Is being gay a lifestyle

Being gay isn’t a single lifestyle but rather a broad spectrum of identities, cultures, and ways of living. In this extensive blog, we will delve into every conceivable aspect of gay life, aiming for a deep understanding of how sexual orientation influences daily experiences, relationships, mental health, and cultural engagement.

The world of LGBTQIA+ identities can feel like an ever-expanding constellation: terms, histories, personal stories, reclaimed words, contested meanings. But you don’t need to hold the whole galaxy in your head to understand queer life or be a good ally. Queer, straight, cis and everything in-between – we all need to gain the confidence to say 'I don’t know', ask, and have the curiosity.

Research has shown that feeling positively about one’s sexual orientation and integrating it into one’s life fosters greater well-being and mental health. This integration often involves disclosing one’s identity to others; it may also entail participating in the gay community. No, the ‘Gay Lifestyle’ was not a passage in the bible. However, the anti-gay movement and right wing loonies use the word lifestyle to back their claims that being gay is a choice.

Fact: There is no definable gay “lifestyle”. Similarly, there is no standard heterosexual lifestyle. Some people might like to think that a "normal" adult lifestyle is a heterosexual marriage with two children. Less than 7% of all family units in the U.S. consist of a mother, a father and two children living together. The health effects of same-sex sexual behavior are many.

The public, government, and judiciary are being lead to believe that same-sex sexuality is a normal variant with interactions and results equivalent to heterosexual sexuality. However, this position runs contrary to professional literature and the track record of history. By any repeatable measure, the percentage of the population identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender GLBT is small.

S male population. Among men of the same age group, 1. The question of the ultimate origin of sexual orientation is not yet definitively answered, but there is very little evidence that anyone is inherently of alternative sexual orientation. A scientific literature critique by Byne and Parsons in Archives of General Psychiatry reviewed the major studies on the subject and found no evidence favoring sexual orientation being either genetically or biologically determined.

Neither assertion is true. The assertion that homosexuality is genetic is so reductionist that it must be dismissed out of hand as a general principle of psychology. Francis S. Collins, current Director of the U. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors.

facts about gay men

Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles; most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation. GLBT-oriented men and women may not choose their attractions, but, short of force, they do choose their sex partners. From a national health perspective, the issue is not the origins of homosexual or GLBT orientation, but the consequences of engaging in such sexual activity.

The negative health consequences of alternative sexuality are made more understandable by first recognizing the nature of the sexual practices at issue. This is noteworthy in that it challenges the assertion of those claiming the negative health statistics attributed to individuals of GLBT orientation are merely a function of the lack of acceptance of such individuals, and that said statistics would improve with their increased acceptance.

Canada provides a highly supportive government, celebration from liberal churches, and a public coerced into silence by hate speech codes, yet the poor health indicators for the GLBT populace remains.

This demonstrates that acceptance and affirmation of same-sex sexuality is not the promised antidote for the problems inherent in GLBT sexuality. Satinover documents that homosexuals lose twenty-five to thirty years of their lifespan. A Canadian study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology noted that in urban gay areas, homosexual men had a life expectancy comparable to that in Canada in the s. Data presented at the U.

The rate of primary and secondary syphilis among MSM was over 46 times that of other men and more than 71 times that of women. Furthermore, a study discussed at the International AIDS conference in documented that sixteen percent of HIV-positive gay men in a nationwide sampling in the United States admitted to at least one incidence of unprotected intercourse with an unaware partner.

These sources demonstrate that GLBT individuals not only have higher positivity rates of STIs and HIV, but do not always inform their sexual partners of the presence of such, and that some of their sexual partners could still be of the opposite sex despite a self-identification as same-sex attracted. A study published in the journal Cancer found gay men demonstrating 1.

A New Zealand Study found that gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people were at increased risk for suicidal behavior and ideation, major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, conduct disorder, tobacco dependence, and multiple disorders compared to the heterosexual subsample. Domestic violence is higher in same-sex relationships. In , with a 50, U. In a Boston program for gay-bashing victims noted that half the calls they received regarded domestic violence.

One might assume said violence is mainly a male-on-male phenomenon, but the literature refutes this. The infectious disease problems cross over to the heterosexual population through multiple avenues addressed in the sexually transmitted infections section of this testimony.