As a gay tistic man, is almost as if I have two inti.

Contents:

• THE CHALLENGE OF BEG GAY AND AUTISTIC
• ARE AUTISTIC PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO BE GAY
• GAY AND ON THE AUTISM SPECTM: MY EXPERIENCE GROWG UP THE CLOSET
• "AS A GAY TISTIC MAN, IS ALMOST AS IF I HAVE TWO INTI."

THE CHALLENGE OF BEG GAY AND AUTISTIC

A higher percentage of tistic people intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or queer (LGBTQ) than the general populatn, acrdg to rearch studi.

Studi vary wily on the percentage of people wh tism who are gay, lbian, or bisexual.

ARE AUTISTIC PEOPLE MORE LIKELY TO BE GAY

Jt, who did not want his last name ed, disvered high school that he was both tistic and gay. “I knew what beg gay was, but I personally lacked the emotnal self-awarens for a while until I realized that’s what I was feelg toward other guys, ” he explas.

“I wasn’t openly gay high school bee I spected very strongly I would be attacked, ” he says. High school stunts found that those who are gay, lbian, and bisexual are almost twice as likely to be bullied at school and onle as heterosexual stunts are. Shortly after high school, Smh me out to her fay as a gay man.

GAY AND ON THE AUTISM SPECTM: MY EXPERIENCE GROWG UP THE CLOSET

Inial fdgs have dited that those on the tism spectm may be more likely to intify as homosexual and experience more fluid genr inty. The terms Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr (trans*), Queer or Qutng (LGBTQ) refer to the self-intifitns ed by dividuals to scribe their sexual orientatn and their genr inty. A recent report published by the Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD) reported an crease the number of non-LGBTQ intified dividuals (n = 1, 897) who felt “very” or “somewhat” unfortable personal suatns, like learng a fay member is LGBTQ (28% 2016 v 30% 2017) or learng their doctor is LGBTQ (28% 2016 vers 31% 2017).

Ls rearch has been nducted on the victimizatn or discrimatn on the queer or qutng surveys llected by the Natnal Opn Rource Center (Smh, 2011) have shown a changg societal view of gay male, lbian, and bisexual relatnships. Regardg sexual orientatn some ial fdgs have dited that those on the tism spectm may be more tolerant towards homosexualy than ntrols. The rults dited siar equency of same-sex feelgs and experienc between the two groups, although those wh tism were signifintly more acceptg towards homosexualy than the a follow-up study Dewter, De Graaf, and Begeer (2017) examed differenc sexual orientatn, genr inty and romantic relatnships among a sample of adults and adolcents on the tism spectm (n = 675) and a typilly velopg parison group (n = 8064).

The fdgs are supported prev work ditg a higher prevalence of homosexual feelgs and behavrs among mal wh ASD (Hellemans, Colson, Verbraeken, Vermeiren, & Deboutte, 2007), creased endorsement of nonheterosexual inty among (Bart & Maticka-Tyndale, 2015), higher numbers of bisexual orientatn (Hellemans et al., 2007; Rudolph, Lund, Åhs, Dalman, & Kosidou, 2018), and lower endorsement of homo-, hetero-, or bisexual orientatns pared to dividuals whout tistic tras (Rudolph et al., 2018) spectm disorr and genr diversyAn creasg number of studi have found an associatn between ASD and genr dysphoria, fed by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn as a nflict between a person's physil or assigned genr and the genr wh which he/she/they intify (Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, 2013).

"AS A GAY TISTIC MAN, IS ALMOST AS IF I HAVE TWO INTI."

The tersectnaly amework nceptualiz the challeng associated wh multiple stigmatized inti and tersectg systems of opprsn (Cole, 2009; Wallace & Santacz, 2017), and was endorsed by the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA, 2012) both their Guil for Psychology Practice wh Lbian, Gay and Bisexual clients and their Guil for Psychologil Practice wh Transgenr and Genr Nonnformg People (APA, 2015).