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from Political News
'Advocate' Magazine On
Same-Sex 'Non-Gay' Teens
July 27, 2005 -
The August 16, 2005 issue of The Advocate, features an article titled,
"Same-sex but not gay" about teenagers and young adults who don't want
to be labeled as gay or lesbian but who engage in same-sex and opposite
sex activities.
The article quotes one young woman who says: "I date people--not genders,
not bodies with certain genitalia, [but] strictly people with whom I
feel a connection and to whom I am attracted." She rejects the term
"lesbian" as a way of opposing the heterosexual culture that claims only
heterosexuality is normal and everything else is deviant.
Author Eileen Spillane believes that terms such as "gay" and "lesbian"
may be going the way of Latin as college students begin to reject any
labels--whether homosexual or heterosexual.
Some young gay males are rejecting the term "gay" because it has
political baggage and the term often represents only rich, white men.
Spillane observes: "The rise of the words gay and lesbian in the mid
20th century were part of our self-defense, an effort to find more
positive labels [than the term homosexual]."
This cultural shift among young gays may not sit well with older gays,
says Spillane. This division between the older and younger generation
may provide opportunities for the "religious right to define the
discussion on who should be called what."
The New Gay
Teenager reviewed on the NARTH web site goes into more detail about this
cultural and language shift taking place among younger gays.
Updated: 28 February 2008
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