For most kids, the social prsur of middle school are tough enough. But an creasg number of young teenagers, some as young 10 or 11, are g out as gay or lbian middle school. Beno Denizet-Lewis, who wrote about the trend the New York Tim Magaze, discs what social factors uld be leadg young people to e out earlier.
Contents:
- AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?
- GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
- GAY TT FOR MAL AG 12-16
- GAY YOUTH COMG OUT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
- COMG OUT AS GAY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?
One of the ma issu wh trackg when kids intify as gay is that most people assume that all kids start out straight. * gay at 13 *
LGBT is still a popular term ed to discs genr and sexual mori, but all GSRM are wele beyond lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people who nsent to participate a safe space.
You may be homosexual, gay, or lbian if you are attracted to people of the same sex as yourself.
Havg feelgs about or havg a sexual experience wh a person of the same sex do not necsarily mean you are homosexual. Can people be forced or nvced to change om gay to straight, or the other way around? The phrase “ the closet” may be ed to refer to someone who is gay, lbian, or bisexual, but hasn’t told iends and fay members yet.
GAY KIDS COMG OUT YOUNGER, BUT PARENTS ASK "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"
Gay kids are g out earlier — sometim middle school — and many are fdg acceptance. But some parents and teachers wonr if the kids are too young to really know their sexual orientatn. * gay at 13 *
Homophobia refers to fear, prejudice, or discrimatn toward persons who are gay, lbian, or bisexual. 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.
GAY TT FOR MAL AG 12-16
Do you want to fd a boyiend and you're a gay teen? Dependg on where you are the world, n be very difficult to velop somethg ser. Stay strong and know that most teens have trouble datg and you are no exceptn. Come... * gay at 13 *
They found that one percent of kids ag 9-10 intify as gay, bisexual, or transgenr. 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.
GAY YOUTH COMG OUT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
48% of gay and bisexual llege stunts knew their sexual preferenc high school. 20% of gay and bisexual men knew junr high school pared to six percent 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. 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.
COMG OUT AS GAY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
“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. Gay kids are g out earlier — sometim middle school — and many are fdg acceptance.
Denizet-Lewis wr that when he started workg for the gay men's magaze XY 1998, "we received dozens of letters each week om teenagers the pths of spair. " Three years later, he says, "a new kd of gay adolcent was appearg on the page - proud, rilient, sometim even happy. " He explas, That's not to say that gay teenagers didn't still suffer harassment at school or rejectn at home, but many seemed ls burned wh shame and self-loathg than their olr gay peers.
Not only were there creasgly accurate and posive portrayals of gays and lbians popular culture, but most teenagers were by then regular Inter ers. Gog onle broke through the isolatn that had been a hallmark of beg young and gay, and allowed gay teenagers to fd rmatn to refute what their fai or church sometim still told them - namely, that they would never fd happs and to the Inter and to creasg cultural acceptance of homosexualy (an crease marred, we should note, by measur like Proposn 8), kids who might once have waed until high school or even llege to e out are now dog so earlier.