GoodTherapy | 5 Reasons It’s Good to Be Gay and Sgle

Contents:

• 5 REASONS IT’S GOOD TO BE GAY AND SGLE
• WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?
• ‘I AM GAY – BUT I WASN’T BORN THIS WAY’
• AM I GAY?
• WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT BEG GAY?: PERSPECTIV OM YOUTH
• WHY, IT’S GOOD TO BE GAY.NOAH HAPKE·FOLLOW5 M READ·SEP 16, 2015--1LISTENSHAREWHEN I WAS A SOPHOMORE HIGH SCHOOL, I FELL LOVE WH A BOY. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THIS WAS POSSIBLE; I THOUGHT GAY PEOPLE WERE THOSE SUPER ANNOYG GUYS WHO WORE BRIGHT LORED PANTS AND HAD A FUNNY ACCENT. BUT AS HIGH SCHOOL NTUED, AND MY EP DARK ROMANTIC SECRET GREW, AS A RULT, I ME OUT.THIS IS WHERE I NOW STAND.THE NEXT SPRG, I WENT TO MY FIRST GAY PRI WEEKEND WH A CLOSE IEND LONG BEACH AND LOOKED SOMETHG LIKE THIS.LOOK HOW HOT THEY AREALTHOUGH I WAS NOT AN “TED GAY” AT THE TIME, I STARTED TO REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF FTG TO A CULTURE, A CULTURE OF WHICH ANYONE SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE A PART OF.NOW, NETEEN YEARS OLD, I REALIZE HOW BEG GAY IS NOT A DISEASE, OR AN ILLNS, OR SOMETHG THAT WILL MAKE SOMEONE GO TO HELL BEE LEVIC 18:22 SAYS SO. BEG GAY IS LIKE BEG A PART OF ANY OTHER GROUP; RRI A GREAT AMOUNT OF POWER AND RPONSIBILY TO ACT WISELY AND EMPOWER OTHERS. GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT ANNOYG; THEY ARE AMAZG. THEY ARE RG, PASSNATE, OVERLY SEXUALLY-FUNNY, AND PUT SO MUCH TIME TO EVERYTHG THEY DO AND I WOULD BE ASHAMED, LOOKG BACK, TO PRETEND NOT TO BE A PART OF THIS MUNY.AND WHAT’S SO ALARMG IS THAT AT LEAST HALF OF GAY MEN THE UNED STAT ARE CLOSETED, DUE TO PERSONAL, RELIG, SOC-ENOMIC, AND FAY UNRMG. AND, FOR MEN AREAS LIKE THE DEEP SOUTH, THIS NUMBER N SKY-ROCKET UP TO 80%. AND, IRONILLY, ACRDG TO PORNHUB STATISTICS, THE SOUTH WATCH THE MOST GAY PORN. THOANDS OF MEN HAVE TO HI SOMETHG AS IMPORTANT AS THEIR SEXUALY, AND IS DISHEARTENG THAT, EVEN SUCH A PROGRSIVE UNTRY, THIS NCEPT OF “G OUT” IS SO TRMATIZG TO SO MANY MEN.THEN WHY DO SOME AMERINS STILL ACTIVELY FIGHT TO SUPPRS GAY PEOPLE?POSSIBILI.GAY MARRIAGE IS, REGARDLS OF WHAT CONGRS AND MORAL VALU SAY, NOT MARRIAGE.A CHILD NEEDS A MOTHER AND A FATHER (OBVLY SGLE PARENTS N’T RAISE A CHILD EHER).IT PROMOT A HOMOSEXUAL LIFTYLE, AND N POSSIBLY FLUENCE PEOPLE TO DO MORE CRAZY THGS LIKE MARRY THEIR CHAIR.IT’S TAKG ADVANTAGE OF THE LEGAL AND ENOMIC BENEFS OF MARRIAGE (HOW DARE GAY PEOPLE WANT TO BE ABLE TO LIVE FORTABLY ONCE THEIR SPOE HAS PASSED AWAY).IT’S JT DUMB. WHY WOULD ANY MAN WANT TO MARRY ANOTHER MAN?WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO FALL LOVE? WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO GET MARRIED? OR HAVE A CHILD? A HOE TOGETHER? A LIFE FULL OF LGHTER AND LOVED ON AND MEMORI? HOWEVER, AS IRONIC AS SOUNDS, GAY PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE TOO.“GAY COUPL ARE HAPPIER IN RELATNSHIPS THAN HETEROSEXUALS.”BRISH STUDI SHOW THAT GAY UPL ARE HAPPIER THAN THEIR HETEROSEXUAL IENDS. WHY, YOU MAY ASK? POSSIBLY BEE GAY PEOPLE HAVE A SENSE OF MUNY, AND BELONGG. THEY ARE EMPOWERED BY THEIR DIFFERENC, AND ASPIRE TO MAKE THE WORLD MORE NNECTED WH ALL THE PEOPLE LIVG ON . THEY DON’T SEE GENR AS AN OBSTACLE, BUT RATHER SOMETHG TO FY AND CHALLENGE REGARDS OF SOCIAL RTRICTNS. THEY SEE WOMEN AND MEN AS EQUAL, AND THAT TO FALL LOVE WH ANYONE IS SOMETHG TO CHERISH.BUT I’M NOT GAY?THAT’S OKAY :)ABOUT ONLY 4% (APPROX. 16 THOAND PEOPLE) INTIFY AS LGBT. AND NO ONE IS GOG TO ATTEMPT TO MAKE YOU GAY, JT AS HOW NO ONE SHOULD EVER TRY AND MAKE SOMEONE ELSE STRAIGHT. HOWEVER, IS IMPORTANT TO STRS THAT EVERYONE, REGARDLS OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN, NEEDS TO SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKG ONE ANOTHER FEEL ACCEPTED.APPROXIMATELY 80% OF LGBT YOUTH FEELS SEVERELY ISOLATED SOLELY DUE TO THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN. ANOTHER 60% SAY THAT THEY FEEL UNSAFE SCHOOL. THE NUMBERS ARE TOO HIGH — THAT’S ABOUT 3.2 LN TEENAGERS WHO ARE AAID TO EXPRS THEMSELV.BUT TIMES ARE A CHANGIN’
• HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• GOOD TO BE GAYTOM ROBSONTRACK 13 ON CABARET ’79 1 VIEWER1 CONTRIBUTORGOOD TO BE GAY LYRICSIT'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYWE'VE BEEN ANALYSED, RIDICULED AND DRIVEN AWAYBY OUR ELRS AND BETTERS JT FOR GROWG UP GAYTHEY TRAMPLED ON OUR FEELGSTILL WE HID THEM FOR SHAMEWELL NOW "GLAD TO BE GAY" IS THE NAME OF THE GAME'CSE 'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYDON'T FEEL GUILTY IF YOU'RE PASSG FOR STRAIGHTIF YOU WANNA BE YOURSELF, WELL 'S NEVER TOO LATEPEOPLE WON'T MD IF YOU'RE HONT AND GAYYOU MIGHT EVEN FD THEY PREFER YOU THAT WAY'CSE 'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKESOME SISTERS AND BROTHERS WHO ARE GLAD TO BE GAYSAY THEY'VE NO NEED TO JO 'E THEY'RE DOG OKAYBUT WE NEED SUPPORTG, AND WE NEED TODAYAND BIS - IF THEY TRIED , THEY'D LIKE - CHE'CSE 'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYEMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUTHAVE THE SI SOP ON THIS SONG?SIGN UP AND DROP SOME KNOWLEDGESTART THE SONG BASK A QUTN ABOUT THIS SONGASK A QUTN *‌CABARET ’79 (1982)TOM ROBSON1. PUB HASSLE2. COLDHARBOUR LANE3. BABY YOU’RE AN ANGEL4. GLAD TO BE GAY ’795. STAND TOGETHER6. EASY STREET7. TCE8. CLOSG A DOOR9. 1967 (SO LONG AGO)10. EVEN STEVEN11. SARTORIAL ELOQUENCE12. MAD ABOUT THE BOY13. GOOD TO BE GAY14. GLAD TO BE GAY ’9715. LAST R16. GAY SWCHBOARD JGLECREDSTAGSROCKEXPAND COMMENTSADD A MENTSIGN UP AND DROP KNOWLEDGE ?GENI IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF MIC KNOWLEDGE, CREATED BY SCHOLARS LIKE YOU WHO SHARE FACTS AND SIGHT ABOUT THE SONGS AND ARTISTS THEY LOVE.SIGN UPGENI IS THE WORLD’S BIGGT LLECTN OF SONG LYRICS AND MIL KNOWLEDGE
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY

5 REASONS IT’S GOOD TO BE GAY AND SGLE

Homosexual members of society n unfortunately expect to regularly be challenged, sctised and nmned by belligerent type who are seemgly nvced that homosexualy is a “liftyle choice” issue has e up aga (for what is possibly the 12, 456, 987, 332nd time) for several reasons. The mastream media has always been somewhat blunt or ham-fisted s portrayal of even heterosexual relatnships (for evince of this, see pretty much any married uple an advert), so was a long shot that they’d show homosexuals accurately. Normally heterosexual characters sudnly displayg homosexual leangs when a boost viewg figur are need is a mon trope the days, so you n sort of see how this might make some people thk ’s a “choice”, if they lack more realistic sayg that sexualy is set stone om birth is also not que right, the ma emphasis of those g the choice argument is that homosexuals have weighed up their optns and nscly cid “I am gog to be gay om now on”.

Comedian Todd Glass mak a brilliant pot his book (which is great, I got for Christmas), which is that if you genuely believe sexualy is a choice, then you’re not actually straight, you jt haven’t met anyone persuasive enough those who argue that homosexualy is a choice variably assert that is a wrong choice. You so obvly nnot be gay, was her implitn, bee this is good was 2006, a full five years before Lady Gaga would set the Born This Way argument atop s unassailable cultural perch, but even then the popular unrstandg of orientatn was that was somethg you were born wh, somethg you uldn’t change. But what feels most accurate to say is that I’m gay – but I wasn’t born this people may fd their sir changg directn - and n't jt be explaed as experimentatn (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)In 1977, jt over 10% of Amerins thought gayns was somethg you were born wh, acrdg to Gallup.

Throughout the same perd, the number of Amerins who believe homosexualy is “due to someone’s upbrgg/environment” fell om jt unr 60% to ias reached cril mass pop culture, first wh Lady Gaga’s 2011 Born This Way and one year later wh Macklemore’s Same Love, the chos of which has a gay person sgg “I n’t change even if I tried, even if I wanted to. ” Around the same time, the Human Rights Campaign clared unequivolly that “Beg gay is not a choice, ” and to claim that is “giv unwarranted crence to roundly disproven practic such as nversn or reparative therapy. ”People who challenge the Born This Way narrative are often st as homophobic, and their thkg is nsired backwardAs Jane Ward not Not Gay: Sex Between Straight Whe Men, what’s tertg about many of the claims is how transparent their speakers are wh their polil motivatns.

WHY WOULD PEOPLE 'CHOOSE' TO BE GAY?

In fact, the homophobic and non-homophobic rponnts he studied shared siar levels of belief a Born This Way Samantha Allen not at The Daily Beast, the growg public support for gays and lbians has grown out of proportn wh the rise the number of people who believe homosexualy is fixed at birth; would be unlikely that this small change opn uld expla the spike support for gay marriage, for stance. “It don’t seem to matter as much whether or not people believe that gay people are born that way as do that they simply know someone who is currently gay, ” Allen spe of the studi, those who ph agast Born This Way narrativ have been heavily cricised by gay activists. Siarly, Ward has received her own hatemail for phg agast the lg LGB narrativ, wh some gays tellg her she’s “worse than Ann Coulter, ” the ntroversial US thor of books like If Democrats Had Any Bras, They’d Be Republins.

The efforts are potentially harmful, acrdg to the APA, “bee they prent the view that the sexual orientatn of lbian, gay and bisexual youth is a mental illns of disorr, and they often ame the abily to change one’s sexual orientatn as a personal and moral failure. The APA, for example, while notg that most people experience ltle to no choice over their orientatns, says this of homosexualy’s origs:“Although much rearch has examed the possible geic, hormonal, velopmental, social and cultural fluenc on sexual orientatn, no fdgs have emerged that perm scientists to nclu that sexual orientatn is termed by any particular factor or factors. ”Siarly, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn wr a 2013 statement that while the of heterosexualy and homosexualy are currently unknown, they are likely “multifactorial cludg blogil and behavral roots which may vary between different dividuals and may even vary over time.

” Acrdg to LeVay’s rearch, a specific part of the bra, the third terstial nucls of the anterr hypothalam (INAH-3), is smaller homosexual men than is heterosexual as they might, scientists have stggled to inty any particular gen that nsistently predict the directns of our love and sire (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)Read moreYou n spot the problem wh this study a e away: were the gay bras LeVay studied born that way, or did they bee that way? Bis the dividual criqu leveled agast each new study announcg some gay gene disvery, there are major methodologil cricisms to make about the entire enterprise general, as Grzanka pots out: “If we look at the raveno pursu, particularly among Amerin scientists, to fd a gay gene, what we see is that the ncln has already been arrived at.

‘I AM GAY – BUT I WASN’T BORN THIS WAY’

” Our sir may exprs themselv many different ways that do not all nform to existg notns of ‘gay’, ‘straight’ or ‘bisexual’ is one of the bt takeaways of Ward’s Not Gay, a peratg analysis of sex between straight whe men. ”Gay or not, our sir are oriented and re-oriented throughout our liv (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)In fact, the straight-intified men Ward studied for her book sometim found themselv suatns that sparked the sire for homosexual sex: aterni, ployments, public rtrooms, etc.

I’m claimg that at some pot durg llege, my sexual and romantic sir beme reoriented toward menThkg back to my llege romanc wh women and men, I n beg to unrstand how my own experienc might have helped me to ‘cultivate’ my sire for homosexualy. “Limg our unrstandg of any plex human experience is always gog to be worse than allowg to be plited, ” he gay rights activists pared sexualy to relign - a ccial part of our life that we should be ee to practise however we like (Cred: Ignac Lehamann)So what are we to do wh the Born This Way rhetoric? ”Acrdg to surveys, ls than half of Generatn Z intify as "100% heterosexual", suggtg more and more people have embraced their sexual fluidy (Cred: Ignac Lehmann)Perhaps is time to look to the begng of the gay rights movement.

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).

AM I GAY?

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).

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. 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.

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

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. 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.

WHY, IT’S GOOD TO BE GAY.NOAH HAPKE·FOLLOW5 M READ·SEP 16, 2015--1LISTENSHAREWHEN I WAS A SOPHOMORE HIGH SCHOOL, I FELL LOVE WH A BOY. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THIS WAS POSSIBLE; I THOUGHT GAY PEOPLE WERE THOSE SUPER ANNOYG GUYS WHO WORE BRIGHT LORED PANTS AND HAD A FUNNY ACCENT. BUT AS HIGH SCHOOL NTUED, AND MY EP DARK ROMANTIC SECRET GREW, AS A RULT, I ME OUT.THIS IS WHERE I NOW STAND.THE NEXT SPRG, I WENT TO MY FIRST GAY PRI WEEKEND WH A CLOSE IEND LONG BEACH AND LOOKED SOMETHG LIKE THIS.LOOK HOW HOT THEY AREALTHOUGH I WAS NOT AN “TED GAY” AT THE TIME, I STARTED TO REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF FTG TO A CULTURE, A CULTURE OF WHICH ANYONE SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE A PART OF.NOW, NETEEN YEARS OLD, I REALIZE HOW BEG GAY IS NOT A DISEASE, OR AN ILLNS, OR SOMETHG THAT WILL MAKE SOMEONE GO TO HELL BEE LEVIC 18:22 SAYS SO. BEG GAY IS LIKE BEG A PART OF ANY OTHER GROUP; RRI A GREAT AMOUNT OF POWER AND RPONSIBILY TO ACT WISELY AND EMPOWER OTHERS. GAY PEOPLE ARE NOT ANNOYG; THEY ARE AMAZG. THEY ARE RG, PASSNATE, OVERLY SEXUALLY-FUNNY, AND PUT SO MUCH TIME TO EVERYTHG THEY DO AND I WOULD BE ASHAMED, LOOKG BACK, TO PRETEND NOT TO BE A PART OF THIS MUNY.AND WHAT’S SO ALARMG IS THAT AT LEAST HALF OF GAY MEN THE UNED STAT ARE CLOSETED, DUE TO PERSONAL, RELIG, SOC-ENOMIC, AND FAY UNRMG. AND, FOR MEN AREAS LIKE THE DEEP SOUTH, THIS NUMBER N SKY-ROCKET UP TO 80%. AND, IRONILLY, ACRDG TO PORNHUB STATISTICS, THE SOUTH WATCH THE MOST GAY PORN. THOANDS OF MEN HAVE TO HI SOMETHG AS IMPORTANT AS THEIR SEXUALY, AND IS DISHEARTENG THAT, EVEN SUCH A PROGRSIVE UNTRY, THIS NCEPT OF “G OUT” IS SO TRMATIZG TO SO MANY MEN.THEN WHY DO SOME AMERINS STILL ACTIVELY FIGHT TO SUPPRS GAY PEOPLE?POSSIBILI.GAY MARRIAGE IS, REGARDLS OF WHAT CONGRS AND MORAL VALU SAY, NOT MARRIAGE.A CHILD NEEDS A MOTHER AND A FATHER (OBVLY SGLE PARENTS N’T RAISE A CHILD EHER).IT PROMOT A HOMOSEXUAL LIFTYLE, AND N POSSIBLY FLUENCE PEOPLE TO DO MORE CRAZY THGS LIKE MARRY THEIR CHAIR.IT’S TAKG ADVANTAGE OF THE LEGAL AND ENOMIC BENEFS OF MARRIAGE (HOW DARE GAY PEOPLE WANT TO BE ABLE TO LIVE FORTABLY ONCE THEIR SPOE HAS PASSED AWAY).IT’S JT DUMB. WHY WOULD ANY MAN WANT TO MARRY ANOTHER MAN?WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO FALL LOVE? WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO GET MARRIED? OR HAVE A CHILD? A HOE TOGETHER? A LIFE FULL OF LGHTER AND LOVED ON AND MEMORI? HOWEVER, AS IRONIC AS SOUNDS, GAY PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE TOO.“GAY COUPL ARE HAPPIER IN RELATNSHIPS THAN HETEROSEXUALS.”BRISH STUDI SHOW THAT GAY UPL ARE HAPPIER THAN THEIR HETEROSEXUAL IENDS. WHY, YOU MAY ASK? POSSIBLY BEE GAY PEOPLE HAVE A SENSE OF MUNY, AND BELONGG. THEY ARE EMPOWERED BY THEIR DIFFERENC, AND ASPIRE TO MAKE THE WORLD MORE NNECTED WH ALL THE PEOPLE LIVG ON . THEY DON’T SEE GENR AS AN OBSTACLE, BUT RATHER SOMETHG TO FY AND CHALLENGE REGARDS OF SOCIAL RTRICTNS. THEY SEE WOMEN AND MEN AS EQUAL, AND THAT TO FALL LOVE WH ANYONE IS SOMETHG TO CHERISH.BUT I’M NOT GAY?THAT’S OKAY :)ABOUT ONLY 4% (APPROX. 16 THOAND PEOPLE) INTIFY AS LGBT. AND NO ONE IS GOG TO ATTEMPT TO MAKE YOU GAY, JT AS HOW NO ONE SHOULD EVER TRY AND MAKE SOMEONE ELSE STRAIGHT. HOWEVER, IS IMPORTANT TO STRS THAT EVERYONE, REGARDLS OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN, NEEDS TO SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKG ONE ANOTHER FEEL ACCEPTED.APPROXIMATELY 80% OF LGBT YOUTH FEELS SEVERELY ISOLATED SOLELY DUE TO THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN. ANOTHER 60% SAY THAT THEY FEEL UNSAFE SCHOOL. THE NUMBERS ARE TOO HIGH — THAT’S ABOUT 3.2 LN TEENAGERS WHO ARE AAID TO EXPRS THEMSELV.BUT TIMES ARE A CHANGIN’

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. (Sean, 21 year old, Eastern European gay male)Another participant who mented on nnectedns wh femal argued that the reason for this closens is the fact that straight men typilly beiend women for sexual purpos, while gay men do not.

Um, 's, 's very easy to, to, when you do fd somebody that is, that is very siar to yourself, 's very easy to fd a nnectn wh them bee they've endured a lot of the same hardships that you have and, and you, and 's easy to talk, I feel like 's very easy to talk to somebody else who is gay, bee they've experienced a lot of the same thgs that I have g and velopg their inty. (Patrick, 20 year old, Whe gay male)Riliency the Face of Gay-Related OpprsnAlthough many of the youth foced on posive nceptualizatns of beg gay/bisexual, some intified ways which they had monstrated riliency the face of opprsn. The followg youth talks about the fun he has wh his iends who are not gay/bisexual and emphasiz that a cril aspect of his relatnship wh them is that they do not “judge” him or hold negative views of gay/bisexual people.

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

Emotnal self-re was discsed the ntext of acknowledgg and beg aware of the negative emotnal impact of heterosexist societal msag on them as gay/bisexual young men, and then buildg ristance strategi to such pervasive negativy. Bee there's a lot of homophobic people out there (Jose, 19 year old, Hispanic queer male)Physil self-re was typilly discsed the ntext of physil appearance and sexual health, such as rryg ndoms orr to protect one om sexually transmted fectns. This sub-theme was not directly nnected to experienc of opprsn as gay/bisexual youth, but some of the youth did note higher rat of HIV among gay/bisexual men as a motivatg factor their e of ndoms durg sexual activy.

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

(Kev, 21 year old, Multiracial bisexual male)Gay/bisexual youth who reported the rejectn of stereotyp as another form of riliency strsed the importance of velopg a posive sense of self that is not rtricted by societal msag regardg what gay/bisexual men “should” do, thk, and feel. Exampl of such munal efforts may clu the anizatn of polil ralli and public foms or participatn tnal enavors to discs issu primarily affectg LGBT discsg their sexual inti, many participants scribed exampl of societal margalizatn and discrimatn of gay/bisexual people that is nsistent wh prev rearch (c. Neverthels, spe difficulti, most participants strived to bat societal forc wh the help of social works, rercg earlier fdgs on rilienci and pg strategi employed by gay/bisexual male youth (Surfield et al., 2008; Toro-Alfonso et al., 2006).

GOOD TO BE GAYTOM ROBSONTRACK 13 ON CABARET ’79 1 VIEWER1 CONTRIBUTORGOOD TO BE GAY LYRICSIT'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYWE'VE BEEN ANALYSED, RIDICULED AND DRIVEN AWAYBY OUR ELRS AND BETTERS JT FOR GROWG UP GAYTHEY TRAMPLED ON OUR FEELGSTILL WE HID THEM FOR SHAMEWELL NOW "GLAD TO BE GAY" IS THE NAME OF THE GAME'CSE 'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYDON'T FEEL GUILTY IF YOU'RE PASSG FOR STRAIGHTIF YOU WANNA BE YOURSELF, WELL 'S NEVER TOO LATEPEOPLE WON'T MD IF YOU'RE HONT AND GAYYOU MIGHT EVEN FD THEY PREFER YOU THAT WAY'CSE 'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYYOU MIGHT ALSO LIKESOME SISTERS AND BROTHERS WHO ARE GLAD TO BE GAYSAY THEY'VE NO NEED TO JO 'E THEY'RE DOG OKAYBUT WE NEED SUPPORTG, AND WE NEED TODAYAND BIS - IF THEY TRIED , THEY'D LIKE - CHE'CSE 'S THE SAME OLD STORY ALL OVER THE WORLDWHEN A BOY MEETS A BOY AND A GIRL MEETS A GIRLWE ALL E TOGETHER 'E WE'RE HAPPY TO SAYIT'S A NATURAL FACT THAT 'S GOOD TO BE GAYEMBEDCANCELHOW TO FORMAT LYRICS:TYPE OUT ALL LYRICS, EVEN REPEATG SONG PARTS LIKE THE CHOSLYRICS SHOULD BE BROKEN DOWN TO DIVIDUAL LUSE SECTN HEARS ABOVE DIFFERENT SONG PARTS LIKE [VERSE], [CHOS], ETC.USE ALICS (<I>LYRIC</I>) AND BOLD (<B>LYRIC</B>) TO DISTGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT VOLISTS THE SAME SONG PARTIF YOU DON’T UNRSTAND A LYRIC, E [?]TO LEARN MORE, CHECK OUT OUR TRANSCRIPTN GUI OR VIS OUR TRANSCRIBERS FOMABOUTHAVE THE SI SOP ON THIS SONG?SIGN UP AND DROP SOME KNOWLEDGESTART THE SONG BASK A QUTN ABOUT THIS SONGASK A QUTN *‌CABARET ’79 (1982)TOM ROBSON1. PUB HASSLE2. COLDHARBOUR LANE3. BABY YOU’RE AN ANGEL4. GLAD TO BE GAY ’795. STAND TOGETHER6. EASY STREET7. TCE8. CLOSG A DOOR9. 1967 (SO LONG AGO)10. EVEN STEVEN11. SARTORIAL ELOQUENCE12. MAD ABOUT THE BOY13. GOOD TO BE GAY14. GLAD TO BE GAY ’9715. LAST R16. GAY SWCHBOARD JGLECREDSTAGSROCKEXPAND COMMENTSADD A MENTSIGN UP AND DROP KNOWLEDGE ?GENI IS THE ULTIMATE SOURCE OF MIC KNOWLEDGE, CREATED BY SCHOLARS LIKE YOU WHO SHARE FACTS AND SIGHT ABOUT THE SONGS AND ARTISTS THEY LOVE.SIGN UPGENI IS THE WORLD’S BIGGT LLECTN OF SONG LYRICS AND MIL KNOWLEDGE

Addnally, unlike past rearch, fdgs monstrated participants’ emphasis on actively ristg discrimatn, which uld serve as another potential pg strategy or source of om this study n be ed to shed light on broar issu of social and cultural ponents of gay/bisexual male adolcents’ sense of self and self-acceptance, which may fluence healthy adolcent velopment. The study’s fdgs offer a clearer unrstandg of how societal msag play a role gay/bisexual male youths’ self perceptns and offer sight to ways to improve the healthy functng of gay/bisexual youth by challengg negative societal fdgs may also offer rmatn for the velopment of mental and physil health promotn programs that emphasize the posive aspects of gay/bisexual sexual orientatn inty, and the role that self acceptance n play promotg healthy thoughts and behavrs. One example of such a program is the Mpowerment Project, which is a wily ed sexual health promotn terventn that clus a foc on enhancg gay/bisexual young men’s acceptance of their sexual orientatn utilizg muny mobilizatn and peer-based strategi orr to addrs unique munal needs and empower s members (Kegel, Hays, & Coat, 1996; Kegel, Hays, Pollack, Coat, 1999) orr for programs to be succsful, dividuals workg wh gay/bisexual dividuals mt be sensive to issu unique to LGB youth populatns.

By unrstandg the varied msag that gay/bisexual male adolcents receive about their sexual orientatn and how they tegrate this rmatn to their self perceptn, dividuals workg wh gay/bisexual male youth will be better prepared for helpg them to velop a healthy sense of self. Furthermore, social service and health re provirs should be aware of muny nnectns that support healthy inty velopment orr to assist adolcents makg cril social support rmatn prented this study advanc our unrstandg of factors that fluence the self-perceptns of sexual orientatn inty among gay/bisexual youth. In addn, this sample was rtricted to male youth; therefore, the life experienc of lbian and bisexual young women were not summary, the current data suggt that spe experienc of LGB-related opprsn and margalizatn, gay/bisexual male youth are able to synthize their experienc orr to nstct a more posive sexual orientatn inty.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY

The data speak to the need to enurage and promote more rearch that explor the liv of gay/bisexual youth utilizg a strengths-based wellns mol orr to provi a more prehensive view of gay/bisexual youth’s velopment (Marszalek & Cashwell, 1999; Rof, 2005).

While ntued rearch on the challeng that gay/bisexual youth face is still need orr to rm future terventns and public policy, the studi should be ut not to view gay/bisexual youth through a fic-foced lens which prents gay/bisexual youth as ferr to heterosexual youth. Instead, rearchers should strive to ntextualize the life experienc and physil/mental health out of gay/bisexual youth by explorg the potentially negative fluence of progrsg through cril velopmental phas while livg heterosexist and opprsive environments. In addn, studi foced on negative physil and mental health out should strive not only to explore risk factors for such out, but also exame riliency-based factors which may offer sights to how some gay/bisexual youth are able to thrive the face of qualative and quantative rearch foced on the velopment of a posive sexual orientatn inty among gay/bisexual youth is need.

Harper () is Profsor the Department of Psychology and Director of the Master of Public Health Program at DePl Universy, and his rearch and muny work foc on givg voice to the social jtice needs of young people, pecially gay/bisexual male youth. I’ve been rearchg peace for for ne years as part of my documentary film A Chance for Peace, and one of the ma lsons I’ve learned is that we n’t know somethg whout first knowg s I’m here to put fear asi for a mute and majorly strs an epimic of love among gay men — bee, although “love” and “gay” may be an unpopular pairg at prent, ’s a msage worth spreadg.