Have you any LGBT family members?

SpannerMonkey

im genuinely surprised at this poll . dont get me wrong im not bashing anything my best friend is gay but im surprised at a near 50/50 poll for family members

NSAman

Ninjini wrote: »

I have a cousin who came out a few years ago and unfortunately got disowned by his parents and emigrated.

I can't understand why some people choose to have nothing to do with their child just because of who they are attracted to.

I hope you remain in contact with him?... sheezz some people never learn.. love not hate.

No Pants

Deank wrote: »

Or G, maybe?!

Perhaps. I don't know how that works. The labels confuse me as they sound almost childish at times, yet seem to be accepted. Regardless, it's none of my business what she gets up to.

eviltwin

My daughter is bisexual and in a lesbian relationship at the moment, very happy for her and proud of her. My only concern is that if she meets someone special of the same sex she might not be able to marry etc but hopefully next year that will change.

MR.Offensive69

MR.Offensive69 wrote: »

Well if he is an only child then chances are they will never get grandkids.

You'd imagine they'd cherish him all the more then.

I can't understand such conditional love.

eviltwin

MR.Offensive69 wrote: »

Well if he is an only child then chances are they will never get grandkids.

Gay people can and do have children. This guy might have a family, granted it will be harder but not impossible. If he had been straight he might never have had kids either. Its also not the duty of a child to provide grandchildren for his or her parents.

Sugar Free

I find the poll results interesting. Although I voted no, I would have thought my extended family were in the minority, considering that accounts for a total of about 20 people.

Of course, there's always a chance someone in that group is gay, I'm just not aware of anyone who is at present.

StormWarrior

My dog is bisexual with gender identity issues. I've seen her mounted by male dogs and trying to mount the females.

StormWarrior

Deleted User wrote: »

my brother & i are both gay

With each other?

_Redzer_

Sugar Free wrote: »

I find the poll results interesting. Although I voted no, I would have thought my extended family were in the minority, considering that accounts for a total of about 20 people.

Of course, there's always a chance someone in that group is gay, I'm just not aware of anyone who is at present.

There's gay or bisexual people in every single family, wether extended or not.

Whether any of them are out is another question.

I voted no, even though I think 2 of my older cousins are gay and a younger one a lesbian.

Annasopra

Fat Christy wrote: »

Not that I know of but I don't want to vote in your poll. The exclamation marks are intimidating me.

You're easily intimidated

Annasopra

cloud493 wrote: »

My brother used to say he was, but he went back and forth between that and loving 'pussy' so.

He's bi?

e_e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvyVdWA1ziU

Annasopra

Czarcasm wrote: »

Possibly because they didn't particularly care for your guesswork and stereotyping (how the hell else could you tell a seven year old child is gay?) but were trying to be polite about it.

No disrespect RB but it's exactly that sort of nonsense that truly annoys me.

No disrespect Czar but I have geaed many many stories of people coming out to their mothers and the response was I've known since you were 6/7/8

westernfrenzy

I don't know any people in my family who aren't straight. Well apart from me being pansexual.

Annasopra

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

You've inadvertently (or perhaps deliberately) hit upon an important point. The term 'LGBT' is a useful one because it brings together different groups of people that are dealing with similar issues. However, I feel that it's being used too liberally, to the extent that people aren't engaging with it. In particular, people aren't engaging with the 'T'. Transgenderism is a very complex issue. Some would say that everyone's sexuality is a complex matter. And that's true. But transgenderism is in a league of its own. I'm just concerned that it's being hidden away in an acronym. Hopefully people have the good sense to unpack the term 'LGBT' and investigate each element of it.

Indeed. I find it a bit odd that lgbt and gay are becoming intertwined and almost synonymous with each other. Someone recently asked me if I was lgbt.

Right Turn Clyde

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Someone recently asked me if I was lgbt.

Haha. It sounds like a bloody trade union or something.

You should have said no, but I'm starting a Jobbridge one on Monday.

Ninjini

NSAman wrote: »

I hope you remain in contact with him?... sheezz some people never learn.. love not hate.

Unfortunately he left without telling anyone where he was heading.

I have made sure to blank his parents though.

_Redzer_

Ninjini wrote: »

I have a cousin who came out a few years ago and unfortunately got disowned by his parents and emigrated.

I can't understand why some people choose to have nothing to do with their child just because of who they are attracted to.

Better off without people like that around you anyway. If my parents had reacted that way I have had no problem in cutting them out and moving on myself.

Fat Christy

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

You're easily intimidated

Calm your tits Joey, I'll vote. For all I know, a few of them could be so I don't know if my 'No' vote is entirely accurate.

I have one friend who told us he was gay years ago but none of his family know and he's terrified of telling them. He finds it hard to deal with it. For all I know, someone in my family could be in the same boat.

freshpopcorn

jellyboy wrote: »

If you stepped out of yourself for the briefest of moments and looked at the bigger picture

we all love ,breath ,live,smile ,eat , as humans
the difference is we do it the way we want to to according to our beliefs,culture,and being honest with ourselves.

Being gay or having gay family members really doesn't matter to me
because i love them the same way before they told me they were gay

i refuse to treat them with a label that says victim
my label of love does it for me

Now you can step back into your box of it matters to me

I started this thread to see what percentage of boards users have a LGBT family member. In my experience people with LGBT family members are more likely to support equal rights/ support gay marriage in next years referendum.
Saying somebody is LGBT is not treating them as a victim!

mad muffin

I am the only gay in the village…

Fat Christy

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I started this thread to see what percentage of boards users have a LGBT family member. In my experience people with LGBT family members are more likely to support equal rights/ support gay marriage in next years referendum.
Saying somebody is LGBT is not treating them as a victim!

I have no LGBT family members (that I know of). I'll be supporting gay marriage in next years referendum.

Sulla Felix

No, none, even in the extended family. The two cousins we were fairly sure were gay are all married before the rest of us, one has two kids, the other has one on the way.

freshpopcorn

Fat Christy wrote: »

I have no LGBT family members (that I know of). I'll be supporting gay marriage in next years referendum.

I said in my experience that be with LGBT family members are more likely to support gay marriage/equal rights! I never said that people without LGBT family members doesn't support the issue.

Fat Christy

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I said in my experience that be with LGBT family members are more likely to support gay marriage/equal rights! I never said that people without LGBT family members doesn't support the issue.

You'll have to make a second poll and see.

eviltwin

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I said in my experience that be with LGBT family members are more likely to support gay marriage/equal rights! I never said that people without LGBT family members doesn't support the issue.

Its a chicken and egg thing. Are those people more tolerant because they have LGBT family and friends or does the fact they are tolerant make it more likely their family will come out to them?

I've always been a supporter of LGBT rights and that is one of the reasons my daughter felt able to talk about her sexuality to us from an early age. It hasn't changed my opinions on the issues but makes them more personal and makes me more inclined to fight for them.

I'd imagine a lot of people hide their sexuality because they know they won't be treated very respectfully.

lazybones32

StormWarrior wrote: »

My dog is bisexual with gender identity issues. I've seen her mounted by male dogs and trying to mount the females.

Is her name 'Butch' by any chance?

P_1

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

im genuinely surprised at this poll . dont get me wrong im not bashing anything my best friend is gay but im surprised at a near 50/50 poll for family members

I wonder if there's an element of people just not being too interested in what their relatives do with their lives and simply not knowing at play.

I know that I couldn't give a fiddlers about mine for example.

No, nor in my extended family. I don't have any in my circle of friends, work friends either and to be honest I think I only know one gay person and that's someone I only sort of know through other people.

Shakespeare's Sister

I think Czarcasm just means "Y'know, I'd say Jo(e) is gay - (s)he never went out with anyone" etc type whispering behind the person's back, even if it is true. It's kinda gossipy.
At the same time though, it's not the worst thing a person could do - there's no malice.

I have a first cousin in the US who's gay. His father was not happy at all about it, and there was estrangement for a few years, but things have moved in a positive direction since. Still though, I don't have much respect for my uncle (mother's brother) now. I can understand people of that generation not being used to the idea, not fully understanding it, etc, but cutting ties with their offspring - nah, can't empathise. My uncle has demonstrated bigotry in other ways too - ironic, for an Irish immigrant to the States.

My cousin is living it up fabulously in NYC these days anyway.

Czarcasm

Magaggie wrote: »

I think Czarcasm just means "Y'know, I'd say Jo(e) is gay - (s)he never went out with anyone" etc type whispering behind the person's back, even if it is true. It's kinda gossipy.
At the same time though, it's not the worst thing a person could do - there's no malice.

Thanks Magaggie, that's exactly what I was trying to say, and I know I may have come off a bit sharp in saying it but from personal experience I've had to listen to people make assumptions about my sexuality, and it hurts, it DOES hurt, and sometimes while no malice may be intended, that doesn't mean it hurts any less, and more times malice was indeed intended because it wasn't just name calling (that much I can deal with), but it was because of their genuinely held belief that I was gay that they treated me differently.

People often make the same assumptions about my child and again, I can tell when they're messing, and when they're actually seriously engaging in some amateur armchair psychology. I'm not even thinking at his age whether he is or he isn't or anything else about his sexuality, I have bigger concerns than that, but some people are almost obsessive about his sexuality and would want to label and categorise him asap having only just met or interacted with him for five minutes.

It DOES tick me off, as it does leave me thinking "he's just a child ffs, WTF is your problem? Let him be a child and keep your amateur psychology based on your own stereotypes and prejudices to yourself".

I'm usually more polite about it though.

bodhrandude

I thought this was a thread about the Little Big Tent at the Electric Picnic, is it not?

Czarcasm

Macavity. wrote: »

TBH, I don't think that was what you meant at all. You've now seen that your original comment was over the top and are trying to make out you meant something more reasonable.

If anything Macavity, my comment was actually quite reserved and polite. I didn't think it could have been interpreted any other way but you're right, given some peoples own prejudices they made their best attempt at doing so.

iDave

Have a gay cousin. Ironically he thinks the Catholic church is the best thing since sliced bread.

IvyTheTerrible

I have a gay cousin that I know of. Given the size of my family, I'd imagine there are more that keep it quiet (esp in the older generation).

UCDVet

I have a cousin who was a bit of an outcast growing up. He came out and told everyone he was gay. Fair enough. He joined a LGBT group and updated his 'MySpace' page to say he was gay.

Never thought much of it, but like two years later at a family gathering, he shows up with his girlfriend. Long story short, she was a bisexual girl that he met at the LGBT group. They dated for a few years, she got pregnant, they had a child, got married, and are still together to this day.

As far as his sister knows he only dated girls and nobody has seen him with a guy. Apparently, when he started dating this girl, he told some people he was 'bi'.

So, I guess I don't know. He's either LGBT....or he pretended to be gay to pick up bi chicks at the LGBT groups.

frozenfrozen

I accidentally voted no but the answer is yes there are loads all over the big gay family tree

Jamsiek

Dorothy Tender Cookout wrote: »

No, nor in my extended family. I don't have any in my circle of friends, work friends either and to be honest I think I only know one gay person and that's someone I only sort of know through other people.

I'd imagine you know more than you realize.
I think people are afraid to be open about it especiallly where they have older relatives

ToddyDoody

I have two gay second cousins, I think. Know of someone with a gay son and lesbian daughter (i.e. half of the kids are gay)

Warper

Everyone in my family is gay

StormWarrior

lazybones32 wrote: »

Is her name 'Butch' by any chance?

No. Her name is Princess Buffy.

Tigger

My uncle was gay born about 1941
He lived the lie had three daughters a wife the whole deal
Died of aids in 2012 he caught it off the scene which was lies and rent boys
At my wedding in 2010 I told him I was cool and that he could tell me whatever he wanted to share
His life was a lie but he was happy cos he lived his way
How happy would he have been If he'd of got to live his way and not had to lie

Meangadh

No but I have about 40 first cousins and 16 aunts and uncles so statistically surely a few must be. None of my siblings are either. Doesn't make any sense that amongst approx 60 people that they'd all be straight, but there aren't any that I'd even suspect as being gay. Not that I'd give a fiddler's even if they were.

Dorothy Tender Cookout

Dorothy Tender Cookout wrote: »

No, nor in my extended family. I don't have any in my circle of friends, work friends either and to be honest I think I only know one gay person and that's someone I only sort of know through other people.

I'd say there are more than you're aware of. Some circles are harder to come out in than others.

fillefatale

Yes, my brother. He likely won't come out to my parents for a long time though, they're very conservative and catholic and keep asking him about his 'girlfriends', his female friends. I'll be there to support him whatever happens though.

dsmythy

I thought long and hard and I can't think of a single one.

mikemac1

The brother, no big deal and he'll inherit the farm

If the bull and the rams are gay it'll be a disaster :eek:

Muise...

I had an uncle who once played for Red Star Belgrade.
He said some things are really best left unspoken
But I prefer it all to be out in the open.

Moat_Cailin

None, that I know of anyway.

Would think(hope)I would be someone a family member or friend would confide in. Must be very tough for people that feel they have to hide such feelings and can't openly be themselves. I would hate to think someone close to me is going through that.