Reply #46: part 2

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are you making a distinction between those two groups? I was just lumping them together. How does the distinction matter?

Yes, it gets back to the difference between orientation and action. I was always attracted to guys and thus presume that is an innate part of me. Presumedly the overwhelming majority of heterosexuals have always been attracted to the opposite gender. Now I may have been living a straight life, I may have been desperate to live that life, but at the end of the day, I dempt of guys when I was by myself.




I think I have a much greater appreciation of being discriminated against and or picked on, than I would have had I been heterosexual.

Well there are plenty of reasons to be discriminated and or picked on. And contrary to the rhetoric, yes, sometimes people do choose a behavior or appearance that would make that more likely. Otherwise, there would be no hippies like me.

Many hippies have hippy parents (at least the current group of them). Yes, there are other ways I could have gotten that appreciation for being the underdog, but for me this was the way. I do think there is a substantial differece between something like being gay and being a hippie. One big difference is that often times the realization one is gay starts comming at an age when one develops the social skills, roles, and relationships that they will have for life. As a frequent worker in middle schools, I must say I have a much greater appreciation of the extent to which I both isolated myself and was isolated back then. I see the treatment of students that are thought to be gay now and while it is getting better, I can still see the tenativeness with which the presumed gay kids behave. I also see the remarks made behind their backs. I think the timing of this, often before self confidence takes hold, matters a great deal and makes the experience mush more searing.