Sexuality: Orientation

Definitions:
Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectional attraction toward others. (APA, 2004) Sexual orientation is often thought of as a spectrum ranging from being entirely homosexual on one end to entirely heterosexual on the other. Varying degrees of bisexuality are usually inside the spectrum. The degrees of bisexuality may depend on physically attraction, emotional attraction, or sexual attraction. (APA, 2004)

The definitions are as follows:

Heterosexual: Being only attracted to members of the opposite sex.
Homosexual: Being attracted to only members of the same sex.
Bisexual: Being attracted to members of both the same sex and the opposite sex. (LGBTQ Youth Issues)

There are very few statistics available on the percentage of youth that identify as either bisexual or homosexual. This group of individuals is often referred to as being part of LGBTQ, which is a label of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer. This label is often considered to be the most politically correct term, but individual preference will vary.

Coming Out:
Coming out, is the term used to reference when an LGBTQ person lets other people around them know that their sexual orientation is something other than heterosexual. (APA, 2004) This doesn’t mean that they stand on the rooftops or make some type of formal declaration, but is often an admission to a close friend who they trust. For many individuals this process can be extremely difficult. Questions of if they will still be accepted, by family, friends and the community often loom, and may delay the time if takes for someone to ‘come out.’

Violence:
People of the LGBTQ community are often victims of prejudice, and are more likely to be victims of assault and violence. Here is also the potential for discrimination, from organizations like work or church. In fact, 75.4% of LGBT students in high school report hearing remarks such as ‘faggot’ or ‘dyke’ frequently or often in school. (GLSEN, 2006)

Advice:
As a teacher it is important to remember several things. The first is that this period in someone’s life can be even more difficult than the average adolescent. Since it may not be possible to tell if this someone is questioning his or her orientation it is wise to be extra sensitive to this matter. Second, high school is intimidating enough for teens, so they should not feel that school is a place where they should be ashamed, or be fearful. Make sure to quash anything that could be perceived as negative, including derogatory words and remarks. This should include asking students not to say, ‘that’s so gay’ or referring to things as ‘gay’, as it could be hurtful to LGBTQ students. Lastly, be supportive for students, who are or have already come out. In many cases people in their life may not accept their orientation, and so they are looking for a support system. . Additionally they need to feel that coming out is clarifying part of their identity, not that it was a bad decision. Many high schools now have Gay-Straight alliances, or something equivalent. If the school has an alliance encourage any student with questions to get involved in the group. If one is not available in the school, check out other community organizations, or look into starting one at the school.

Resources:
www.youthsource.com
www.advocatesforyouth.org
www.aclu.org
www.glsen.org
www.lambdalegal.org
www.sexetc.org
www.nyacyouth.org