Gay Teens: Accepting the Unaccepted

Growing up is a complex and puzzling task for every teenager or adolescent. One important feature is creating one’s sexual identity. All teenagers explore and experiment sexually as part of normal development. These sexual experiments may be with members of the same or opposite sex. For many teenagers, thinking about or experimenting with the same sex may cause nervousness and concerns regarding their sexual orientation. Most teenagers have been brought up to think that homosexuality is wrong, so that’s one of the reasons that teens don’t make these thoughts known to everyone. I think gay people deserve to be treated like every other person in the United States.

Just Facts

At this time in their life, gay teens may not make their sexual identity known to others because of feeling different from their peers or just feeling guilty about their sexual orientation. Many families won’t react to this kind of news very well, so that’s another reason why teens don’t tell anyone. Most teenagers are involved in some sort of sport in high school. Gay teenagers are afraid of being discriminated when joining clubs, sports, seeking admission to college, and finding a job. Many gay teens are rejected and harassed by others, not just verbally, but physically too.

So, what exactly is homosexuality? Well, a person is said to be homosexual if he or she is sexually or romantically attracted to members of the same gender. This doesn’t mean that homosexuals are sexually attracted to all members of the same gender any more than heterosexuals are attracted to every person of the opposite gender. The words “gay” and “lesbian” are used to refer to homosexual men and women. The term “bisexual” is used to refer to anyone who is attracted to both men and women. Sexual orientation develops and changes over a person’s lifetime. Having feelings about or even having a sexual experience with a person of the same gender doesn’t necessarily mean that a person is gay or bisexual. It’s not uncommon for people to experiment with their sexuality, especially during the teenage years.

No one knows why some people are homosexual. Some people who study human sexuality believe that sexuality is a result of genetics or social and individual factors. A common misunderstanding is that troubled family relationships cause people to be homosexual, but no scientific research supports that. Everyone needs to understand that sexual orientation is not a mental disorder. A person’s sexual orientation is not a matter of choice. Individuals have no more choice about being homosexual or bisexual than heterosexual. Many people are arguing that it has to do with the whole “nature vs. nuture” debate. The nature side argues that homosexuals have different hormonal mechanisms, gene type, or brain structure. The nurture side argues that the environment writes on the developing child like someone writing on a blank piece of paper. As many potential causes there are, there is no proof to any of these yet.

The Main Problems

One of the first misconceptions about gays and lesbians is that they all fit into a stereotype. Gay men are girly and lesbians are manly. That’s not true at all. The captain of the football team could be gay just as much as the head cheerleader could be gay. Straight men could be girly and not be gay. You just never know. Another misconception is that gay men molest children. Actually, the group most likely to molest children is heterosexual males. Most parents tend to think that the only place that their children could get molested is in the gay community. If parents want to really protect their child, they would look at the most important people in their life and how they react with them regardless of sexual orientation. Another misconception is that gays want special rights. Um no, they just want equal rights. The right to get married, for example, is hardly considered a special right since almost 90% of the people living in the United States get that privilege. There should be no discrimination in the workplace, in your own house, or even in the community. For example, a gay man could be called into his boss’s office and be fired for being gay