New Trends Gay Male Relatnships: The Choic Study - ETR

Contents:

• HOW TO MATA A GAY RELATNSHIP
• NEW TRENDS GAY MALE RELATNSHIPS: THE CHOIC STUDY
• AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL
• GAY MEN’S FEARS OF LONG-TERM ROMANCE
• GAY AND CAN'T FD A PARTNER?
• GAY RELATNSHIPS CAN BE MORE STABLE THAN STRAIGHT ON
• GAY MEN MONOGAMO RELATNSHIPS: WHAT WORKS?
• THE ASSOCIATNS OF SEXUAL SIRE, DAILY STRS, AND TIMACY GAY MEN LONG-TERM RELATNSHIPS

HOW TO MATA A GAY RELATNSHIP

They started hostg weddgs after their own venue told them — the week of their weddg — that would not acmodate a gay uple. Based on a batn of amic rearch and the real world experienc of my LGBTQ therapy clients long term gay relatnships, the followg are six practic that n enhance and mata relatnships over a lifetime:.

What are the relatnships of young gay men like today?

Ltle rearch is beg done on gay male upl—how they build and sta their relatnships, what they thk about monogamy and marriage, what they believe about the attus of their peers. But we’d been hearg that younger gay men had some different perspectiv. This year, we pleted our Choic study, which foced on gay men ag 18-40 and explored attus and practic about monogamy and marriage.

NEW TRENDS GAY MALE RELATNSHIPS: THE CHOIC STUDY

Younger gay men do value monogamy more than their olr unterparts. I thk this is eful rmatn for anyone workg wh gay men, and for young gay men themselv. Younger Gay Men’s Perspectiv on Monogamy, Non-monogamy and Marriage.

Convenience sample of 18-40 year old gay men, reced through ads on Facebook and Grdr (an app geared toward gay/bisexual men terted datg or sexual enunters). Before we looked at our survey rults, we had some notn that monogamy had bee a sort of “flt” choice for a lot of younger gay men.

AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL

Gay lumnist Dan Savage first ed the term “monogamish” (Savage lls “mostly monogamo wh a ltle squish around the edg”). There are some persistent myths gay men hear about their relatnships. The first is that is impossible for gay men to stay te to a monogamo mment.

Both mps also plaed equally about the lack of support they receive the gay muny for their choic. We thk this back to the fact that gay men’s relatnships are not “discsable.

GAY MEN’S FEARS OF LONG-TERM ROMANCE

There is tremendo tert this kd of rmatn about gay men’s relatnships and a good al of wisdom to be disvered om our rponnts. Gay men’s relatnships play a role many different aspects of muny health, cludg the transmissn of HIV and other STDs. We do thk, however, that we have opportuni to provi more meangful support to gay men’s relatnships by dog the followg:.

GAY AND CAN'T FD A PARTNER?

If you’re workg wh gay men, we hope you’ll nsir referrg them to the study to learn more about the range of relatnship experienc gay men are havg and the creative approach they are brgg to their relatnships. He has provid servic the HIV/AIDS muny and has a long-standg tert supportg healthy relatnships the gay muny.

Many quiri I have received over and over aga through the years beg somethg like this: “I've always liked olr men, but many gay iends close to my age are cril of me and spic of my motiv. ” One young man said to me, “If I see a handsome gay man my age, he might jt as well have a vaga. Var labels have been ascribed to tergeneratnal upl, whether straight, gay or bisexual: tergeneratnal, age-gap, age-discrepant, or, more often than not, “May-December” relatnships.

Inially, I was unnvced the relatnships were ser, but that was bee I held stereotypil views: an olr gay man who was lookg for a trophy-mate and has the money to take re of his boy toy and a younger man who was lookg for a sugar daddy.

GAY RELATNSHIPS CAN BE MORE STABLE THAN STRAIGHT ON

I now regnize this as a hackneyed ia that furiat men age-gap gay relatnships. Based on the number of tim this qutn drops to my mailbox, the reasons for the age-discrepant attractns nsum a great al of bandwidth the thoughts of a lot of young gay and bisexual men.

Was pletg his doctoral dissertatn, “May-December: Navigatg Life as an Intergeneratnal Gay Couple, ” he thoroughly rearched what proved to be the limed available lerature on tergeneratnal upl. They nsir discrimatn a part of beg gay.

Their work will fort men the double jeopardy of beg both gay and lovg someone much olr or younger. Approval of same-sex relatnships has been steadily risg sce 2009 (Pew Rearch Center, 2017), and the 2015 Supreme Court cisn endorsg same-sex marriage was a w for many lbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) dividuals.

GAY MEN MONOGAMO RELATNSHIPS: WHAT WORKS?

This is nsistent wh prev fdgs: Gay and bisexual men are exposed to mory strsors that n -stabilize relatnships (Meyer, 2003; L, 2012). Rearch fund by the Natnal Instut of Health on the Health of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Populatns.

Prejudice, social strs, and mental health lbian, gay, and bisexual populatns: Conceptual issu and rearch evince. Changg Attus on Gay Marriage.

The night June 1969 that gay men fought police raidg the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village marked the begng of wir acceptance of male homosexuals. Homosexualy has not been nsired pathologil by mastream psychiatry sce the 1970s, and the years that followed, gay upl have begun to acknowledge their partnerships publicly. D., HS ’ gay men are still sufferg, however, said Isay.

THE ASSOCIATNS OF SEXUAL SIRE, DAILY STRS, AND TIMACY GAY MEN LONG-TERM RELATNSHIPS

He believ that the social acceptance of homosexualy “has not filtered down to the way homosexual boys are raised.

Mothers who enjoy the sensivy and shared terts of gay sons may lean too much on them, g them to fulfill their unmet emotnal believ that the dynamics n prevent adult gay men om formg long-term romantic bonds. Many gay men seek affirmatn not through an endurg, lovg relatnship, he said, but cultivatg large works of iends, pursug transient sexual liaisons, focg on profsnal succs and creatg flawlsly appoted environments for his new book, Commment and Healg: Gay Men and the Need for Romantic Love, Isay scrib how therapy n help provi gay men wh sight to the effects of childhood fluenc on the pacy to m to a partner.