Reply to Has anyone's child "come out" but later realized they were straight?

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Reply to "Has anyone's child "come out" but later realized they were straight?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
So is it possible or not, that someone who wouldn't normally be gay in another situation, to then claim they were gay or think they were gay because they were surrounded by lots of gay people and felt it was desirable/cool or thought it was what they were "supposed to do"?

I'm just curious because the message from the gay community over the last 20 years or so as they have fought for acceptance and equal rights was that you could not influence people toward (or against) gayness. In fact, religious folks implying that teaching gay acceptance in school may lead some children into choosing to be gay were largely shouted down as ignorant bigots.  But it seems to me in light of the shifting attitudes about homosexuality that you can in fact influence people toward being gay or bi or straight even.

And just so I don't get any further "go hug your bible" comments, let me just state I am not a religious person, not a conservative, I support gay marriage, etc. I'm just wondering as a political moderate and an observer of this shift in attitude toward homosexuality. [/quote]

No.  For the 10-15% of men and 7-10% of women who are fully gay, they cannot be convinced of being straight.  Just like the 60% or so of the heterosexual community that is fully straight, you will not convince them to be gay.  However, for the 20-25% of the bisexual community, some of them are close to one end of the spectrum or the other and can be convinced that they are gay or straight even though they are actually bisexual.  They'll just suppress the interest in the other side.  Other times, they are fully convince they are straight or gay until they meet the person of the "wrong" gender and suddenly they are attracted to that person of the opposite orientation.  Some are confused by this and try to hide or suppress it.  Others think it is just an aberration and that it will pass.  Some accept it.

Young people are very inexperienced and really have no sexual experience to draw on to tell them if this is this is an exception to the rule or if this is their normal reaction.  If you've only dated 2 people, you really don't know if you are truly attracted to 25/50/75/100% of the people of that gender and orientation.  So, it is common for young people to assume they are either fully gay or fully straight.  They have no experience to tell them that they are 4/6 homosexual 6/6 homosexual or 2/6 heterosexual.[/quote]

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