Age Differenc Gay Coupl | Psychology Today

Contents:

• AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL
• GAY DATG | YOUNG PEOPLE ON AGE DIFFERENCE GAY RELATNSHIPS
• CAN WE TALK ABOUT GAY MEN AND AGE GAPS?
• VARIATNS SEXUAL INTY MILTON AMONG LBIANS, GAY MEN AND BISEXUALS
• GENERATNAL DIFFERENC SEXUAL BEHAVUR AND PARTNERG AMONG GAY, BISEXUAL, AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN

AGE DIFFERENC GAY COUPL

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. 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.

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. For lbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenr people, realizg their sexual orientatn or genr inty and sharg that rmatn wh fay and iends is often a gradual procs that n unfold over a seri of years.

GAY DATG | YOUNG PEOPLE ON AGE DIFFERENCE GAY RELATNSHIPS

Lbians and gay men are more likely than bisexuals to have told at least one close iend about their sexual orientatn (96% of gay men and 94% of lbians, pared wh 79% of bisexuals).

And they are much more likely to say that most of the people who are important to them know about this aspect of their life: 77% of gay men and 71% of lbians say all or most people know, pared wh 28% of bisexuals. Among all LGBT adults, those wh a llege gree are more likely than those who have not graduated om llege to say all or most of the important people their life know they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (64% vs. The age gaps may be related to the fact that younger adults who may not yet intify themselv as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (but may the future) would not qualify to be clud the survey.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT GAY MEN AND AGE GAPS?

Overall, LGBT adults are much more likely to have told a close iend that they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr than they are to have told one of their parents. Bisexuals are much more likely than gay men and lbians to say their sexual orientatn never me up wh their parents or that raisg the subject was not important to them.

Among LGB adults who have not told their father about their sexual orientatn, 13% of gay men say this is bee he already knew, as well as 17% of lbians and 5% of bisexuals. For LGBT adults who have not told their father that they are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, about one--ten (12%) say they didn’t tell him bee they do not have a close relatnship wh him.

Gay men and lbians are more likely than bisexuals to say tellg their mother about their sexual orientatn was a difficult thg (64% of gay men and 65% of lbians say was difficult, vs. Lbians are twice as likely as gay men to say tellg their mother about their sexual orientatn hurt their relatnship (23% of lbians say the relatnship grew weaker, pared wh 12% of gay men). Siarly, roughly three-quarters of gay men (74%) and lbians (76%) wh at least one brother say they have told a brother about their sexual orientatn, pared wh 42% of bisexuals.

VARIATNS SEXUAL INTY MILTON AMONG LBIANS, GAY MEN AND BISEXUALS

At the same time, Midwterners are more likely than those livg any other regn to say there is some acceptance their muny of LGBT dividuals (52% of gay men and lbians livg the Midwt say this, pared wh 35% or ls of those livg the Northeast, South or Wt). Gay men and lbians livg the South are much more likely than those livg the Wt or Midwt to say there is only a ltle or no acceptance of the LGBT populatn where they live (36% the South vs. Gay men and lbians wh a llege gree and those wh annual of $75, 000 or higher are among the most likely to say there is a lot of acceptance of the LGBT populatn the cy or town where they live.

LGBT adults who say there is a lot of acceptance of people who are lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr their cy or town are much more likely to say this is an important reason why they live there than are those who say there is ltle or no acceptance of the LGBT populatn their muny. Overall, gay men and lbians are more likely than bisexuals to say the level of social acceptance the cy or town where they live is an important reason why they live there. Gay men and lbians unr age 45 are much more likely than those ag 45 and olr to say the level of social acceptance their cy or town is a reason why they live there.

Gay men and lbians wh a llege gree are more likely than those who have not pleted llege to say the level of social acceptance their cy or town is one reason for livg there (49% of llege graduat say this is a major or mor reason, pared wh 35% of non-llege graduat).

GENERATNAL DIFFERENC SEXUAL BEHAVUR AND PARTNERG AMONG GAY, BISEXUAL, AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN

Among gay men and lbians, the more important they say their sexual orientatn is to their overall inty, the more likely they are to have lived an LGBT neighborhood.

Fully one-third (35%) of those who say beg gay or lbian is extremely or very important to their overall inty eher live an LGBT neighborhood now or have lived one the past.

Not surprisgly, lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr adults who have lived an LGBT neighborhood are more likely than those who have not to have a lot of LGBT iends. People who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr are more socially active on social workg s than the general public, but this is likely due part to the relative youth of the LGBT populatn. Acrdg to a recent Mambaonle poll, 61% of gay men said they’d dated guys ten years and olr than them, but there seems to be a belief that people opt to date olr men bee of their social pal.