What Science Knows About Why People Are Gay

Contents:

• HOW TO DISCREETLY FD OUT IF SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS GAY
• HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
• HOW TO TELL IF SOMEONE IS GAY: 10 SUBTLE CLU THAT MAKE IT LIKELY
• AM I GAY? HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY?
• HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM GAY? SIGNS YOU ARE GAY
• AM I GAY?
• HOW TO TELL IF YOUR GUY FRIEND IS GAY
• AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?
• HOW TO TELL IF YOUR BOYIEND IS GAY
• IS YOUR MAN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?
• HOW TO SUPPORT, EMPATHIZE WH, AND AFFIRM LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
• 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
• WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?
• GAY OR STRAIGHT?
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• IS MY BOYIEND GAY? 10 SIGNS TO HELP YOU TELL FOR SURE
• WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY
• SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
• 17 SIGNS YOU'RE ACTUALLY GAY (AND JT DON'T KNOW IT)
• 5. VAST MAJORY OF AMERINS KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS GAY, FEWER KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS TRANSGENR
• HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?

HOW TO DISCREETLY FD OUT IF SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS GAY

If you have had romantic experienc or fantasi volvg people who are the same genr as you, then there is a good chance you are gay or bisexual, but 's okay if you're a ltle nfed. The ratg sl aim to classify people not as "gay" or "straight" but rather dite that most people do not experience exclively gay or straight experienc. It n be hard for some people to know whether or not they are gay, but 's important to remember that cidg you are gay is a personal cisn and not a clil one.

Some people that have homosexual experienc ntue not to intify as gay while others that have never had a homosexual experience and rather, jt have homosexual feelgs, may ll themselv gay. "Wh time, someone who is gay will realize that not only are they sexually attracted to members of the same sex, but that this attractn is not transnal, or as often scribed 'jt a phase'. However, the difficulti associated wh acceptg the feelgs and g out gay mean that many gay people don't intify themselv as gay until later on life.

When down to , there is no reliable "Am I Gay tt", so the only way to know that you are gay (fn of gay) is to look wh yourself to terme your own thoughts and feelgs towards others of the same sex. Gay - While this adjective has historilly scribed men who are attracted to other men, the term now is ed to refer to anyone who experienc romantic, emotnal, or physil attractn to people of the same genr. For example, his fay may be vlently homophobic and by cidg that he's gay, you may out him by accint by treatg him different or implyg somethg whout meang to.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY

If you're tryg to figure out if your iend is gay bee you want to date him (as a woman), 's important to remember that jt bee he might be terted men don't mean he's not terted women. Although some people the gay culture may put on a certa voice or a way of speakg, your iend talkg a siar or "effemate" way is still not a very good way to judge.

Everyone n enjoy different thgs; jt like a woman might enjoy watchg football, guys n also enjoy thgs that are more monly associated wh women or the gay muny.

The movi he watch and the mic he listens to are also not fair methods to gge if he is straight or gayer than Elton John and Gee Takei put together. Say somethg like, "You know you're stuck wh me as a iend no matter what, but I jt have to ask bee I don't want to make assumptns and e to the wrong nclns: are you gay?

HOW TO TELL IF SOMEONE IS GAY: 10 SUBTLE CLU THAT MAKE IT LIKELY

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.

“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. If he’s gay, he might thrive on other men’s attentn, equently touch or hug them, or exchange flirty ments wh them (pecially about their physil appearance).

Don’t rely on gay stereotyp like an effemate voice or walk, flashy or tight clothg, his TV and mic preferenc, or beg a neat eak to terme your boyiend’s sexualy.

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

In his Royal Oaks, Michigan, practice, Joe specializ Gay Affirmative Psychotherapy and IMAGO Relatnship Therapy, often treatg men who are qutng their sexual orientatn. And I thk ’s very important to state right here that I’m a gay man, yet here I am sayg that most of the time the men who are beg sexual wh other men aren’t gay.

Wh gay clients, they say they feel the same way; wh bisexual clients, they say they’re lookg at both the men and the women; wh straight clients, they say they’re lookg only at the women. When a man is a long-term relatnship wh a woman but beg sexual wh men, eher lookg at porn or havg actual sex, he eher will or won’t be homophobic. A gay guy wants to do all of that wh a man, a bisexual guy might want a man or a woman, and the straight guy wants to only be wh a woman that way.

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

So this is a way of bondg wh men—ironilly, through sex—and happens not bee the man is gay but bee he don’t know any other way to get this need met. Eher they’re worried that their man will eventually ci he’s gay and end the relatnship, or they want monogamy, and his cheatg is a threat to the marriage regardls of who he’s dog wh. And I should pot out here that the men when they’re engagg this behavr (regardls of whether they’re gay, straight or bi) nearly always tell themselv that what they’re dog is not cheatg bee they’re dog wh a guy.

AM I GAY?

G., "gay/lbian" to scribe attractn to the same sex/genr, "bisexual" to scribe attractn to multiple sex/genrs; "asexual" to scribe a lack of attractn to anyone, etc. There may be, for stance, some gay people that scribe themselv as more mascule, feme, or genr-fluid, while lbian dividuals may siarly exprs themselv wh varyg gre of masculy, femy, or genr-fluidy.

Sexual orientatn refers to the endurg physil, romantic and/or emotnal attractn to members of the same and/or other genrs, cludg lbian, gay, bisexual and straight orientatns.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR GUY FRIEND IS GAY

It very much appears that same-sex sexual attractn is not a choice but actg on is; so if you fe gay as the mere prence of same-sex attractn, then om everythg we unrstand, beg gay is not a choice. If, on the other hand, you nsir someone to be gay only if they act on their same-sex attractn then beg gay n be nsired a choice pendg on an dividual's behavr. People n gus if a man is gay or straight based solely on a photo of his face — and they n do even if the man is om a different culture than their own, acrdg to new rearch om the Universy of Toronto.

Rule and lleagu om Kobe Universy Japan and Tufts Universy the Uned Stat wonred if the abily to judge a face as gay or straight would also work across cultur. The rearchers speculate that bee the Spanish are more acceptg of homosexualy than the other two natnali they may be more willg to judge someone 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. By middle school, as they enter adolcence, many gay teens already regnize their sexual orientatn, whether or not they have revealed to anyone else.

AT WHAT AGE DO KIDS INTIFY AS GAY?

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.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR BOYIEND IS GAY

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.

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. 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. Believg that your boyiend might be gay is a tricky suatn to have to nont, and, if you’re readg this, we n image that you’re feelg very this article, we’ll explore how to know if your boyiend is gay, and how to approach the suatn a way that works for you both. Equally, uld be him explorg another si of his sexualy, so try not to start accg him of anythg or tellg how betrayed you feel that he wants to replite gay sex wh you.

IS YOUR MAN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?

If he’s known he’s gay for a while but has been raised an environment that don’t allow him to safely or fortably exprs or explore that, he might be verg by actg straight. Havg a homophobic fay would expla why he’s kept his sexualy hidn – ’s not self a ‘reason’ for beg gay, but might expla why he’s kept secret and gone along wh your relatnship. Beg hont wh ourselv about our sexualy n feel like a huge hurdle, let alone talkg to love on about – pecially if we’ve been raised a homophobic hoehold.

Recently, scientists announced that they found some gen that might be associated wh sexual orientatn and a blogil explanatn for the reason gay men tend to have olr the field of sexual orientatn rearch is far broar and more plited than two studi—and Lisa Diamond, a psychologist and sexual orientatn rearcher at the Universy of Utah, knows that better than most.

I n't guarantee you that at age 18, if you child hasn't exprsed same-sex attractns that they won't the future—and ankly ma'am, I n't guarantee you that you are not gog to end up gay eher. wh homosexual fantasi or dreams;when a person realiz she is attracted to someone of the same genr;wh a feelg that she is different om her iends and classmat; orwh a sexual feelgs n e uncertaty for a young person and uld be ma worse by:.

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

the social stigma that n e wh homosexualy;a lack of knowledge;a lack of homosexual role mols; orfew opportuni to socialize wh other teens who are havg siar n be very difficult for teens to ci to tell their parents about their homosexual inty. If there is a homosexual theme a ic strip or on a TV show, you n have a discsn about that, hopefully fdg a way to let your son or dghter know that they are loved no matter what their teens will tell a siblg or before they tell a parent, and often they will choose one parent to tell first. All sexually active teens, gay or straight, should be routely tted for between 9 and 13 years of age should get the human papillomavis (HPV) vacce.

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

Many Canadian ci have a chapter of Parents and Friends of Lbians And Gays (PFLAG), an anizatn that has helped many parents whose children have ‘e out’ to more rmatnFootnotThis rmatn should not be ed as a substute for the medil re and advice of your may be variatns treatment that your physician may remend based on dividual facts and be reproduced whout permissn and shared wh patients and their available at <>. A group of scientists suggted Tuday that homosexuals get that tra om their oppose-sex parents: A lbian will almost always get the tra om her father, while a gay man will get the tra om his heredary lk of homosexualy has long been tablished, but scientists knew was not a strictly geic lk, bee there are many pairs of intil tws who have differg sexuali.

Scientists om the Natnal Instute for Mathematil and Blogil Synthis say homosexualy seems to have an epigeic, not a geic thought to have some sort of heredary lk, a group of scientists suggted Tuday that homosexualy is lked to epi-marks — extra layers of rmatn that ntrol how certa gen are exprsed. In homosexuals, the epi-marks aren't erased — they're passed om father-to-dghter or mother-to-son, explas William Rice, an evolutnary blogist at the Universy of California Santa Barbara and lead thor of the study. "There is pellg evince that epi-marks ntribute to both the siary and dissiary of fay members, and n therefore feasibly ntribute to the observed faial herance of homosexualy and s low nrdance between [intil] tws, " Rice and his team created a mathematil mol that explas why homosexualy is passed through epi-marks, not geics.

Evolutnarily speakg, if homosexualy was solely a geic tra, scientists would expect the tra to eventually disappear bee homosexuals wouldn't be expected to reproduce. But bee the epi-marks provi an evolutnary advantage for the parents of homosexuals: They protect fathers of homosexuals om unrexposure to ttosterone and mothers of homosexuals om overexposure to ttosterone while they are gtatn.

WHY ARE PEOPLE GAY? GAY BY CHOICE OR IS BEG GAY GEIC?

"The epi-marks protect fathers and mothers om excs or unrexposure to ttosterone — when they rry over to oppose-sex offsprg, n e the masculizatn of femal or the femizatn of mal, " Rice says, which n lead to a child beg gay. Rice not that the markers are "highly variable" and that only strong epi-marks will rult a homosexual scientists have long spected some sort of geic lk, Rice says studi attemptg to expla why people are gay have been few and far between. " Homosexual behavr has been observed black swans, pengus, sheep, and other animals, he 's mol still needs to be tted on real-life parent-offsprg pairs, but he says this epigeic lk mak more sense than any other explanatn, and that his team has mapped out a way for other scientists to tt their work.

Both lbians and gay men often have a history of cross-sex-typed behavrs: ltle boys beg fatuated wh their mother's makp k; ltle girls enamored of field hockey or profsnal wrtlg. Prehomosexual boys tend to be more attracted to solary sports such as swimmg, cyclg and tennis than they are to rougher ntact sports such as football and soccer. It is only relatively recently, however, that velopmental scientists have nducted ntrolled studi to intify the earlit and most reliable signs of adult homosexualy.

So on the basis of some earlier, shakier rearch, along wh a good dose of mon sense, Bailey and Zucker hypothized that homosexuals would show an verted pattern of sex-typed childhood behavrs—ltle boys preferrg girls as playmat and beg fatuated wh their mother's makp k; ltle girls strangely enamored of field hockey or profsnal wrtlg—that sort of thg. Although only 12 percent of the women grew up to be genr dysphoric (the unfortable sense that your blogil sex do not match your genr), the odds of the women reportg a bisexual or homosexual orientatn were up to 23 tim higher than would occur a general sample of young women.

GAY OR STRAIGHT?

Bailey and Zucker, who nducted a retrospective study which adults answered qutns about their past, revealed that 89 percent of randomly sampled gay men relled cross-sex-typed childhood behavrs exceedg the heterosexual median. There is also evince of a “dosage effect”: the more genr-nonnformg characteristics there are childhood, the more likely is that a homosexual or bisexual orientatn will be prent adulthood. Cross-cultural data show that prehomosexual boys are more attracted to solary sports such as swimmg, cyclg and tennis than they are to rougher ntact sports such as football and soccer; they are also ls likely to be childhood bulli.

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

Bee the data often reveal very early emergg tras prehomosexuals, children who show pronounced sex-atypil behavrs may have more of a geic loadg to their homosexualy, whereas gay adults who were sex-typil as children might trace their homosexualy more directly to particular childhood experienc. Lang, Elton John and Rachel Maddow's close relativ, but I n only image that the straight k are far better off terms of their own reproductive opportuni than they would be whout a homosexual danglg so magnificently on their fay tre.

So cultivate your ltle prehomosexual's native talents, and your ultimate geic payoff uld, strangely enough, be even larger wh one very special gay child than would be if 10 medcre straight offsprg leaped om your los.

IS MY BOYIEND GAY? 10 SIGNS TO HELP YOU TELL FOR SURE

I n say as a once prehomosexual pipsqueak that some preparatn on the part of others would have ma easier on me, rather than nstantly fearg rejectn or worryg about some rels slipup leadg to my “exposure. And another thg: mt be pretty hard to look to your prehomosexual toddler's limpid ey, bsh away the okie cmbs om her cheek and toss her out on the streets for beg article was origally published wh the tle "Is Your Child Gay?

” 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. People who are homosexual are romantilly and physilly attracted to people of the same sex: Femal who are attracted to other femal are lbian; mal who are attracted to other mal are often known as gay.

WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS ABOUT WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

Beg terted someone of the same sex do not necsarily mean that a person is gay — jt as beg terted someone of the oppose sex don't mean a person is straight.

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

Bee of this, some gay and lbian teens may feel different om their iends when the heterosexual people around them start talkg about romantic feelgs, datg, and sex. Whether gay, straight, bisexual, or jt not sure, almost everyone has qutns about physilly maturg and about sexual health — like if certa body chang are "normal, " what's the right way to behave, or how to avoid sexually transmted fectns (STIs).

Although not everyone is fortable wh the ia of sexual orientatn differenc and there's still plenty of prejudice around, beg gay is gettg to be ls of a "big al" than ed to be.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

One of your top ten experienc was at a Pri para where you were surround by the most tertg, fun strangers you have ever enuntered, and no one you knew was there to judge you, or the only people you knew there were gay. About one--five Amerins (18%) say their views on homosexualy have changed over the past few years, wh most of the (15% of all adults) sayg their views have bee more acceptg.

17 SIGNS YOU'RE ACTUALLY GAY (AND JT DON'T KNOW IT)

The Amerin Medil Associatn is agast therapy that is “based on the assumptn that homosexualy is a mental disorr or that the person should change their ’s important to know that there is nothg wrong wh lovg people of the same genr as you.

Meanwhile, among the male tws, the bisexual or gay brothers had more "male-typil" hands than the straight on—ntrary to what the rearchers expected—although the difference was not signifint. "Rearch suggts that our sexualy is termed the womb and is pennt on the amount of male hormone we are exposed to or the way our dividual bodi react to that hormone, wh those exposed to higher levels of ttosterone beg more likely to be bisexual or homosexual, " the thors wrote. However, is important to strs, that the evince is currently not strong enough to accurately predict whether someone is gay, straight or bisexual by lookg at the rat between their fgers.

"Some work has shown that gay men have more "male-typil" rats than straight men; other work has shown the oppose pattern; and still further work has shown no difference at all. As such, is not clear whether there is any real difference the level of ttosterone exposure between straight and gay men or how ttosterone exposure might map on to sexual orientatn differenc. In orr to have doubts about one’s sexual inty, a sufferer need not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all.

5. VAST MAJORY OF AMERINS KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS GAY, FEWER KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS TRANSGENR

” Some people’s doubts are further plited by havg such experienc as hearg other people talkg or lookg their directn and thkg that the people mt be analyzg their behavr or appearance and talkg about them – discsg how they mt be gay (or straight). Let’s face , gay people have always been an opprsed mory wh our culture, and to sudnly thk of beg this posn, and to be stigmatized this way, n be ighteng. I have sometim wonred if those who experience the most distrs om such thoughts as the do so bee they were raised wh more strongly homophobic or anti-gay attus to beg wh, or if is simply bee one’s sexualy n be such a basic doubt.

HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?

Lookg at attractive men or women, or pictur of them, or readg sexually oriented lerature or pornography (hetero- or homosexual), to see if they are sexually excg. The flip si of this is when they look at thgs havg to do wh sex of an oppose orientatn and then feel aroed some way, which they then nclu to mean that they liked , which means that they are gay (or straight).

Makg a seri of three-mute tap that based on the wrgs gradually suggt more and more that you are gay, and listeng to them several tim a day changg them when they no longer bother you). But to actually be lockg ey wh Ellen and hold her, shakg hands as she said, "I'm gay, " on natnal televisn and for the first time, as she has shared outloud that way publicly, was such a profoundly extraordary and timate gift to that moment that I will forever be grateful for.