Questions Students May Ask and Possible Reponses About Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People

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I have found a pdf from HRC that can help adults answer questions asked by children that they don’t fully understand. However, I think this pdf can help people of all ages, please take a look.

Here is a little snippet, I will provide the pdf at the bottom.

What does “gay” mean?
Being gay means that a person loves, in a very special way, someone who is the same gender. For example, a gay man wants to be involved with and love another man. A gay woman, or
lesbian, wants to be involved with and love another woman. Gay people might choose to have a special relationship with someone and share their home and have a family together. Keep it simple. Focus on relationships and family. For older students you could say, “Men who are attracted to and want to have romantic relationships with men.” Or, “Women who are attracted to and want to have romantic relationships with women.” (Note: For more definitions see: What Does Gay Mean? on page C2)

 

What’s a lesbian?
The word “lesbian” describes a woman who is attracted to and wants to have a romantic relationship with a woman. Or you could say that a lesbian is a woman who wants to fall in love with or is in love with another woman in a very special way. How does someone know if they are gay? At what age do you become gay? Some people may realize they are gay when they are teenagers, while others may not figure it out until they are much older. Being gay has to do with a feeling deep inside of you. (Note: People who are LGBT often say they may have felt different when they were younger but that they didn’t
identify this feeling of difference with being gay until they were teenagers or older.)

 

Are you born LGBT?
People don’t know for sure. Scientists have not been able to agree about why some people are LGBT. However, most scientists believe that sexual orientation is just a part of who you are when you are born. (According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Sexual orientation probably is not determined by any one factor but by a combination of genetic, hormonal and environmental influences. In recent decades, biologically based theories have been favored by experts.”1)

 

Is it a choice?
No, it is not a choice. People don’t choose to be gay or not. As people grow older they become aware of feeling attracted to others, whether those feelings are for someone of the same gender, a different gender or both. (According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Sexual orientation is usually established during early childhood.”2)

Questions Students May Ask and Possible Reponses About Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People

“Ex-Gay” Ministries

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So I was looking for something to write about and I came across this article by TWO called “Here is Why People Disrespect So-Called “Ex-Gays” Like Christopher Doyle“. Unfortunately, there was much ranting and non-existent statistics and facts that backed his article. So I brought it upon myself to find these statistics and facts that can finally prove what the value of these ministries are.

On a side note, I will not recognize “ex-gay’s” as a sexual orientation and will continue to put the name in quotations. 🙂

For you that don’t know what “Ex-gay” ministries are let me explain: “Ex-gay,” according to Wikipedia, is a term and concept used to describe persons who were once considered to be gay, lesbian or bisexual, but who no longer assert that identity. The goal of these ministries is to “convert gays and lesbians from having a homosexual orientation into heterosexuals,” ultimately.
Oh, by the way, I have provided all of my sources which are at the bottom for your reference. Enjoy.

To continue, Dr Ariel Shidlo and Dr. Michael Schroeder, mind you that there are no evidence of bias, did a 7-year study of “ex-gays” called “Changing Sexual Orientation: a consumer’s report” that was published in a peer reviewed journal in 2001. Pretty much, the study was based on the success rate, or should I say, failure rate of “Ex-gay” Ministries. Here are the results:

Study subjects: 202
Number that were no longer struggling and were fully heterosexual: 8
Of those 8, number that were not employees or volunteers of ex-gay groups: 1
Number that felt they had failed: 176
Number who felt conversion had done long term harm: 155
Number who attempted suicide during therapy: 23
Number who attempted suicide after therapy: 11
Number who reported spiritual harm: 100

It makes you wonder why these practices are permitted logically, morally and ethically. Even before 1973, when the American Psychological Association eliminated homosexuality as a mental disorder (Bayer, 1981), repeated studies by top mental health researchers confirmed it was virtually impossible to change someone’s sexual orientation, even through behavioral therapy measures such as electric shock treatments and pain therapy (aversive conditioning), hypnosis, psychotropic medications, clinical/religious individual and group therapy, and others had been employed (Shidlo & Schroeder, 2002; Spitzer, 2003). Even now the American Psychological Association, in bold, concludes “efforts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm.” They also go on to say “Same-sex sexual attractions, behavior, and orientations per se are normal and positive variants of human sexuality—in other words, they do not indicate either mental or developmental disorders…Gay men, lesbians, and bisexual individuals form stable, committed relationships and families that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships and families in essential respects.”

To close, there is more proof that these ministries are illegitimate: One of the most outspoken people claiming that they were “cured” was John Paulk, who became active with the anti-gay groups Focus on the Family and Exodus. He was “cured” to the point that, after marrying and having children, he went to the Washington D.C. gay bar Mr. P’s where he purchased drinks for other bar patrons for over an hour and later claimed he did not know it was a gay bar and only entered to use the restroom.

Please, people understand that you can not believe everything you read or hear and know that some people will do whatever they can to persuade you to do what they want. Understand that a “fact” without reoccurring proof from unbiased, un-benefiting individuals is not a fact but a warped lie and opinion. Please do your own research and come up with your own conclusion instead of letting someone else make them for you. Research the links I have provided and more. I even challenge you to prove me wrong. Please, don’t get scammed.

XD.

Sources:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_evan.htm

http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2011/03/15085/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080717192807AA99Eyl

http://a_musing.blogspot.com/2006/05/ex-gay-statistics-101.html

http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/sexual-orientation.aspx

http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/Paulk-Southern%20Voice.html

If you were Gay

Another funny video 🙂

Enjoy.

P.S. The youtube video takes you to the youtube site. You can watch it there :).

Wanda Sykes on Gay Marriage

I just thought this was a funny, yet truthful argument pro gay marriage.

Enjoy.

First Gay Museum in the USA

Talk about progress!  The first gay museum is opening in San Fransisco on Wednesday, according to 365GAY, it “chronicles the evolution of what organizers call the liberation of the gay, bisexual and transgender community.”

Isn’t that amazing? I just makes you want to ponder what else is the LGBT Community capable of. :).

Oh, also, according the 365Gay site the Museum is surviving on donations and volunteers to stay open at the moment. So if you are interested in donating to this magnificent cause, click here. 🙂 By donating you become a member of the museum and you and your guests get free admission :).

Support.

Bobby 😛

Episode 1: Emily

Enjoy,

Bobby 😛

Gay Bashing…

So, I was at a “Coming Out Dance” a few days ago and the dance was interrupted by a gay bashing. According to my sources a gay man was socked in the face by heterosexual man ( I will leave race out of this ). Of course, I suspect the gay man was edging the heterosexual man on. However, why do you think socking someone in their face would solve anything? Also, what are you trying to prove by doing so?

Please, enlighten me, why do people resort to violence? Has our society not grown from the past? It is as if the “past is repeating” First, with the Woman’s Movement, then with desegregation of Blacks, and now with the LGBT community, all striving for acceptance. Must we have to go through such idiotic treatment because people still can’t get past their differences and just accept.

Lastly, I wanna leave with this,  just like Martin Luther King said, we must fight without using violence. We must use our minds to influence through words, politics, and movements. I cannot emphasize this enough.

Please, let me know your thoughts on this. If you know anyone that has been a victim of gay bashing please share their story. Also, if you feel as though gay bashing is appropriate then let me know why?

Question of the Week. June 28th, 2010

The LGBT(QI) Community is praying and hoping for a change in how the world views us. My question is what are you doing to make a change? What are you doing to help the LGBT(QI) Community regarding acceptance and other things? What do you think should be done?

Isolated Ignorance

We have all been through this at one time or another and that is ignorance.  No matter if you’re a lesbian, bi, gay, transgendered, intersexed or even a cis-gendered person (A male or a female who was born in their gender and or sex and is completely content with themselves), you have had some form of ignorance bestowed upon you.

It’s not comfortable and is something that tremendously needs to be addressed, for example; If you’re a gay male, a ignorant person may come up and say, “Hey! Do you take it up the butt?”, likely your first chain reaction is to be lost for words and you’re likely going to be standing there awkwardly…But in your mind you’re going to be thinking, “Why is this person asking me something so personal? Do they have any decency?! And of all times and places…Why now?”

My train of thought is, why is it their business? Their not your sexual partner, neither are they someone close to you, it’s sickening and rude, it’s like asking a cis-gendered male, ‘Hey! Do you do your girlfriend in the front?”, it’s just a question that is taboo and not meant to be asked…At least not publicly and in such a crude manner.

You may be asking me why am I bringing up this resentful topic, it’s because throughout my entire course in this life I have had myriad amounts of ignorant occasions come up and even to this very day I could probably retain about half of these vehement moments and it makes me depressed and isolated sometimes and I want you the COMMUNITY, the FUTURE to know that hope is beaming up and through this petrifying time of struggle and chaos…Ignorance is starting to dwell down and people of all parts of life are just accepting people for who they are and not even wanting to ask them questions, they JUST ACCEPT THEM and that’s something that all of us should remember and practice on a daily basis because you may never know, there might be a person sitting next to you on a train, a bus, a plane or you might even pass them by on the street and they might need a friend or someone there to cheer them up through their sorrows and pain and you might just be the person to help with that — But remember, don’t be ignorant and really try to listen to their woes because in the end, they may help you back against ignorant people, in this small, small world — Written by velvetheaven

A Mystery Lingering In the Masquerade

Well as a member of the LGBT(QI) community: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Sexual, Queer/Questioning, Hermaphrodite/Intersex community…I normally do not fit into the standards of the LGBT community as a hermaphrodite (The OLDER term) most people in the community do not believe that intersex (The MODERN term) people should be in the community but we all do fight for the same ecstatic rights.

Now on to the story, as a student at OHS (Ontario High School) and being a hermaphrodite that likely narrows down who I could be to one person. Since being a hermaphrodite is a rare and few far in between chance you all likely know who I am…Rumors spread around fast and almost everyone knows me. Besides what you may: Hear, see, feel, think or believe about me I am actually a very gentle, nice, clumsy but yet a smart person.

You likely want me to get to the good stuff? So here we go — A hermaphrodite is someone who is GENETICALLY BORN as both a male and a female…This includes the penis and the vagina…BUT! BUT! Unlike what most people believe, the two sex organs are not apart; It’s like a fusion between the both in the midst. No I cannot get myself pregnant. No I cannot “do myself” and no I cannot get “morning wood” or the such.

The thing is when I was born along with other herms., the parents can choose right then and there if they want the vagina sewed up or the penis sewed away…But because of the brave and strong LGBTQI community (Woot!); This cannot be done as much as the last decade or so — Because imagine growing up as an “male” but internally your mind, your brain and your heart is all female. So basically it’s like being a female with a pooner…You wouldn’t want that? And that’s why it has been voided.

The case with me is I take hormones and they keep my testosterone and estrogen at BALANCED levels so that I don’t have to worry about being too male or too female… (Explains my in between voice and both male and female details) which sort of sits right in the middle till I decide when I’m 18 what I truly desire to be. The penis I have is non-active and yes I have my period and can have a baby and like any typical girl it comes out the hoochy…LOL.

The penis I would tell most people is like having EXTRA SKIN, it has the mold and shape of a pen but is just dead skin and it doesn’t exist in the outside like a typical male but it’s buried WAY WAY deep in my no-no zone.

I’ve grown up to flourish and accept myself along with others for whom they are (Including Bobby) and love every person for being who they are. If all people were the shades (Black or white) then why do we have gray in the middle?

People do pick on me everyday and harass me…Calling me, “Slut”, “Man”, “Lady GaGa”, “Man-Lady” and other immature names and I’m not going to sit here and lie saying it doesn’t hurt because it does hurt but I’ve learned not to take the simple stuff and make more heavy rain then people already shower upon me.

Ending this VERY VERY LONG story…I just wish to say to any and all people who; Take the pain that people give you ’cause obviously it’s going to be there but retro-swap it into a lavish energy that you can use to leave those haters in the dust. FIN. >:]

Contributed by velvetheaven