Being Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Youth Nowadays

Being gay, lesbian and bisexual youth

Gay and lesbian means that a person¡¯s primary romantic, emotional and physical attractions are with someone of the same sex. Bisexual people have those attractions to both sexes. (Bass, 5) Gay, lesbian and bisexual youth are called queer kids. Queer kids are usually being overlooked, ignored, denied and abused. (Owen, 9) This is mostly due to the misunderstanding that people have toward them. People think that being a queer kid as a lifestyle, however, in a more accurate term, it is a life. (Bass, 13) It is definitely not an illness, thus they cannot be cured with medicine or other treatment, such as electroshock treatment. It is a natural attraction that one has deep down. People do not choose to be attracted to an

Compared with the very homophobic society that we has twenty years ago, society today has slowly come to accept the existence of homosexuality and bisexuality. In Holland, same-sex marriage is legalized. Gay, lesbian and bisexual movements are being acknowledged by the public. However, there are still people who look at the queer youth in a discriminated way which I really hate. I hear phrases like, they are disgusting! How can they love the same sex? Deep down, when I heard these, I feltl sad and helpless. Sometimes, I do try to convey the message that the queer youth¡¯s love is just as natural as a heterosexual person¡¯s love. Nevertheless, most of the time, I will receive weird looks. I realize it is very hard to change people¡¯s mindset in a short time.

yone. Straight people do not decide to be attracted to people of other sex. They simply find that they have those feelings. The same is true for these queer kids. (Bass, 9) People question about causes their unusual sexual orientation. There are three possibilities: nature, nurture, or a combination of two. (Bass, 8) Nature means that the sexual orientation is already part of them when they are born. Seventy percent or more of lesbians, gay and bisexual adolescents and adults report feeling different at an early age, often as early as age four or five. (Owen, 16) Nurture has to do with the environment, the atmosphere that they are being brought up in. (Bass, 8)

Most queer kids have the same process of coming to accept their own identity. First, they usually realize that they have special feelings for someone of the same sex. However, at this stage, they do not think about being ¡°crooked¡±. Next, they start to respond to the feelings. Some of them get lucky enough to be grown up surrounded by healthy examples of being gay, lesbian or bisexual. Thus they are more likely to feel comfortable with their first feeling toward someone of their own sex. Nevertheless, some are not that lucky. They usually get very negative messages about being queer kids. Eventually, they will undergo another stage of internal conflict, a period of self denial before they accept themselves. That is the time when most queer kids feel lost and helpless. Many of them spend a long time trying to bury their same-sex feelings to fit into the ¡°normal society¡±. After this stage, some of them start to recognize their own identities. Seeing the differences between themselves and other youth, they try to be honest with themselves and develop confidence. Finally, they will come to self-acceptance, feeling relaxed about who they are. It is a significant journey from inner conflict to self-acceptance. During the process, these queer kids faced many challenges, even after

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