A man livg wh borrle personaly disorr (BPD) discs his stggle wh his unstable inty, or sense of self, between havg BPD, and beg both Christian and gay.
Contents:
- OPN A NEW STUDY REVEALS HOW GAY MEN SEE THEMSELV AND THEIR MUNI
- THE POWER 'CHOOSG TO BE GAY'
- FDG THE ‘ANTIDOTE’ TO MY UNSTABLE SENSE OF SELF AS A GAY, CHRISTIAN ‘BORRLE’
OPN A NEW STUDY REVEALS HOW GAY MEN SEE THEMSELV AND THEIR MUNI
Only recent years have pollsters asked LGBT people how they see themselv and Ameri. A new survey of gay men om Logo provis a sometim surprisg look at the muny challeng. * sense of self gay *
It seemed like a turng pot for gay rights when, earlier this month, 74 percent of rponnts a natnal poll said that legal rights should tmp private relig beliefs, and 63 percent said that Kim Davis, a Kentucky unty clerk who went to jail for refg to issue marriage licens to gay and lbian upl, should have to fulfill the obligatns of her job.
But for all the changg sentiments reflected s fdgs, the poll self was part of a long tradn of askg the populatn at large how they feel about gay people and the rights and protectns available to an illumatg and strikgly different survey, Logo — the Via Media work aimed at gay dienc — polled 1, 061 gay men between ag 18 and 49, askg them how they saw themselv and their muni and followg up wh smaller groups a number of ci.
And provis a fascatg look at how a risg generatn of gay men feels about gay history, the role of the Inter and some of the biggt ternal challeng facg gay muni. Gay publitns such as Harry Hay’s One Magaze surveyed their rears at early as 1961, askg them how often they had sex, whether they had arrt rerds and if they might enjoy rrpondg wh other gay men.
THE POWER 'CHOOSG TO BE GAY'
What I know om my own life and om the work I do wh gay men is that gay shame is jt as pervasive and damagg as any outward, blatant, or homophobic attack. What I also know to be te is that by rporatg the followg five steps, we, as gay men, n heal any left over ridue of gay shame: * sense of self gay *
”And while marketers were eager to fe and try to unrstand a burgeong gay market, Gat utns that “They also had centiv to fe particular ways. … There’s a disproportnate attentn to some gree on gay men, slightly ls so on lbians, and almost no attentn paid to bisexuals, and that’s to a certa extent bee marketers don’t know how to thk about marketg to the bisexual muny.
”The only parable recent survey is the Pew Rearch Center’s 2013 survey of LGBT Amerins, which clud 1, 197 lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults and asked them about their g-out experienc and maniftatns of discrimatn.
While this first Logo study don’t pture the range of experienc of other members of the LGBT muny, like lbians, bisexuals and transgenr people, the rearchers behd were able to lve more broadly to the way gay men see themselv and their muni — wh some surprisg Hillhoe, vice print of sights novatn at MTV and one of the rearchers who nducted the survey, pared the changg attus reflected the rults to a journey up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
FDG THE ‘ANTIDOTE’ TO MY UNSTABLE SENSE OF SELF AS A GAY, CHRISTIAN ‘BORRLE’
Sixty-one percent of gay men between ag 20 and 29 told rearchers that beg gay was eher extremely or very important to their inty (those numbers cled somewhat wh age). Seventy-five percent of rponnts of all ag agreed wh the statement “Beg gay mak me feel different a good way. ” Three-quarters also said that their sexual orientatn had a posive effect on their liv, and 67 percent said that their liv were more tertg bee they were gay.
And 83 percent said that they found somethg distct and important their iendships wh other gay men. “We went to the study wh the prevailg notn that this is really a great time to be gay Ameri, and that the gay muny has achieved unprecented levels of acceptance and visibily and opportuny, more so than ever before, ” says Matt Cohen, a senr manager for brand and marketg sights at MTV who worked wh Hillhoe on the project.
“But at the same time we started to hear exprsns of nostalgia om the younger end of the muny, that they felt that the gay muny of today didn’t feel as uned or close-kn as they imaged once was. ”While younger gay men have no sire to return to eras fed by persecutn, police vlence and difference om public officials, and while they benef om much greater accs to one another through the Inter and through smartphon, the survey rults did suggt a real longg for gay stutns. Sixty-four percent of the rponnts their 20s and 30s told rearchers that “As gay people bee more tegrated to the mastream, we have fewer plac we n ll our own, ” and 85 percent of the overall rponnts agreed wh the statement “It’s sad to see gay neighborhoods and bars disappear, ” and also wh the ia that even as more Amerins bee open and acceptg to gay people, ’s important to mata gay-only some of the specific forms of nostalgia may be specific to gay men, Cohen utns that younger rponnts share some of the same attus wh heterosexual members of their age hort.