I know a lot of times, people say that lacking a parent for most of your life can lead to one being gay/bi/etc/so on and so forth. So basically, I wanna know how many people here were devoid of one (or, I guess more counts as well?) parental figures in their life. And if you believe this contributes to your sexuality or not, comment away. I for one am a gay male and my parents divorced when I was 3. I probably saw my dad a few times a year because he lives in another state, but we still have a good relationship. I don't really know for sure if this could lead to me being gay, but I really doubt it.
I hardly think divorcee or loss of a parent plays any kind of role... My parents divorced when I was a little kid. Don't remember exactly what age though... I didn't see my mom too much at first, but then the opposite kind of happened at 15-16. I sort of betrayed my dad...well maybe ran from is a better word. Pulled a 180 on him and moved in with my mom because at least she didn't know I was bi -.-' Figured liked because she didn't know was better than outed and hated. xD
My parents were divorced and I lived with my mother. This is one thing that I say "No way did that have any part in my sexuality" but in secret I really am not sure. I don't think anyone will be able to seriously tell though; everyone's different. Your parents getting divorced may have made you more straight. (using 'you' as a general term) They divorced when I was 2 I saw my dad every other weekend til I was about 8ish My dad now lives out of state so I don't see him often.
My parents divorced when I was six and I don't see a lot of my dad, he's still kind of in my life but we fight a lot and go without speaking for months on end, our record is 10 months. I wouldn't say that, that contributed to my sexuality, I was born the way I am, not shaped by my circumstances.
My parents got divorced when I was seven after my mother caught my father cheating on her. Ever since, I have cast him out of my life and want nothing to do with him. Despite this, however, I feel this has nothing to do with my sexuality. Orientation is ultimately decided at birth and no external factors can change that.
You are probably going to see a higher number of LGBT folk without fathers, but this is due to the overwhelming preponderance of divorced fathers leaving the home rather than mothers. Beware also of the small sample size, if there aren't many who respond to this poll, most of the observed differences will be due to random variation and not true differences.
My dad was always out of state at work when I was younger. We finally started getting closer when I was a teen but he passed away unexpectedly when I was 16. It didn't have anything to do with my sexuality.
^ ^ True, gw, most families tend to be matriarchal once there is a rift in the family. With the passage of time, there are more and more women who are heads of households.
That, and I completely forgot to make a category for people that DID/DO have both of their parents growing up. I dont know if there's a way to edit the survey eh?
There are an astounding number of African-American kids raised by single mothers. In one study I read, it was something like 65%. So if the absence of a father was a predictor for being gay, then we would be seeing a phenomenally large number of gay African-Americans. But we don't. We see fewer African-American gay men in proportion to their presence in the population. Likewise, a disproportionate number of very low income families are single-parent families with no father or father figure present. Again, we would expect, if lack of a parent were a reliable predictor, to see a disproportionate number of gay people coming from low income backgrounds, and we don't see that either. So it's highly unlikely that presence of a father is a reliable predictor of whether the child is gay.
As a person who had there Mom who was only there for part of my life, and even if she was there in person, she was not always there mentally, I can say that this had no effect on my sexually, and on my confusion on who I am. It really didn't.
Wow... I'm the only one who voted "Gay female, no father"?! My parents got divored when I was 3 and my dad pretty much abandoned me. When I got older, we got to know eachother more, and I realized he REALLY was the ASSHOLE my mom made him out to be. I don't think me being a lesbian has anything to do with it, though. My dad is a homophobic Christian, but I hate him, so I don't give two shits what he thinks about me.
i think bein fatherless left a void in my heart so i tried 2 fill it with another man, except with a different role in my life, hence me being gay, thou i don't hate him 4 it. if i had a choice id choose gay everytime
Just want to point a few things out. The poll only reveals any useful information when it collects information from all types of people in the population. Including those who had both parents present during their childhood. At present, all your poll does is tell you that 100% of queer people lack at least one parent, which is clearly false. Additionally, trans people can be gay/bi/pan as well. Why force trans people to choose between gender and sexuality? And people might not have had either parent.
As Hexagon stated, there's a flaw in the methodology of collecting data. That said, I come from a household with both parents being an integral part of my family and I still ended up gay. My parents married at around 29 and are going on 26 years of marriage. I love my dad and still call him "daddy." I'm not trying to show-off the fact that I had two parents but saying this because it pisses me off when religious pseudo-social-scientists claim having a father is the cure for homosexuality, or, at least, a prophylactic. It puts doubts into those LGBT people who never had a father and makes some of them resent the fact that "if only daddy/mommy were there, they'd be straight." The emotional burden it can put on God-fearing children is immense and is tantamount to child abuse. Likewise, those of us who had both parents and are gay are subject to the same religious pseudo-social-scientists claiming, "well, daddy never hugged you or played ball so you turned out to be a sissy." Gee, thanks. If only my dad hugged me I'd be straight. That's not how it works. My dad still hugs me in public and kisses me on the forehead. And I'm still gay. The folks who say that are grasping at straws to try to find the magic bullet that "cures" homosexuality to show how God triumphs over "evil." Well, I hate to break it to y'all religious pseudo-social-scientists, but that argent bullet does not exist. Sorry for the rant, but I feel very passionate about this. When I was younger, I cried because I read an article from a religious pseudo-social-scientist that claimed that those who lacked hand-eye coordination (like me) were more likely to be gay because, they "can’t hit the ball, fire the gun or shoot an arrow. There is a high correlation between poor eye-hand coordination and same-sex attraction.” My gay therapy session - Salon.com
