LGBTQ Issues
Sexual orientation is one component of a person’s identity, which is made up of many components, such as culture, ethnicity, gender, and personality traits. Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectional attraction that a person feels toward another person. Sexual orientation falls along a continuum. In other words, someone does not have to be exclusively homosexual or heterosexual, but can feel varying degrees of attraction for both genders. Sexual orientation develops across a person’s lifetime. Different people realize at different points in their lives that they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
Sexual behavior does not necessarily equate to sexual orientation. Many adolescents-as well as many adults-may identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual without having had any sexual experience. Other people have had sexual experiences with a person of the same gender, but do not consider themselves to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. This is particularly relevant during adolescence because it is a time for experimentation-a hallmark of this developmental period.
“Coming out” is the process through which individuals come to terms with their lesbian, gay, bisexual orientations. Coming out includes both learning about oneself and sharing that knowledge with others. It also involves coping with societal responses and attitudes toward homosexuality. The coming out process is very personal. It happens in different ways and occurs at different ages for different people. Some people are aware of their sexual identity at an early age; others arrive at this awareness only after many years. Coming out is a continuing, sometimes lifelong process.
While some anxiety related to sexuality is common among college students, the problems facing gays are often more difficult than those facing others. The experience of gay, lesbian, and bisexual teenagers is often one of isolation, fear of stigmatization, and lack of peer or familial support. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth have few opportunities for observing positive modeling by adults due to the general cultural bias that makes gay, lesbian, and bisexual people largely invisible. It is this isolation and lack of support that accounts in part of the higher rates of emotional distress, suicide attempts, and risky sexual behavior and substance use that gay, lesbian, and bisexual students report compared to heterosexual students.
Counseling Services is a resource for students who are struggling with issues relating to their sexual identity. We encourage you to make an appointment with a counselor if you could use a listening ear and support.
Websites and resources for support:
Adapted from UW-Oshkosh Counseling Center
This Link may also be helpful:
Macalester
College: LGBT Resources
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