When Did You Know You Were Gay? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?
• HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
• AM I GAY?
• WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE GAY?
• AM I GAY? HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY?
• HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY
• EARLY SIGNS TO TELL YOUR CHILD IS GAY

AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?

People who are homosexual are romantilly and physilly attracted to people of the same sex: femal are attracted to other femal; mal are attracted to other mal.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY

Gay people are reprented all walks of life, across all natnali, ethnic backgrounds, and all social and enomic groups.

AM I GAY?

Dpe myths and misnceptns, there is no evince that beg gay is ed by early childhood experienc, parentg styl, or the way someone is raised. Efforts to change gay people to straight (sometim lled "nversn therapy") have been proven to be effective and n be harmful.

Knowg one's sexual orientatn — whether straight or gay — is often somethg that kids or teens regnize wh ltle doubt om a very young age. By middle school, as they enter adolcence, many gay teens already regnize their sexual orientatn, whether or not they have revealed to anyone else. Those who didn't realize they were gay at first often say that they always felt different om their peers, but didn't exactly know why.

WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE GAY?

And spe genr stereotyp, mascule and feme tras do not necsarily predict whether someone is straight or gay.

Once aware, some gay teens may be que fortable and accept their sexualy, while others might fd nfg or difficult to accept. Like their straight peers, gay teens may strs about school, gras, llege, sports, activi, iends, and ftg . But addn, gay and lbian teens often al wh an extra layer of strs — like whether they have to hi who they are, whether they will be harassed about beg gay, or whether they will face stereotyp or judgments if they are hont about who they are.

Many gay teens worry about whether they will be accepted or rejected by their loved on, or whether people will feel upset, angry, or disappoted them. It n take time for gay teens to procs how they feel and to accept this aspect of their own inty before they reveal their sexual orientatn to others.

AM I GAY? HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY?

In some suatns, teens who are openly gay may risk facg more harassment than those who haven't revealed their sexual orientatn. But many lbian, gay, and bisexual teens who e out to their iends and fai are fully accepted by them and their muni. 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.

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. This data prov the vast majory of LGBTQ+ kids intify as gay before they leave for llege – or intify their sexual preferenc shortly after.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY

“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. Taylor shar the story of a viral 3-year-old boy who plays wh dolls, lov drsg up as Elsa om Disney's Frozen, and clar that he is gay. The kids that played wh toys not meant for their genr were much more likely to be homosexual 12 years later.

EARLY SIGNS TO TELL YOUR CHILD IS GAY

Of the llege stunts they surveyed, 26% of self-intified gay and bisexual llege stunts beme aware of their sexual preference llege, 48% high self-intified gay and bisexual men, 20% knew junr high school, and 17% knew gra school. Wh women, 6% knew junr high school, and 11% knew gra a 3-year-old don't fully unrstand what beg gay means (even the nt admted that he uld change his md  the future), a fay allowg their son to fearlsly be whoever he wants to be om such an early age uld be monumental his formative years. Keep md that even if you have a sexual experience wh someone of the same genr or another genr, that don’t necsarily mean that you’re gay.

Thgs would be so simple if you uld jt label yourself as gay and be done wh , but may not be that easy.