Gay, Not Gay, Straight, Not Straight | Psychology Today

Contents:

• HOW DO I KNOW I’M NOT REALLY GAY/STRAIGHT?
• GAY, NOT GAY, STRAIGHT, NOT STRAIGHT
• SYNONYMS FOR NOT GAY
• 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
• DEFINITIONS FOR GAY STRAIGHTGAY STRAIGHT
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY
• IS YOUR MAN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?

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

Yet when the men were forced to choose between straight, bisexual or gay, about three-quarters marked straight bee for them bisexual, even if is unrstood as “bisexual-leang straight, ” is too gay to accurately scribe their inty. He may retreat om a full intifitn wh heterosexualy, but rarely do he gravate toward bisexualy, and almost never do he move toward homosexualy of any sort. Acrdg to the report, "Instead, the rponnts (who for all tents and purpos would be tegorized as beg heterosexual), often dis-intify om a gay inty, posssg what is referred to as a 'not-me' inty (McCall, 2003).

" Perhaps reflectg limed nsiratn of sexual orientatn among those the majory, prev gnive terviewg studi found that rponnts n nfe the words "homosexual" and "heterosexual, " believg that "heterosexual" means beg gay and that "homosexual" means beg straight.

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.

GAY, NOT GAY, STRAIGHT, NOT STRAIGHT

” 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.

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).

SYNONYMS FOR NOT GAY

Regrettably, social and blogil scientists have been plic by parg straights vers gays/lbians their rearch signs, while fettg everyone else who don’t intify as one of the. Yet the mands for new rearch are real: Right now, we thk people are eher straight or gay, as if one drop of gayns mak you gay, even if this means distortg the sexual and romantic experienc of lns of teenagers and young adults who are neher gay nor straight.

Today’s straight flags or heterosexual flags were created the name of “straight pri” – a ncept that, while seemgly harmls enough, is often rooted homophobic and transphobic sentiments. Sce the 2013 “gay propaganda” law was passed  Rsia – a law that bans anyone om “spreadg propaganda of non-tradnal sexual relatns” among mors – the Rsian ernment has ntued to crack down on LGBTQ rights the untry the name of prervg “tradnal valu”.

Sometime between then and now, an effort to “warn agast” the so-lled “gay-fever at home” and to “support tradnal valu [the] untry”, the Uned Rsia Party unveiled s own versn of a “straight flag”. The problematic flag was disparaged by crics not jt for s homophobic msagg but also for s strikg siari to the flag of the French group La Manif Pour To, another anti-same-sex marriage group.

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

Glenn Bishop, one of the 12 who sought to fly the flag, told CBC that the group was “not agast the gay pri people at all” and that “anybody’s sexual preference is their choice” – echog nservative sentiments about gayns beg a matter of personal choice rather than an herent inty. But the legimacy of this so-lled missn to qutn when many of the group’s members are associated wh var homophobic, transphobic, and whe supremacist far-right factns such as the Proud Boys, the New Amerin Guard, and Rist Marxism.

DEFINITIONS FOR GAY STRAIGHTGAY STRAIGHT

They e the rhetoric of the left and play victim out of fear that the world as they know – one where they are ee to exprs their transphobic and homophobic sentiments – will change.

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. 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.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF 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.

IS YOUR MAN GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?

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.