Definition Essay: Because I Am Straight?

5. If I take personal responsibility for all that happens to me, I can become anything I want to be.

Social aspects of my life would teach me that being homosexual or bisexual was wrong, but others (while living in Palm Springs, Ca.) taught me that it was completely normal to have such sexual orientations. I have lived in California my whole life which has always had heavy, heated debates about allowing same sex marriages, allowing homosexuals in the military, and fighting for homosexual equality, so the history behind my state has made me grow up to be comfortable around gays even with the disturbing things I had been subjected to while I was growing up in Palm Springs. This class has now taught me many things I did not know about when it comes to the psychological aspects of being homosexual or bisexual, but I am still a heterosexual, and comfortable with it.

My sexual orientation is a trait of privilege because I do not get harassed for being a heterosexual female. I can walk into the community with my partner/husband and know I will not be treated badly over my sexual orientation.

Often after bullying and punishing children for their sexual orientation, it becomes the only thing others can see. It’s important to remember that masculine or feminine men can be gay or straight. Masculine or feminine females can be lesbian or straight. Does it really matter that their sexual orientation is different from the norm? Even today, gender stereotypes are forbidding men and women alike from participating in everything they want.

Arguments for gay and lesbian families is a concern for the sanctity of marriage is often accompanied by a discomfort with the idea of gay and lesbian families, based on misinformation about the quality of those relationships and their impact on children (Kimmel 184). Arguments that support gay and lesbian families are mainly focused on having the same equal rights as heterosexuals. Many gay and lesbian couples want to get married because of the benefits they acquire such as the right to inherit from a spouse who dies without a will, the right to consult with doctors and make crucial decisions (Kimmel 184). A meta analysis of social studies of gay and lesbian parenting suggests that children are more accepting of homosexuality and maybe more likely to indicate a willingness to consider homosexual relationships themselves (Kimmel 186). Another great example is daughters of lesbian and gay parents are more assertive, confident, and ambitious, and sons are less conforming to traditional masculine aggression and domination and have a better understanding of their gender identity (Kimmel

We have all seen the classic television scene, where a happy family consisting of one mother, one father, and two children is hovered around a table or a couch. Although still prominent, this scene is becoming less common nowadays as more families become non-traditional. More families than ever are consisting of one mother and children, one father and children, grandparents and children, and even two mothers or two fathers and children. These households, although not what most people consider a normal household, are becoming more common and regular in today’s society. Homosexual parents and families are indeed different from more traditional families, but not for the worse. This trend is not increasing

I come from a devoutly conservative family in every imaginable way. In my family, LGBT’s are people that can be “fixed” if you just pray the gay away and get right with Jesus. I have no relationship with my biological father, and

I knew it would be a challenging for my family to accept me being gay. Being the only gay male in the family was not as easy as it sounded in my head. I decided to wait for the “right time”. As years passed, it took a toll out of

In conclusion, sexual prejudice has become a major concern in our community and country. It not only has affected individuals physically but also mentally as well. We have made big strides in the United States in accepting lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. This will continue to be a process as we become more educated on this topic. In this paper, I compared

Teachers and parents express how important it is to be yourself and to be unique, but when they hear their child is gay, they get mad that the child is expressing themselves. In a blog about coming out, a 15 year old male wrote, “When I came out to my mom last night with my dad it wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for. She didn’t seem to happy about it and she kept questioning why I had these “feelings”. You could say the same thing for straight people and then she got all defensive and said that my feelings weren’t normal. She said she loved me, but I didn’t feel love” (When I…). His parents got mad because their child isn’t “normal.” This is where we all need to focus our attention to. We need to stop making gay sound like a horrible disease. It is just as normal as anything else. America, as a whole, needs to learn to be more accepting rather than judgmental. However, this may take a lot of work because I have never seen a more unreasonably critical group of

Growing up everyone is told that they are unique. “Be yourself,” “use your God-given talent,” and other expressions such as these impress the aforementioned narrative into our minds. Thus, when I was around thirteen years old, I thought my sexuality was just a part of me that only I had. I wanted to share this feature about myself; I wanted to take pride in it and show it off. Coming out to a close few friends showed positive and emotional responses. Riding on this high, I was ready to embrace myself in high school. Yet, my naivety took the best of me as I was going to an all male, religious high school. My sexuality has provided me with experiences that have and will continue to shape my life. These struggles, whether they are internal or external, have provided me with invaluable skills.

These desires will translate into parenting by a homosexual person or couple because when their child is experiencing an internal conflict, whether it is about self-identity or sexual orientation; a homosexual parent will be able to sympathize and relate to the child more because they have experienced it as well, thus, making the child feel comfortable to talk to their parent and feel understood. Many heterosexual parents fail in this aspect and make their child feel disconnected from them because many heterosexual parents are usually not open to these types of issues.

Very few parents expect their children to be different. Some of them even dread the thought of the day they discover that their little girl or their little boy is starkly different from their peers, and even their family. The day their child comes out, whether expected or not, could provoke any sort of mixed feelings. However, the child is the one who has to break the news; they have to sit their parents down, to tell them they are in the LGBT+ community, and try to hold back tears at their parents’ reaction, whether it is being overjoyed that they are accepted so readily or being heartbroken at the disapproval in the eyes of their biggest role models. The LGBT+ community is there to comfort and support those who experience this, whether they are a child kicked out of their house or a young adult who hasn’t spoken to their family since they moved out. This community is misunderstood and portrayed as weak, when in reality, the people in this community I am a part of are some of the strongest people I have ever met.

believe that children of gay parents will eventually turn out to be homosexual as well.

(2009)” Studies showed that these children and young adults are as popular as children reared by heterosexual parents; at school they have grades within average, the same level of stress as other kids. In general, they have normal relationships with peers and adults. Most of them accept their parent’s sexual orientation; some even get inspired by their parent’s courage to be different.