What’s Good about Beg Gay?: Perspectiv om Youth - PMC

Contents:

• YOUNG LIFE FLOURISH ON LLEGE MP SPE PHBACK OVER GAY VOLUNTEER BAN AND SEXUAL MISNDUCT ACCATNS
• WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT BEG GAY?: PERSPECTIV OM YOUTH
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL
• BEG GAY: A LIFE STYLE CHOICE?

YOUNG LIFE FLOURISH ON LLEGE MP SPE PHBACK OVER GAY VOLUNTEER BAN AND SEXUAL MISNDUCT ACCATNS

De Universy's stunt ernment voted unanimoly 2019 to certify Young Life as an on official stunt group, while Gonzaga Universy's Young Life chapter disband 2020 prott over the natnal policy banng gay learship. The uncil, Young Life lears said, would listen to the hundreds of stori pourg out on social media, stori of queer youth scribg the rejectn and heartbreak of learng they uldn’t be gay and also serve learship rol.

But the anizatn go on to say that lears “pursug same-sex romantic relatnships is out of alignment wh the spir of the Sexual Conduct Policy” and lls homosexualy “an example of the distortn that rults om humany’s rejectn of God.

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT BEG GAY?: PERSPECTIV OM YOUTH

“I would love for Young Life to be clear about what they believe , ” said Liz Garcia, who said she was asked to rign om her posn at Young Life 2017 after g out as gay and cidg she uldn’t agree wh the sexual nduct policy.

WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?

In 2018, C was unable to register as a stunt anizatn at Rolls College Orlando, Florida, due to “ncerns that s valu uld prevent gay stunts om beg mp lears” vlatn of the school’s nondiscrimatn policy, acrdg to the school newspaper. Addnal primary them and sub-them were intified wh each tegory that further illtrate how gay/bisexual youth were able to velop posive nceptualizatns of their sexual orientatn spe experiencg negative societal msag about beg gay/bisexual. Keywords: Bisexual, gay, male, riliency, sexual orientatn, youthAdolcence is a velopmental perd where young people are maturg physilly, emotnally and socially as they transn to adulthood (Erikson, 1980; Hill, 1983).

AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL

When the fluenc are negative, psychologil distrs among adolcents may rult, pecially for those youth who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual (Almeida, Johnson, Corliss, Molnar & Azrael, 2009; Hershberger & D’Augelli, 1995; Ueno, 2005). Th, this article tak a rilience-based approach to examg sexual orientatn inty among gay/bisexual male adolcents by sharg their perceptns regardg the posive aspects of beg gay/bisexual.

One study that addrsed this topic prented riliency strategi among lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) young people North Wt England and South Wal wh the ntext of hetero-normative environments (Surfield, Roen & McDermott, 2008).

The thors assert that even though the young men were livg a hetero-normative Puerto Rin culture wh pervasive homophobia and cultural stigma, they veloped riliency strategi that helped them to overe potential obstacl.

BEG GAY: A LIFE STYLE CHOICE?

This was one of the few studi found to prent riliency strategi veloped by gay/bisexual adolcents to bat negative social and cultural ntug rearch is need on the velopmental challeng faced by LGB adolcents, pecially those who are also members of other opprsed groups such as youth of lor, a parallel le of scientific quiry is also need to explore the strengths and rilienci monstrated by LGB youth. Such limatns do not allow for a more nuanced unrstandg of the current lived experienc of LGB youth’s inty exploratn procs, as has been seen more recent qualative studi of sexual orientatn inty (Ja, Harper, Fernanz, & the ATN, 2009)The purpose of the current study is to provi sights to the posive nceptualizatns that gay/bisexual male adolcents posss regardg their sexual orientatn inty utilizg qualative phenomenologil and nstctivist ameworks. Although we did quire about the full range of perceptns and experienc related to sexual orientatn inty the larger study om which the data were extracted, we chose to foc solely on the posive aspects of posssg a gay/bisexual sexual orientatn inty for the current vtigatn given the lack of empiril data foced specifilly on riliency-related factors among gay/bisexual male adolcents.

We unrstand and acknowledge that gay/bisexual youth are also nonted wh challeng related to their sexual orientatn inty and enurage rears to exame prr lerature prented earlier for an exploratn of such factors. Sce prr rearch also has monstrated that sexual orientatn inty velopment for female adolcents and adults is different than that of male adolcents and adults (Diamond, 2005; Diamond & Sav-Williams, 2000; Schneir, 2001), we also foc this vtigatn exclively on gay/bisexual male adolcents.

In orr to take part the study, participants met the followg eligibily creria: 1) be blogilly male; 2) be between the ag of 14 and 22; 3) self-intify as Ain Amerin, Hispanic/Lato, or Whe non-Hispanic/European Amerin; 4) self-intify as gay, bisexual, or qutng; 5) have no knowledge of beg HIV posive; 6) live the Chigo or Miami metropolan area; and 7) read and unrstand English. The youth reprented the qualative subsample of adolcents who participated a larger mixed-methods rearch study foced on multiple inty velopment and sexual risk/protectn among gay/bisexual male adolcents, which was nducted wh the Adolcent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventns. The ame was stratified by age (14–17, 18–20, and 21–22), level of gay/bisexual sexual orientatn inty (low and high), and race/ethnicy (Ain Amerin, European Amerin, and Lato) orr to produce a sample that reprents velopmental and inty-related variatns.