How to Unrstand Gay and Lbian People: LGBT+ Allyship

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
• UNRSTANDG GAY & LBIAN INTI
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• GENR, HEALTH BEHAVR, AND INTIMATE RELATNSHIPS: LBIAN, GAY, AND STRAIGHT CONTEXTS
• HOW TO SUPPORT, EMPATHIZE WH, AND AFFIRM LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
• LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL AMERINS ARE LS RELIG THAN STRAIGHT ADULTS BY TRADNAL MEASUR

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

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. 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. 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.

UNRSTANDG GAY & LBIAN INTI

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.

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

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.

This means that beg transgenr (feelg like your assigned sex is very different om the genr you intify wh) isn’t the same thg as beg gay, lbian, or bisexual. Although the laws are often referred to as “no promo homo” laws, Rosky (2017) suggts that there are five typ of anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum legislatn: “don’t say gay, ” “no promo homo, ” “anti-homo, ” “promo hetero, ” and “abstence until marriage. ” While the laws stem mostly om HIV-epimic-era homophobia, they also center narrow views of sexual and reproductive health that have been ed to systematilly discrimate agast poor people, people of lor, and people wh disabili (see Barcelos, 2020; Betts, 2021).

Gay and bisexual adult men (Curr & Hubach, 2020) and trans people (Hobai, Schofield, & Kwon, 2019) both retrospectively report a sire for more prehensive and clive sex tn. 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.

GENR, HEALTH BEHAVR, AND INTIMATE RELATNSHIPS: LBIAN, GAY, AND STRAIGHT CONTEXTS

“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. 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.

” 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. Sce 1975, APA has lled on psychologists to take the lead removg the stigma of mental illns that has long been associated wh lbian, gay, and bisexual orientatns.

The prejudice and discrimatn that people who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual regularly experience have been shown to have negative psychologil effects. This page provis accurate rmatn for those who want to better unrstand sexual orientatn and the impact of prejudice and discrimatn on those who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual. In the Uned Stat the most equent labels are lbians (women attracted to women), gay men (men attracted to men), and bisexual people (men or women attracted to both sex).

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

Prejudice and discrimatn make difficult for many people to e to terms wh their sexual orientatn inti, so claimg a lbian, gay, or bisexual inty may be a slow procs. Public opn studi over the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s routely showed that, among large segments of the public, lbian, gay, and bisexual people were the target of strongly held negative attus.

More recently, public opn has creasgly opposed sexual orientatn discrimatn, but exprsns of hostily toward lbians and gay men rema mon ntemporary Amerin society. Severe antigay prejudice is reflected the high rate of harassment and vlence directed toward lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals Amerin society. Early the panmic, the assumptn that HIV/AIDS was a “gay disease” ntributed to the lay addrsg the massive social upheaval that AIDS would generate.

The associatn of HIV/AIDS wh gay and bisexual men and the accurate belief that some people held that all gay and bisexual men were fected served to further stigmatize lbian, gay, and bisexual people. On the social level, prejudice and discrimatn agast lbian, gay, and bisexual people are reflected the everyday stereotyp of members of the groups.

LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL AMERINS ARE LS RELIG THAN STRAIGHT ADULTS BY TRADNAL MEASUR

The stereotyp persist even though they are not supported by evince, and they are often ed to exce unequal treatment of lbian, gay, and bisexual people. For example, limatns on job opportuni, parentg, and relatnship regnn are often jtified by stereotypic assumptns about lbian, gay, and bisexual people. On an dividual level, such prejudice and discrimatn may also have negative nsequenc, pecially if lbian, gay, and bisexual people attempt to nceal or ny their sexual orientatn.

Although many lbians and gay men learn to pe wh the social stigma agast homosexualy, this pattern of prejudice n have ser negative effects on health and well-beg. Although social support is ccial pg wh strs, antigay attus and discrimatn may make difficult for lbian, gay, and bisexual people to fd such support. Dpe the persistence of stereotyp that portray lbian, gay, and bisexual people as disturbed, several s of rearch and clil experience have led all mastream medil and mental health anizatns this untry to nclu that the orientatns reprent normal forms of human experience.

Furthermore, seems likely that the promotn of change therapi rerc stereotyp and ntribut to a negative climate for lbian, gay, and bisexual persons.