as homosexual were judged to be genr nonnformg as children.

There is also evince of a “dosage effect”: the more genr-nonnformg characteristics there are childhood, the more likely is that a homosexual or bisexual orientatn will be prent adulthood. Not all ltle boys who like to wear drs grow up to be gay, nor do all ltle girls who spise drs bee lbians. I took to middle school wrtlg as a rather scrawny 80-pound eighth grar, and so dog, ironilly beme all too nsc of my homosexual orientatn.

GAY YOUTH COMG OUT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL

Cross-cultural data show that prehomosexual boys are more attracted to solary sports such as swimmg, cyclg and tennis than they are to rougher ntact sports such as football and soccer; they are also ls likely to be childhood bulli.

Rearchers readily nce that there are que likely multiple—and no doubt extremely plited—velopmental rout to adult homosexualy. Bee the data often reveal very early emergg tras prehomosexuals, children who show pronounced sex-atypil behavrs may have more of a geic loadg to their homosexualy, whereas gay adults who were sex-typil as children might trace their homosexualy more directly to particular childhood experienc.

Why do parents worry so much about whether their child may or may not be gay?