There is no ‘gay gene.’ There is no ‘straight gene.’ Sexualy is jt plex, study nfirms | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, & INTERSEX LIFE
• UNRSTANDG GAY & LBIAN INTI
• QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
• IS A LBIAN, GAY OR BISEXUAL INTY MORE COMMON TODAY?
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH
• HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• HOW TO SUPPORT, EMPATHIZE WH, AND AFFIRM LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
• PEOPLE WHO ARE GAY, LBIAN OR BI HAVE MORE MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE E PROBLEMS, SURVEY FDS

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

LGBTQ2S+ ALLY: Someone who nonts heterosexism, anti- LGBTQ2S+ bias, heterosexual and cisgenr privilege themselv and others; believ that heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia are social jtice issu. Gay is an adjective that scribe people who are physilly, romantilly, emotnally and/or spirually attracted to other people of the same genr. Although n sometim seem like one type of gay person is shown over and over aga the media or on TV, gay people aren’t tomatilly effemate, and lbian women aren’t tomatilly mascule – fact, those stereotyp leave out a lot of other personali and characteristics.

While there may be some jobs that tend to have more gay or lbian people them than others, often has to do wh the cultural acceptance they might fd that particular field. However, sce marriage is still illegal for same-sex upl many stat, gay and lbian relatnships have ls support om society. Advot for Youth – I Thk I Might Be LbianAdvot for Youth – I Thk I Might Be GayPFLAG – Be YourselfPlanned Parenthood – Sexual Orientatn.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, & INTERSEX LIFE

LGBTQ: The first four letters of this standard abbreviatn are fairly straightforward: “Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr. Queer: Once nsired a meang slur for beg gay, “queer” is beg reclaimed by some as a self-affirmg umbrella term, pecially among those who nsir other labels rtrictive.

UNRSTANDG GAY & LBIAN INTI

Lbian: A noun and an adjective for women who are attracted to other women, although some women prefer to be lled gay or queer – ’s always bt to ask!

Gay: An adjective and not a noun, most often ed to scribe men who are attracted to other men (except the aforementned s). ? SummaryIn the ntext of LGBTQ+ inty, the word gay is typilly ed reference to a person who is sexually and/or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr.

QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

In the ntext of sexual inty, the word gay is generally ed to mean “of, relatg to, or beg a person who is sexually or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr. Recent survey data the US and the UK revealed that the proportn of the populatn who intifi as lbian, gay, or bisexual has risen slightly and that this trend is particularly salient among the youngt generatn: Generatn Z. In the UK, only a slight majory of Gen Z members dite that they have an exclively heterosexual attractn, while the US, a Gallup poll dit that roughly 15% of Gen Z intifi as lbian, gay, or bisexual – pared to 7.

9% of the Baby Boomers surveyed the US dited they were not heterosexual, many more may have still had same-sex experienc throughout their lifpan, but they simply do not firmly intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual.

It is much easier to e out today as lbian, gay, or bisexual than was even jt 10 years ago, let alone 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago.

IS A LBIAN, GAY OR BISEXUAL INTY MORE COMMON TODAY?

In Canada, for example, any dividual 53 years of age or olr 2021 was born at a time when homosexualy was a crimal offence. There is, however, also a much darker explanatn for why we see fewer dividuals om past generatns intifyg as lbian, gay, or bisexual today than we do om the younger generatns.

Gay and bisexual men om the Baby Boomer generatn were between 16 and 34 years of age at the peak of the HIV/AIDS epimic North Ameri.

While is impossible to ever have accurate populatn statistics on a hidn populatn, is timated that at least 10% of gay men the Uned Stat between the ag of 25 and 44 had died by 1995. Th, any attempt to “unt” the number of gay men the Baby Boomer or Gen X generatns needs to nsir the number of people who are simply no longer alive to answer the qutn.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH

In the US data, the percentage of dividuals intifyg as lbian or gay has creased, but not nearly as much as the percentage of those intifyg as bisexual (.

Addnally, bisexuals have always faced somewhat a tch-22 which they are both rejected by the heterosexual muny for beg a sexual mory and om the lbian and gay muny for not que beg “gay enough. ” Many people, cludg sex rearchers and scientists, believe that sexual orientatn is like a sle wh entirely gay on one end and entirely straight on the other. Increasg numbers of populatn-based surveys the Uned Stat and across the world clu qutns that allow for an timate of the size of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) populatn.

Unrstandg the size of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) populatn is a cril first step to rmg a host of public policy and rearch topics. In measurg sexual orientatn, lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals may be intified strictly based on their self-inty or may be possible to nsir same-sex sexual behavr or sexual attractn. Fdgs shown Figure 1 nsir timat of the percentage of adults who self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual across ne surveys nducted wh the past seven years.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?

While the surveys show a fairly wi variatn the overall percentage of adults who intify as LGB, the proportn who intify as lbian/gay vers bisexual is somewhat more nsistent (see Figure 2). The Natnal Survey of Fay Growth found rults that were sentially the oppose of the UK survey wh only 38% intifyg as lbian or gay pared to 62% intifyg as bisexual.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

The Natnal Survey of Sexual Health and Behavr and the Atralian Longudal Study of Health and Relatnships both found a majory of rponnts (55% and 59%, rpectively) intifyg as surveys show even greater nsistency differenc between men and women associated wh lbian/gay vers bisexual inty. Wh the surveys, a larger actn of adults report same-sex attractns and behavrs than self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual (see Figure 4). Not bee they are bad, or homophobic, or transphobic… but bee the reali are not their own lived experience, or bee workg alongsi the groups may be a newer experience for them.

It is worth keepg md that this study only vers some typ of sexualy — gay, lbian and cis-straight — but don’t offer many sights to genr inty. Humans have tried to unrstand human sexualy for centuri — and geics rearchers joed the ay the early 1990s after a seri of studi on tws suggted homosexualy ran fai.

“As a teenager tryg to unrstand myself and unrstand my sexualy, I looked at the ter for “the gay gene” and obvly me across Xq28, ” said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a study -thor and senr scientist at 23andMe, which he joked once led him to believe he hered his gayns om his mother. “We worried a lot about volunteer bias, ” said Bailey, whose rearch clus a wily publicized study on Xq28 and gay brothers om 2018.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

Sanrs llaborated wh Bailey on those earlier studi and said their work had always admted that there was no sgle “gay gene. The rearchers had members of the same-sex muny review the study’s sign and language, and they adm that their termology and fns for gay, lbian and heterosexual do not reflect the full nature of the sexualy ntuum.

“[Our study] unrsr an important role for the environment shapg human sexual behavr and perhaps most importantly there is no sgle gay gene but rather the ntributn of many small geic effects sttered across the genome, ” Neale said. Avoid the offensive term “sexual preference, ” which is ed to accurately suggt that beg gay, lbian, or bisexual is voluntary and “curable. Typilly, for those who intify as queer, the terms lbian, gay, and bisexual are perceived to be too limg and/or ght wh cultural nnotatns they feel do not apply to them.

Also known as SGL, this is a term ed by some Ain Amerin people as an Aocentric alternative to what are nsired Eurocentric, or whe, inti like gay and lbian. Biphobia may be exprsed ments that reflect doubts about the legimacy of bisexualy as an orientatn, accurately implyg that is not real, “jt a phase” or a ver for someone not ready to e out as gay. Note, the terms “gay marriage” and “same-sex marriage” should be avoid, as they n suggt marriage for same-sex upl is somehow different or ls equal than other marriag.

HOW TO SUPPORT, EMPATHIZE WH, AND AFFIRM LGBTQ+ PEOPLE

Historilly ed to selectively persecute gay people, the state laws often referred to as “sodomy laws” were led unnstutnal by the U.

Bee of the clil history of the word “homosexual, ” is aggrsively ed by anti-LGBTQ activists to suggt that people attracted to the same sex are somehow diseased or psychologilly/emotnally disorred – notns discreded by the Amerin Psychologil Associatn and the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn the 1970s.

Use gay, lbian, or when appropriate, bisexual, pansexual, or queer to scribe people attracted to people of the same genr or more than one genr.

PEOPLE WHO ARE GAY, LBIAN OR BI HAVE MORE MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE E PROBLEMS, SURVEY FDS

Intifyg a same-sex uple as “a homosexual uple, ” characterizg their relatnship as “a homosexual relatnship, ” or intifyg their timacy as “homosexual sex” should be avoid.

As a le, try to avoid labelg an activy, emotn, or relatnship gay, lbian, bisexual, or queer unls you would ll the same activy, emotn, or relatnship “straight” if engaged by someone of another orientatn. Sexual orientatn is the accurate scriptn of an person’s endurg physil, romantic, and/or emotnal attractn to people of the same genr and/or people of a different genr, and is clive of people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and pansexual, as well as straight people.

The phras “gay liftyle, ” “LGBTQ liftyle, ” “homosexual liftyle, ” and “transgenr liftyle” are ed to nigrate LGBTQ people by accurately suggtg that their sexual orientatn and/or genr inty is a choice and therefore n and should be “cured” or “changed. Anti-LGBTQ Terms Mastream Media Should Avoid“fag, ” “faggot, ” “dyke, ” “homo, ” “sodome, ” and siar ephetsWhile some the muny have reclaimed and e the words to scribe themselv, the creria for mastream news media g the rogatory terms should be the same as those applied to vulgar ephets ed to target other groups: they should not be ed except a direct quote that reveals the bias of the person quoted or if a LGBTQ person the term to scribe themself. So that such words are not given credibily the media, is preferred that reporters say, “The person ed a rogatory word for a lbian/gay/bisexual/transgenr/queer person” except when a LGBTQ person the term to scribe themself.