Gay Identity

Introduction: Out of the 195 countries in the world, in 76 of them it is still illegal to be gay. Someone who sexually identifies as “gay” is a person who has a sexual attraction to someone of their own sex.

Ideology: Although many factors influence the way homosexual people live, religion is an integral part of the influencing. About 65% of LGBTQ+ people are atheists, primary because most religions do not support homosexual people and relationships. One that I can closely relate to is Catholicism. In the Catholic religion, it is integrated into us that from the very being, love and most certainly marriage, is strictly between a man and women. This affects gay people by infecting, not only the people in the community but themselves. If a religion, which 1 billion people in the world follow, don’t recognize homosexuality, many people will believe this is right, and treat homosexuals different, believing it is ok to strip them of their basic human rights. Adding to the stigmas and stereotypes homosexual people will have to deal with. Especially in areas such as the Rio Grande Valley, where the majority of people are Catholic and “old fashion”. To this day, the Catholic Church still does not recognize marriages between two people of the same sex.

Behavior: There is a damaging stereotype that gay men are all feminine, but this is simply not true. This is extremely devastating, primary because our society tends to tie together any feminine acting male as a homosexual. When in reality, anyone, even the powerlifter who works out at your gym, could be gay.

Appearance: People who are gay are just like everyone else, they dress and present themselves the same as heterosexual people. Although sometimes you might see a gay person wearing over-the-top, exaggerative, or crazy clothes, there are just as many others wearing simple “basic” clothes. If you really didn’t know a person well, you can’t tell by the way they dress, their sexuality.