View source for Social:Homosexuality

{{Short description|Romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
'''Homosexuality''' is [[Philosophy:Romance (love)|romantic]] attraction, [[Philosophy:Sexual attraction|sexual attraction]], or [[Philosophy:Human sexual activity|sexual behavior]] between members of the same [[Biology:Sex|sex]] or [[Biology:Gender|gender]].<!-- NOTE: This is sourced. Further, "sex" and "gender" are not always the same thing; for example, "sex" may refer to "biological sex" (being male or female), while "gender" may refer to a person's gender identity of being a man or a woman; therefore, like the Sexual orientation, Heterosexuality and Bisexuality articles, we have included both in the lead. --><ref name="AmPsycholAssn-definitions">{{cite web|title=Definitions Related to Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity in APA Documents|publisher=[[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]]|date=2015|access-date=February 6, 2020|page=6 |url=https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/sexuality-definitions.pdf|quote=Sexual orientation refers to the sex of those to whom one is sexually and romantically attracted. [...] [It is] one's enduring sexual attraction to male partners, female partners, or both. Sexual orientation may be heterosexual, samesex (gay or lesbian), or bisexual. [...] A person may be attracted to men, women, both, neither, or to people who are genderqueer, androgynous, or have other gender identities. Individuals may identify as lesbian, gay, heterosexual, bisexual, queer, pansexual, or asexual, among others. [...] Categories of sexual orientation typically have included attraction to members of one's own sex (gay men or lesbians), attraction to members of the other sex (heterosexuals), and attraction to members of both sexes (bisexuals). While these categories continue to be widely used, research has suggested that sexual orientation does not always appear in such definable categories and instead occurs on a continuum [...]. Some people identify as pansexual or queer in terms of their sexual orientation, which means they define their sexual orientation outside of the gender binary of 'male' and 'female' only.}}</ref><ref name="Cross-CulturalPsyDefinition">{{cite book|author1=Eric B. Shiraev|author2=David A. Levy|date=2016|title=Cross-Cultural Psychology: Critical Thinking and Contemporary Applications, Sixth Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCElDwAAQBAJ|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=216|isbn=978-1134871315|quote=Sexual orientation refers to romantic or sexual attraction to people of a specific sex or gender.[…] Heterosexuality, along with bisexuality and homosexuality are at least three main categories of the continuum of sexual orientation.[…] Homosexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction between persons of the same sex or gender.}}</ref><ref name="EqualCurriculumDefinition">{{cite book|author1=James R. Lehman, ed.|author2=Kristine Diaz, ed.|author3=Henry Ng, ed.|author4=Elizabeth M. Petty, ed.|author5=Meena Thatikunta, ed.|author6=Kristen Eckstrand, ed.|date=2019|title=The Equal Curriculum: The Student and Educator Guide to LGBTQ Health|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5JK7DwAAQBAJ|publisher=[[Company:Springer Nature|Springer Nature]]|page= 5|isbn=978-3030240257|quote=Homosexual, literally meaning “same sex,” is used as an adjective to describe same-sex or same-gender attraction.[…] The term introduces ambiguity because is often applied as an identity label to a person or group based on their behaviors, not because of self-identified sexual orientation or sexual desires.[…] in addition to having potentially negative connotations, ''homosexual'' is unclear as to what group of people it describes[…]}}</ref> As a [[Social:Sexual orientation|sexual orientation]], homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a [[Social:LGBT community|community of others]] who share those attractions."<ref name="apahelp">{{cite web |title=Sexual orientation, homosexuality and bisexuality|publisher=[[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]]|access-date=10 August 2013 |url=http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx|archive-date=8 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808032050/http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx}}</ref><ref name=amici>{{cite web|url=http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Amer_Psychological_Assn_Amicus_Curiae_Brief.pdf |page=30|title=Case No. S147999 in the Supreme Court of the State of California, In re Marriage Cases Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4365[...] – APA California Amicus Brief&nbsp;— As Filed |access-date=21 December 2010}}</ref>

Along with bisexuality and [[Social:Heterosexuality|heterosexuality]], homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation within the heterosexual–homosexual continuum.<ref name="apahelp"/> Scientists do not yet know the exact cause of sexual orientation, but they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of [[Biology:Genetics|genetic]], hormonal, and environmental influences<ref name="Frankowski">{{cite journal |doi=10.1542/peds.113.6.1827 |author=Frankowski BL|author2=American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Adolescence |title=Sexual orientation and adolescents|journal=Pediatrics|volume=113 |issue=6|pages=1827–32 |date=June 2004|pmid=15173519|url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/113/6/1827.long|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Lamanna">{{cite book|author1=Mary Ann Lamanna|author2= Agnes Riedmann|author3= Susan D Stewart|title=Marriages, Families, and Relationships: Making Choices in a Diverse Society|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1305176898|year=2014|page=82|access-date=11 February 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fofaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA82|quote=The reason some individuals develop a gay sexual identity has not been definitively established &nbsp;– nor do we yet understand the development of heterosexuality. The American Psychological Association (APA) takes the position that a variety of factors impact a person's sexuality. The most recent literature from the APA says that sexual orientation is not a choice that can be changed at will, and that sexual orientation is most likely the result of a complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors...is shaped at an early age...[and evidence suggests] biological, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person's sexuality (American Psychological Association 2010).}}</ref><ref name="Stuart">{{cite book|author=Gail Wiscarz Stuart|title=Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing|publisher=Elsevier Health Sciences|isbn=978-0323294126|year=2014|page=502|access-date=11 February 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivALBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA502|quote=No conclusive evidence supports any one specific cause of homosexuality; however, most researchers agree that biological and social factors influence the development of sexual orientation.}}</ref> and do not view it as a choice.<ref name="Frankowski"/><ref name="Lamanna"/><ref name="Kersey-Matusiak">{{cite book|author=Gloria Kersey-Matusiak|title=Delivering Culturally Competent Nursing Care|publisher=Springer Publishing Company|isbn=978-0826193810|year=2012|page=169|access-date=10 February 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8O_wGedAYoC&pg=PA169|quote=Most health and mental health organizations do not view sexual orientation as a 'choice.'}}</ref> Although no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation has yet gained widespread support, scientists favor [[Philosophy:Biology and sexual orientation|biologically-based theories]].<ref name="Frankowski"/> There is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial, biological causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males.<ref name="Bailey">{{cite journal|author4-link=Marc Breedlove|vauthors=Bailey JM, Vasey PL, Diamond LM, Breedlove SM, Vilain E, Epprecht M|title=Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science |journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest|volume=17|issue=21|date=2016|doi=10.1177/1529100616637616|pmid=27113562|pages=45–101|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=LeVay>{{cite book |last=LeVay |first=Simon |date=2017 |title=Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmQFFfa03nkC |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199752966 }}</ref><ref name=Balthazart>{{cite book |last=Balthazart |first=Jacques |date=2012 |title=The Biology of Homosexuality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fjGjlcVINkC |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199838820 }}</ref> There is no substantive evidence which suggests parenting or early childhood experiences play a role with regard to sexual orientation.<ref name="rcp2007">{{cite web|url=http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/workinpsychiatry/specialinterestgroups/gaylesbian/submissiontothecofe.aspx|title=Submission to the Church of England's Listening Exercise on Human Sexuality|publisher=The Royal College of Psychiatrists|access-date=13 June 2013}}</ref> While some people believe that homosexual activity is unnatural,<ref name="religioustolerance">{{cite web|last = Robinson|first = B. A.|title = Divergent beliefs about the nature of homosexuality | publisher = Religious Tolerance.org | year = 2010| url =http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_fixe.htm | access-date = 12 September 2011}}</ref> scientific research shows that homosexuality is a normal and natural variation in human sexuality and is not in and of itself a source of negative psychological effects.<ref name="apahelp"/><ref name=PAHO>{{cite web |title="Therapies" to change sexual orientation lack medical justification and threaten health |url=http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6803&Itemid=1926 |publisher=Pan American Health Organization |access-date=26 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523040848/http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6803&Itemid=1926 |archive-date=23 May 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> There is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation.<ref name="apa2009">American Psychological Association: [http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/sexual-orientation.aspx Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.psychology.org.au/About-Us/What-we-do/advocacy/Position-Statements/use-of-psychological-practice-sexual-orientation|title=Psychological practices that attempt to change sexual orientation: Position statement {{!}} APS|website=www.psychology.org.au|access-date=2020-01-28}}</ref>

The most common adjectives for homosexual people are ''lesbian'' for females and ''gay'' for males, but the term ''gay'' also commonly refers to both homosexual females and males. The percentage of people who are gay or lesbian and the proportion of people who are in same-sex romantic relationships or have had same-sex sexual experiences are difficult for researchers to estimate reliably for a variety of reasons, including many gay and lesbian people not openly identifying as such due to prejudice or discrimination such as homophobia and [[Social:Heterosexism|heterosexism]].<ref name="levay">LeVay, Simon (1996). ''[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/queerscience.htm Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research into Homosexuality].'' Cambridge: The MIT Press {{ISBN|0-262-12199-9}}</ref> Homosexual behavior has also been documented [[Biology:Homosexual behavior in animals|in many non-human animal species]],{{refn|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090616122106.htm|title=Same-sex Behavior Seen In Nearly All Animals, Review Finds|work=ScienceDaily}}</ref><ref>[http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx ''1,500 animal species practice homosexuality''. ''The Medical News'', 23 October 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210172226/http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx |date=10 February 2011 }}</ref><ref>Sommer, Volker & Paul L. Vasey (2006), Homosexual Behaviour in Animals, An Evolutionary Perspective. {{wipe|Cambridge University Press}}, Cambridge. {{ISBN|0-521-86446-1}}</ref><ref name=Bagemihl>{{harv|Bagemihl|1999}}</ref><ref name="Biological Exuberance: Animal"/>}} though homosexual orientation is not significantly observed in other animals.<ref name="levay" />

Many gay and lesbian people are in committed same-sex relationships. These relationships are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential psychological respects.<ref name=amici /> Homosexual relationships and acts have been admired, as well as condemned, throughout [[History:Recorded history|recorded history]], depending on the form they took and the culture in which they occurred.<ref name=psych2010>[http://healthyminds.org/More-Info-For/GayLesbianBisexuals.aspx Sexual Orientation] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726144306/http://healthyminds.org/More-Info-For/GayLesbianBisexuals.aspx |date=26 July 2011 }}. ''American Psychiatric Association''.</ref> Since the end of the 20th century, there has been a [[Social:LGBT social movements|global movement]] towards freedom and equality for gay people, including the introduction of anti-bullying legislation to protect gay children at school, legislation ensuring non-discrimination, equal ability to serve in the military, equal access to health care, equal ability to [[Social:LGBT adoption|adopt]] and [[Social:LGBT parenting|parent]], and the establishment of [[Social:Same-sex marriage|marriage equality]].

==Etymology==
{{Main|Social:Terminology of homosexuality}}
[[File:Hyakinthos.jpg|thumb|upright|''Zephyrus and Hyacinthus''<br /> Attic red-figure cup from Tarquinia, 480 BC (Boston Museum of Fine Arts)]]
The word ''homosexual'' is a Greek and Latin [[Social:Hybrid word|hybrid]], with the first element derived from Greek ὁμός ''homos'', "same" (not related to the Latin ''homo'', "man", as in ''Homo sapiens''), thus connoting sexual acts and affections between members of the same sex, including lesbianism.<ref>{{cite book |title= A Dictionary of True Etymologies|last=Room |first=Adrian |year=1986 |isbn=978-0710203403 |page=84 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=A Student's Dictionary of Psychology |last=Statt |first=David A. |year=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1841693422 |page=[https://archive.org/details/studentsdictiona0000stat/page/93 93] |url=https://archive.org/details/studentsdictiona0000stat/page/93 }}</ref> The first known appearance of ''homosexual'' in print is found in an 1869 German pamphlet by the Austrian-born novelist Karl-Maria Kertbeny, published anonymously,<ref name=glbtq>{{citation|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/kertbeny_km.html |title=Karl-Maria Kertbeny: The Coinage and Dissemination of the Term |access-date=12 June 2012 |periodical=[[Glbtq.com|glbtq.com]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927020758/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/kertbeny_km.html |archive-date=27 September 2012 }}</ref> arguing against a [[History:Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] anti-sodomy law.<ref name=glbtq /><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Feray Jean-Claude |author2=Herzer Manfred | year = 1990 | title = Homosexual Studies and Politics in the 19th Century: Karl Maria Kertbeny | journal = Journal of Homosexuality | volume = 19 |issue=1 |pages=23–47 | doi=10.1300/j082v19n01_02|pmid=2187922 }}</ref> In 1886, the psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing used the terms ''homosexual'' and ''heterosexual'' in his book ''Psychopathia Sexualis''. Krafft-Ebing's book was so popular among both laymen and doctors that the terms ''heterosexual'' and ''homosexual'' became the most widely accepted terms for sexual orientation.<ref>[http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/krafft_ebing_r.html Krafft-Ebing, Richard von (1840–1902)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120409220543/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/krafft_ebing_r.html |date=9 April 2012 }}. ''[[Glbtq.com|glbtq.com]]''.</ref><ref name=psexualis>{{citation|url=http://www.kino.com/psychopathia/history.html |title=Psychopathia Sexualis |access-date=7 September 2007 |website=Kino.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004223140/http://www.kino.com/psychopathia/history.html |archive-date=4 October 2007 }}</ref> As such, the current use of the term has its roots in the broader 19th-century tradition of personality taxonomy.

Many modern [[Style guide|style guide]]s in the U.S. recommend against using ''homosexual'' as a noun, instead using ''gay man'' or ''lesbian''.<ref name=glaad>[http://www.glaad.org/referenceguide Media Reference Guide] (citing AP, NY Times, {{wipe|The Washington Post}} style guides), GLAAD. Retrieved 10 May 2007.</ref> Similarly, some recommend completely avoiding usage of ''homosexual'' as it has a negative, clinical history and because the word only refers to one's sexual behavior (as opposed to romantic feelings) and thus it has a negative [[Philosophy:Connotation|connotation]].<ref name=glaad/> ''Gay'' and ''lesbian'' are the most common alternatives. The first letters are frequently combined to create the initialism LGBT (sometimes written as GLBT), in which ''B'' and ''T'' refer to bisexual and transgender people.

''Gay'' especially refers to male homosexuality,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gay|title=gay|website=Oxford Dictionaries|access-date=7 August 2015|quote=(Of a person, especially a man) homosexual.}}</ref> but may be used in a broader sense to refer to all LGBT people. In the context of sexuality, ''lesbian'' refers only to female homosexuality. The word ''lesbian'' is derived from the name of the Greek island Lesbos, where the poet [[Biology:Sappho|Sappho]] wrote largely about her emotional relationships with young women.<ref>Marguerite Johnson, Terry Ryan: ''Sexuality in Greek and Roman society and literature: a sourcebook'' p.4</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lesbian |title=Lesbian &#124; Define Lesbian at Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=24 August 2010}}</ref>

Although early writers also used the adjective ''homosexual'' to refer to any single-sex context (such as an all-girls school), today the term is used exclusively in reference to sexual attraction, activity, and orientation. The term ''[[Social:Homosociality|homosocial]]'' is now used to describe single-sex contexts that are not specifically sexual. There is also a word referring to same-sex love, ''homophilia''.

Some synonyms for same-sex attraction or sexual activity include ''[[Social:Men who have sex with men|men who have sex with men]]'' or ''MSM'' (used in the medical community when specifically discussing sexual activity) and ''homoerotic'' (referring to works of art).<ref name=UNAIDS>{{cite web|title=UNAIDS: Men who have sex with men |publisher=UNAIDS |url=http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/dataimport/pub/briefingnote/2006/20060801_policy_brief_msm_en.pdf |access-date=4 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320001221/http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/dataimport/pub/briefingnote/2006/20060801_policy_brief_msm_en.pdf |archive-date=20 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Younger|first=John G.|title=Sex in the ancient world from A to Z|url=https://archive.org/details/sexancientworldf00youn|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=0-415-24252-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/sexancientworldf00youn/page/n58 38]|edition=1st published.}}</ref> Pejorative terms in English include ''queer'', ''faggot'', ''fairy'', ''poof'', and ''homo''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=2000|isbn=0-618-70172-9|url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage00edit_9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last = Spears | first = Richard A. | title = Fag | work = Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions | year=2007 | url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faggot | access-date = 4 October 2012}}</ref><ref>{{harv|Dalzell|2008|p=1104}}</ref><ref name=terms>{{cite web |url=http://www.sex-lexis.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015054212/http://www.sex-lexis.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 October 2004 |title=Dictionary of Sexual Terms |publisher=Sex-lexis.com |access-date=4 October 2012 }}</ref> Beginning in the 1990s, some of these have been reclaimed as positive words by gay men and lesbians, as in the usage of [[Philosophy:Queer studies|queer studies]], [[Philosophy:Queer theory|queer theory]], and even the popular American television program ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Marvin J.|title=Queer Things from Old Closets: Libraries Gay and Lesbian Studies – Queer Theory|url=http://rbm.acrl.org/content/rbml/8/1/19.full.pdf|publisher=Association of College and Research Libraries|access-date=4 October 2012}}</ref> The word ''{{linktext|homo}}'' occurs in many other languages without the pejorative connotations it has in English.<ref>{{cite book|last=eds|first=Marc Wolinsky|title=Gays and the military : Joseph Steffan versus the United States|year=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=0691033072|pages=49–55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kM8WgQQghwIC&q=Gays+military+homo+derogatory+epithet&pg=PA49|edition=[Online-Ausg.].}}</ref> As with ethnic slurs and racial slurs, the use of these terms can still be highly offensive. The range of acceptable use for these terms depends on the context and speaker.<ref>{{cite book|last=eds|first=Marc Wolinsky ...|title=Gays and the military: Joseph Steffan versus the United States|year=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, NJ|isbn=0691033072|pages=40–48|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kM8WgQQghwIC&q=Gays+military+homo+derogatory+epithet&pg=PA49|edition=[Online-Ausg.].}}</ref> Conversely, ''gay'', a word originally embraced by homosexual men and women as a positive, affirmative term (as in gay liberation and gay rights),<ref>{{cite book|last=Murray|first=Stephen O.|title=Homosexualities|year=2000|publisher=[[Organization:University of Chicago Press|University of Chicago Press]]|location=Chicago [u.a.]|isbn=9780226551944|page=394|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HCikDlcEHw8C&q=word+%27gay%27+was+preferred+to+previous+designations+such+as+homosexual+or+homophile&pg=PA394}}</ref> has come into widespread pejorative use among young people.<ref name=bbcgay>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7289390.stm|title=How 'gay' became children's insult of choice|access-date=4 October 2012|work=BBC News|author=Denise Winterman|date=18 March 2008}}</ref>

The American LGBT rights organization GLAAD advises the media to avoid using the term ''homosexual'' to describe gay people or same-sex relationships as the term is "frequently used by anti-gay extremists to denigrate gay people, couples and relationships".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glaad.org/reference/offensive|title=GLAAD Media Reference Guide – Terms To Avoid|work=GLAAD|date=9 September 2011}}</ref>

==History==

Some scholars argue that the term "homosexuality" is problematic when applied to ancient cultures since, for example, neither Greeks or Romans possessed any one word covering the same semantic range as the modern concept of "homosexuality".<ref name="Hubbard">{{cite book |last1=Hubbard |first1=Thomas K. |title=Homosexuality in Greece and Rome : a Sourcebook of Basic Documents |year=2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/homosexualitygre00hubb |url-access=limited |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0520234308 |page=[https://archive.org/details/homosexualitygre00hubb/page/n19 1] |chapter=Introduction |quote=The term "homosexuality" is itself problematic when applied to ancient cultures, inasmuch as neither Greek nor Latin possesses any one word covering the same semantic range as the modern concept. The term is adopted in this volume not out of any conviction that a fundamental identity exists between ancient and modern practices or self-conceptions, but as a convenient shorthand linking together a range of different phenomena involving same-gender love and/or sexual activity. To be sure, classical antiquity featured a variety of discrete practices in this regard, each of which enjoyed differing levels of acceptance depending on the time and place.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Larson |first1=Jennifer |title=Greek and Roman Sexualities : A Sourcebook |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1441196859 |page=15 |chapter=Introduction |date=6 September 2012 |quote=There is no Greek or Latin equivalent for the English word 'homosexual', although the ancients did not fail to notice some individuals preferred same-sex partners.}}</ref> Nor did there exist a distinction of lifestyle or differentiation of psychological or behavioral profiles in the ancient world.<ref name="buxton myth">{{cite book |last1=Buxton |first1=Richard |title=The Complete World of Greek Mythology |date=2004 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |isbn=0500251215 |pages=174|chapter=Same-Sex Eroticism|quote=As scholars have increasingly come to recognize, the ancient Greek world did not know of the modern 'life-style' category-distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality, according to which those terms are used to designate contrasting psychological or behavioral profiles.}}</ref> However, there were diverse sexual practices that varied in acceptance depending on time and place.<ref name="Hubbard" /> In ancient Greece, the pattern of adolescent boys engaging in sexual practices with older males did not constitute a homosexual identity in the modern sense since such relations were seen as phases in life, not permanent orientations, since later on the younger partners would commonly marry females and reproduce.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buxton |first1=Richard |title=The Complete World of Greek Mythology |date=2004 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |isbn=0500251215 |pages=148–149 |quote=Readers of Plato's dialogues will be familiar with the cultural pattern according to which adolescent Greek males bonded with older men in temporary homoerotic relationships. It is misleading to describe such couples as 'homosexuals', if that term is meant to designate a person whose sexual orientation is same sex for life. In Greek society the normal assumption would have been that the younger partner would, in a later phasde in life, go on to marry and reproduce.}}</ref> Other scholars argue that there are significant continuities between ancient and modern homosexuality.<ref name="Norton 2016">{{cite book |last=Norton |first=Rictor |date=2016 |title=Myth of the Modern Homosexual |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkTqDAAAQBAJ |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9781474286923 }} The author has made adapted and expanded portions of this book available online as [http://rictornorton.co.uk/extracts.htm ''A Critique of Social Constructionism and Postmodern Queer Theory''].</ref><ref name="Boswell 1989 17–36">{{cite book |last=Boswell |first=John |chapter=Revolutions, Universals, and Sexual Categories |editor1-last=Duberman |editor1-first=Martin Bauml |editor2-last=Vicinus |editor2-first=Martha |editor3-last=Chauncey Jr. |editor3-first=George |date=1989 |title=Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=17–36 |s2cid=34904667 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304002205/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d1f4/b4d6d8a37a3470c63ae83bf0d4a5101b08ce.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2019 |chapter-url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d1f4/b4d6d8a37a3470c63ae83bf0d4a5101b08ce.pdf}}</ref>

In a detailed compilation of historical and [[Social:Ethnography|ethnographic]] materials of [[Social:Pre-industrial society|pre-industrial cultures]], "strong disapproval of homosexuality was reported for 41% of 42 cultures; it was accepted or ignored by 21%, and 12% reported no such concept. Of 70 ethnographies, 59% reported homosexuality absent or rare in frequency and 41% reported it present or not uncommon."<ref>Adolescence and puberty By John Bancroft, June Machover Reinisch, p.162</ref>

[[File:Burning of Sodomites.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.2|Burning of two homosexuals (the knight Richard von Hohenburg and his squire Anton Mätzler) at the stake outside Zürich, 1482 (from the ''Spiezer Schilling'' chronicle)]]
In cultures influenced by [[Religion:Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic religions]], the law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law or a [[Social:Crime against nature|crime against nature]]. The condemnation of anal sex between males, however, predates Christian belief. Condemnation was frequent in ancient Greece; for instance, the idea of male anal sex being "unnatural" is described by a character of [[Biography:Plato|Plato]]'s,<ref>"... sow illegitimate and bastard seed in courtesans, or sterile seed in males in defiance of nature." Plato in THE LAWS (Book VIII p.841 edition of Stephanus) or p.340, edition of Penguin Books, 1972.</ref> though he had earlier written of the benefits of homosexual relationships.<ref name=plato1/>

Many historical figures, including [[Biography:Socrates|Socrates]], Lord Byron, Edward II, and Hadrian,<ref>Roman Homosexuality By Craig Arthur Williams, p.60</ref> have had terms such as ''gay'' or ''bisexual'' applied to them. Some scholars have regarded uses of such modern terms on people from the past as an [[Anachronism|anachronistic]] introduction of a contemporary construction of sexuality that would have been foreign to their times.<ref name=foucault>{{harv|Foucault|1986}}</ref><ref name="buxton myth" /> Other scholars see continuity instead.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Hubbard Thomas K | title = Review of David M. Halperin, ''How to Do the History of Homosexuality.'' | journal = Bryn Mawr Classical Review | date=22 September 2003 }}</ref><ref name="Boswell 1989 17–36"/><ref name="Norton 2016"/>

In social science, there has been a dispute between "essentialist" and "constructionist" views of homosexuality. The debate divides those who believe that terms such as "gay" and "straight" refer to objective, culturally invariant properties of persons from those who believe that the experiences they name are artifacts of unique cultural and social processes. "Essentialists" typically believe that sexual preferences are determined by biological forces, while "constructionists" assume that sexual desires are learned.<ref>{{cite book |author=Halperin, David M. |title=One Hundred Years of Homosexuality: And Other Essays on Greek Love |url=https://archive.org/details/onehundredyearso0000halp |url-access=registration |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1990 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/onehundredyearso0000halp/page/41 41–42] |isbn=0-415-90097-2 }}</ref> The philosopher of science [[Biography:Michael Ruse|Michael Ruse]] has stated that the social constructionist approach, which is influenced by Foucault, is based on a selective reading of the historical record that confuses the existence of homosexual people with the way in which they are labelled or treated.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ruse, Michael |editor=Honderich, Ted |title=The Oxford Companion to Philosophy |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2005 |page=399 |isbn=0-19-926479-1 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bJFCAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT971}}</ref>

===Africa===
The first record of a possible homosexual couple in history is commonly regarded as Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, an ancient Egyptian male couple, who lived around 2400 BCE. The pair are portrayed in a nose-kissing position, the most intimate pose in Egyptian art, surrounded by what appear to be their heirs. The anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe reported that women in Lesotho engaged in socially sanctioned "long term, erotic relationships" called ''[[Social:Motsoalle|motsoalle]].''<ref name=murrayroscoe>{{Cite book|title=Boy Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities |url=https://archive.org/details/boywivesfemalehu00murr |url-access=registration |last=Murray |first=Stephen |author2=Roscoe, Will |year=1998 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-23829-0}}</ref> The anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard also recorded that male Azande warriors in the northern Congo routinely took on young male lovers between the ages of twelve and twenty, who helped with household tasks and participated in intercrural sex with their older husbands.<ref name=evanspritchard>{{cite journal | last1 = Evans-Pritchard | first1 = E. E. | author-link = E. E. Evans-Pritchard | year = 1970 | title = Sexual Inversion among the Azande | journal = American Anthropologist | volume = 72 | issue = 6| pages = 1428–1434 | doi=10.1525/aa.1970.72.6.02a00170}}</ref>

===Americas===
====Indigenous cultures====
[[File:Catlin - Dance to the berdache.jpg|thumb|''Dance to the Berdache''<br />Sac and Fox Nation ceremonial dance to celebrate the two-spirit person. George Catlin (1796–1872); Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.]]

As is true of many other non-Western cultures, it is difficult to determine the extent to which Western notions of sexual orientation and gender identity apply to Pre-Columbian cultures. Evidence of homoerotic sexual acts and transvestism has been found in many pre-conquest civilizations in Latin America, such as the Aztecs, Mayas, Quechuas, Moches, Zapotecs, the Incas, and the Tupinambá of Brazil.<ref name="glbtqlatinamerica">{{citation|last=Pablo|first=Ben|title=Latin America: Colonial|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/latin_america_colonial.html|year=2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211012339/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/latin_america_colonial.html|periodical=[[Glbtq.com|glbtq.com]]|access-date=1 August 2007|archive-date=11 December 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="glbtqmex">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Murray|first=Stephen|editor=Claude J. Summers|encyclopedia=glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture|title=Mexico|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mexico.html|access-date=1 August 2007|year=2004|publisher=[[Glbtq.com|glbtq, Inc.]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102132531/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mexico.html|archive-date=2 November 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Sigal|first=Pete|title=Infamous Desire: Male Homosexuality in Colonial Latin America|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|year=2003|isbn=9780226757049}}</ref>

The Spanish conquerors were horrified to discover sodomy openly practiced among native peoples, and attempted to crush it out by subjecting the ''berdaches'' (as the Spanish called them) under their rule to severe penalties, including public [[Social:Capital punishment|execution]], burning and being torn to pieces by dogs.<ref name="coello">Mártir de Anglería, Pedro. (1530). ''[http://www.udel.edu/LAS/Vol3-2Coello.html#Introduction Décadas del Mundo Nuevo]''. Quoted by Coello de la Rosa, Alexandre. "Good Indians", "Bad Indians", "What Christians?": The Dark Side of the New World in Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1478–1557), ''Delaware Review of Latin American Studies'', Vol. 3, No. 2, 2002.</ref> The Spanish conquerors talked extensively of sodomy among the natives to depict them as savages and hence justify their conquest and forceful conversion to Christianity. As a result of the growing influence and power of the conquerors, many native cultures started condemning homosexual acts themselves.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Among some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in North America prior to European colonization, a relatively common form of same-sex sexuality centered around the figure of the Two-Spirit individual (the term itself was coined only in 1990).{{cn|date=August 2021}} Typically, this individual was recognized early in life, given a choice by the parents to follow the path and, if the child accepted the role, raised in the appropriate manner, learning the customs of the gender it had chosen. Two-Spirit individuals were commonly [[Unsolved:Shamanism|shamans]] and were revered as having powers beyond those of ordinary shamans. Their sexual life was with the ordinary tribe members of the same sex.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

During the colonial times following the European invasion, homosexuality was prosecuted by the Inquisition, some times leading to death sentences on the charges of sodomy, and the practices became clandestine. Many homosexual individuals went into heterosexual marriages to keep appearances, and many turned to the clergy to escape public scrutiny of their lack of interest in the opposite sex.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

====Canada====
During the colonial period, both the French and the British criminalised same-sex sexual relations.  Anal sex between males was a capital offence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thedrummersrevenge.wordpress.com/2007/08/19/sodomites-in-canada-before-1841/|title="Sodomites" in Canada before 1841 - The Drummer's Revenge|work=The Drummer's Revenge|date=19 August 2007|access-date=September 14, 2015}}</ref>  Post-Confederation, anal sex and acts of "gross indecency" continued to be criminal offences, but were no longer capital offences.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thedrummersrevenge.wordpress.com/2007/09/09/the-end-to-the-death-penalty-for-sodomy-in-canada/|title=The End to the Death Penalty for "Sodomy" in Canada - The Drummer's Revenge|work=The Drummer's Revenge|date=9 September 2007|access-date=September 14, 2015}}</ref>  Individuals were prosecuted for same-sex sexual activity as late as the 1960s, which led to the federal Parliament amending the ''Criminal Code'' in 1969 to provide that anal sex between consenting adults in private (defined as only two persons) was not a criminal offence.  In advocating for the law, the then-Minister of Justice, Pierre Trudeau, said:  "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/omnibus-bill-theres-no-place-for-the-state-in-the-bedrooms-of-the-nation |title=Trudeau: 'There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation' |work=CBC News}}</ref>

In 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada held that sexual orientation is a protected personal characteristic under the equality clause of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''.<ref>[https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1265/index.do ''Egan v Canada''], [1995] 2 SCR 513.</ref>  The federal Parliament and provincial legislatures began to amend their laws to treat same-sex relations in the same way as opposite-sex relations.  Beginning in 2003, the courts in Canada began to rule that excluding same-sex couples from marriage violated the equality clause of the ''Charter''.  In 2005, the federal Parliament enacted the ''[[Social:Civil Marriage Act|Civil Marriage Act]]'', which legalised same-sex marriage across Canada.<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title  =Civil Marriage Act|abbr =SC|year =2005|chapter =33|link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-31.5/page-1.html}}</ref>

Canada has been referred to as the most [[Social:Gay-friendly|gay-friendly]] country in the world, ranked first in the ''Gay Travel Index'' chart in 2018, and among the five safest in ''Forbes'' magazine in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spartacus.gayguide.travel/blog/gay-travel-index-2019/|title=SPARTACUS Gay Travel Index 2019|date=February 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2019/11/25/most-dangerous-places-safest-lgbtq-gay-travelers/#a519ced11694|title=FORBES LGBTQ+ Danger Index 2019|date=October 21, 2020}}</ref>  It was also ranked first in Asher & Lyric’s LGBTQ+ Danger Index in a 2021 update.<ref>[https://www.asherfergusson.com/lgbtq-travel-safety/ Asher & Lyric’s LGBTQ+ Danger Index:  The 150 Worst (& Safest) Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2021.]</ref>

====United States====
In 1986, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in ''Bowers v. Hardwick'' that a state could criminalize sodomy, but, in 2003, overturned itself in ''Lawrence v. Texas'' and thereby legalized homosexual activity throughout the {{wipe|United States of America}}.

It is only since the 2010s that [[Census|census]] forms and political conditions have facilitated the visibility and enumeration of same-sex relationships.<ref name="Committed">*[http://www.mercurynews.com/census/ci_18334802?nclick_check=1 Census statistics show quarter of California same-sex couples raising kids]
*[http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110630/ARTICLES/110639995/1004/sitemaps Region Saw Increase In Same-Sex Households]
*[https://abcnews.go.com/Health/sex-couples-census-data-trickles-quarter-raising-children/story?id=13850332 Census 2010: One Quarter of Gay Couples Raising Children]
*[http://www.startribune.com/local/125537288.html Minnesota Sees 50% Rise in Number of Gay Couples] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717123400/http://www.startribune.com/local/125537288.html |date=17 July 2011 }}
*[http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20110714/NEWS01/107140334/Census-Dutchess-Ulster-gay-households-increase Census:Dutchess, Ulster Gay Households Increase]
*[http://westchesterrealestateinformation.com/same-sex-couples-numbers-soar-in-ny-2010-census-finds/ Same Sex Couples' Numbers Soar In N.Y, 2010 Census Finds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430050627/http://westchesterrealestateinformation.com/same-sex-couples-numbers-soar-in-ny-2010-census-finds/ |date=30 April 2013 }}
*[http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=local&sc3=&id=123278 87% Increase in Same-Sex Nevada Households Since 2000]
*[https://archive.today/20130130091511/http://www.necn.com/07/14/11/Gay-lesbian-households-increase-in-Okla/landing_politics.html?&apID=aebfe9933c274365a694d062894d773c 2010 Census indicates increase among same-sex homeowners in Oklahoma]
*[http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/jul/15/spike-number-same-sex-couples-city/ Spike In Number of City's Same-Sex Couples] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727052503/http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/jul/15/spike-number-same-sex-couples-city/ |date=27 July 2011 }}</ref>

Same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state in 2004 to all 50 states in 2015, through various state court rulings, state legislation, direct popular votes (referendums and initiatives), and federal court rulings.

===East Asia===
[[File:Woman spying on male lovers.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|A woman spying on a pair of male lovers. China, Qing Dynasty.]]
In [[Place:East Asia|East Asia]], same-sex love has been referred to since the earliest recorded history.

Homosexuality in China, known as the ''passions of the cut peach'' and various other euphemisms, has been recorded since approximately 600 BCE. Homosexuality was mentioned in many famous works of Chinese literature. The instances of same-sex affection and sexual interactions described in the classical novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' seem as familiar to observers in the present as do equivalent stories of romances between heterosexual people during the same period. [[Philosophy:Confucianism|Confucianism]], being primarily a social and political philosophy, focused little on sexuality, whether homosexual or heterosexual. Ming Dynasty literature, such as ''Bian Er Chai'' (弁而釵/弁而钗), portray homosexual relationships between men as more enjoyable and more "harmonious" than heterosexual relationships.<ref>Kang, Wenqing. ''Obsession: male same-sex relations in China, 1900–1950'', Hong Kong University Press. Page 2</ref> Writings from the Liu Song Dynasty by Wang Shunu claimed that homosexuality was as common as heterosexuality in the late 3rd century.<ref name="Geng">{{cite book|author=Song Geng|title=The fragile scholar: power and masculinity in Chinese culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ei4PJ92qy6IC&pg=PA1443|year=2004|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=978-962-209-620-2|page=144}}</ref>

Opposition to homosexuality in China originates in the medieval Tang Dynasty (618–907), attributed to the rising influence of Christian and Islamic values,<ref name="Hinsch, Bret 1990 pp.77-78">Hinsch, Bret. (1990). ''Passions of the Cut Sleeve''. University of California Press. pp.77-78.</ref> but did not become fully established until the [[Social:Westernization|Westernization]] efforts of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.<ref name="Kang1">Kang, Wenqing. ''Obsession: male same-sex relations in China, 1900–1950'', Hong Kong University Press. Page 3</ref>

===South Asia===
The ''Laws of Manu'' mentions a "third sex", members of which may engage in nontraditional gender expression and homosexual activities.<ref>Penrose, Walter (2001). Hidden in History: Female Homoeroticism and Women of a "Third Nature" in the South Asian Past, Journal of the History of Sexuality 10.1 (2001), p.4</ref>

===Europe===

====Classical period====
The earliest Western documents (in the form of literary works, art objects, and [[Religion:Greek mythology|mythographic materials]]) concerning same-sex relationships are derived from ancient Greece.

In regard to male homosexuality, such documents depict an at times complex understanding in which relationships with women and relationships with adolescent boys could be a part of a normal man's love life. Same-sex relationships were a social institution variously constructed over time and from one city to another. The formal practice, an erotic yet often restrained relationship between a free adult male and a free adolescent, was valued for its [[Social:Pedagogy|pedagogic]] benefits and as a means of population control, though occasionally blamed for causing disorder. [[Biography:Plato|Plato]] praised its benefits in his early writings<ref name=plato1>[[Biography:Plato|Plato]], Phaedrus in the ''Symposium''</ref> but in his late works proposed its prohibition.<ref name=plato2>Plato, Laws, 636D & 835E</ref> [[Biography:Aristotle|Aristotle]], in the ''Politics'', dismissed Plato's ideas about abolishing homosexuality (2.4); he explains that barbarians like the Celts accorded it a special honor (2.6.6), while the Cretans used it to regulate the population (2.7.5).<ref name=boswell1>{{harv|Boswell|1980}}</ref>

Some scholars argue that there are examples of homosexual love in ancient literature, such as Achilles and Patroclus in the ''[[Religion:Iliad|Iliad]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morales |first1=Manuel Sanz |last2=Mariscal |first2=Gabriel Laguna |title=The Relationship between Achilles and Patroclus according to Chariton of Aphrodisias |journal=The Classical Quarterly |date=2003 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=292–295 |doi=10.1093/cq/53.1.292 |jstor=3556498 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556498 |issn=0009-8388}}</ref>

[[File:Lafond Sappho and Homer.jpg|left|thumb|Female youths are depicted surrounding Sappho in this painting of Lafond "Sappho sings for Homer", 1824.]]

Little is known of female homosexuality in antiquity. [[Biology:Sappho|Sappho]], born on the island of Lesbos, was included by later Greeks in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. The adjectives deriving from her name and place of birth ([[Biology:Sapphic love|Sapphic]] and Lesbian) came to be applied to female homosexuality beginning in the 19th century.<ref name=lesbian>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lesbian|title=Lesbian|access-date=7 February 2009|dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary|year=2001|author=Douglas Harper}}</ref><ref name=sapphic>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Sapphic|title=Sapphic|access-date=7 February 2009|dictionary=Online Etymology Dictionary|year=2001|author=Douglas Harper}}</ref> Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various personages and both genders. The narrators of many of her poems speak of [[Social:Infatuation|infatuation]]s and [[Philosophy:Love|love]] (sometimes requited, sometimes not) for various females, but descriptions of physical acts between women are few and subject to debate.<ref>Denys Page, ''Sappho and Alcaeus'', Oxford UP, 1959, pp.142–146.</ref><ref>{{harv|Campbell|1982|p=xi–xii}}</ref>

[[File:NAMA Sappho lisant.jpg|thumb|Sappho reading to her companions on an Attic vase of c. 435 BC]]

In [[History:Ancient Rome|Ancient Rome]], the young male body remained a focus of male sexual attention, but relationships were between older free men and slaves or freed youths who took the receptive role in sex. The Hellenophile emperor Hadrian is renowned for his relationship with Antinous, but the Christian emperor Theodosius I decreed a law on 6 August 390, condemning passive males to be burned at the stake. Notwithstanding these regulations taxes on brothels with boys available for homosexual sex continued to be collected until the end of the reign of Anastasius I in 518. Justinian, towards the end of his reign, expanded the proscription to the active partner as well (in 558), warning that such conduct can lead to the destruction of cities through the "wrath of God".{{cn|date=August 2021}}

====Renaissance====
During the [[Philosophy:Renaissance|Renaissance]], wealthy cities in northern Italy—[[Place:Florence|Florence]] and Venice in particular—were renowned for their widespread practice of same-sex love, engaged in by a considerable part of the male population and constructed along the classical pattern of Greece and Rome.<ref>Rocke, Michael, (1996), ''Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and male Culture in Renaissance Florence'', {{ISBN|0-19-512292-5}}</ref><ref>Ruggiero, Guido, (1985), ''The Boundaries of Eros'', {{ISBN|0-19-503465-1}}</ref> But even as many of the male population were engaging in same-sex relationships, the authorities, under the [[Philosophy:Aegis|aegis]] of the Officers of the Night court, were prosecuting, fining, and imprisoning a good portion of that population.

From the second half of the 13th century, death was the punishment for male homosexuality in most of Europe.<ref>{{Cite book
 | first = Lester R.
 | last = Kurtz
 | title = Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TG2kN033mDkC&pg=PA140
 | publisher = Academic Press
 | year = 1999
 | page = 140
 | isbn = 0-12-227010-X}}
</ref>
The relationships of socially prominent figures, such as [[Social:Personal relationships of James VI and I|King James I]] and the Duke of Buckingham, served to highlight the issue, including in anonymously authored street pamphlets: "The world is chang'd I know not how, For men Kiss Men, not Women now;...Of J. the First and Buckingham: He, true it is, his Wives Embraces fled, To slabber his lov'd Ganimede" (''Mundus Foppensis, or The Fop Display'd'', 1691).

====Modern period====
[[File:Touko-Laaksonen.jpg|thumb|Photograph of the Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen (1920–1991) alias Tom of Finland, well known for his stylized highly masculinized homoerotic art, playing the piano in late 1950s. In the background, his partner Veli Mäkinen (''left'') and his sister Kaija (''right'').]]
''Love Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson'' was published in 1723 in England, and is presumed by some modern scholars to be a novel. The 1749 edition of John Cleland's popular novel ''Fanny Hill'' includes a homosexual scene, but this was removed in its 1750 edition. Also in 1749, the earliest extended and serious defense of homosexuality in English, ''Ancient and Modern [[Social:Pederasty|Pederasty]] Investigated and Exemplified'', written by Thomas Cannon, was published, but was suppressed almost immediately. It includes the passage, "Unnatural Desire is a Contradiction in Terms; downright Nonsense. Desire is an amatory Impulse of the inmost human Parts."<ref>Gladfelder, Hal (May 2006) ''In Search of Lost Texts: Thomas Cannon's 'Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplified"'', Institute of Historical Research</ref> Around 1785 [[Biography:Jeremy Bentham|Jeremy Bentham]] wrote another defense, but this was not published until 1978.<ref>Journal of Homosexuality ({{ISSN|0091-8369}}) Volume: 3 Issue: 4, Volume: 4 Issue: 1</ref> Executions for sodomy continued in the Netherlands until 1803, and in {{wipe|England}} until 1835, James Pratt and John Smith being the last Englishmen to be so hanged.

Between 1864 and 1880 Karl Heinrich Ulrichs published a series of 12 tracts, which he collectively titled ''Research on the Riddle of Man-Manly Love.'' In 1867, he became the first self-proclaimed homosexual person to speak out publicly in defense of homosexuality when he pleaded at the Congress of German Jurists in [[Place:Munich|Munich]] for a resolution urging the repeal of anti-homosexual laws.<ref name="levay" /> ''Sexual Inversion'' by Havelock Ellis, published in 1896, challenged theories that homosexuality was abnormal, as well as [[Philosophy:Stereotype|stereotype]]s, and insisted on the ubiquity of homosexuality and its association with intellectual and artistic achievement.<ref name="sexualinversion">{{citation |title=Sexual Inversion |first1=Havelock |last1=Ellis |first2=John Addington |last2=Symonds |year=1975 |publisher=Arno Press |isbn=0-405-07363-1}} (reprint)</ref>

Although medical texts like these (written partly in Latin to obscure the sexual details) were not widely read by the general public, they did lead to the rise of Magnus Hirschfeld's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, which campaigned from 1897 to 1933 against anti-sodomy laws in Germany, as well as a much more informal, unpublicized movement among British intellectuals and writers, led by such figures as Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds. Beginning in 1894 with ''Homogenic Love'', Socialist activist and poet Edward Carpenter wrote a string of pro-homosexual articles and pamphlets, and "came out" in 1916 in his book ''My Days and Dreams''. In 1900, Elisar von Kupffer published an anthology of homosexual literature from antiquity to his own time, ''Lieblingminne und Freundesliebe in der Weltliteratur''.

===Middle East===
[[File:An ottoman miniature from the book Sawaqub al-Manaquib depicting Homosexuality.jpg|thumb|An illustration from the 19th-century book ''Sawaqub al-Manaquib'' depicting homosexual anal sex with a wine boy]]There are a handful of accounts by Arab travelers to Europe during the mid-1800s. Two of these travelers, Rifa'ah al-Tahtawi and Muhammad as-Saffar, show their surprise that the French sometimes deliberately mistranslated love poetry about a young boy, instead referring to a young female, to maintain their social norms and morals.<ref>{{cite book|last=El-Rouayheb|first=Khaled|title=Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World, 1500–1800|url=https://archive.org/details/beforehomosexual00elro|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|isbn=0-226-72988-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/beforehomosexual00elro/page/n12 2]}}</ref>

Israel is considered the most tolerant country in the Middle East and Asia to homosexuals,<ref>{{cite news
   | date = 17 September 2008
   | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/taboo-tolerance/the-five-most-improved-places-for-gay-tolerance-932635.html
   | quote = Israel is the only Middle-Eastern country to support gay rights legislation, and the country attracts gay people from Palestine and Lebanon.
   | access-date = 29 May 2009
   | work = The Independent
   | title = The five most improved places for gay tolerance
| location=London}}</ref> with [[Place:Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv]] being named "the gay capital of the Middle East"<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Was Arafat Gay?|author=James Kirchick|magazine=Out}}</ref> and considered one of the most gay friendly cities in the world.<ref>{{cite news|title=The world's most gay-friendly places|work=Calgary Herald|date=29 June 2011}}</ref> The annual Pride Parade in support of homosexuality takes place in Tel Aviv.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/dispatch-gay-tel-aviv/|title=Gay Tel Aviv|first=Anthony|last=Grant|date=2 July 2010|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

On the other hand, many governments in the Middle East often ignore, deny the existence of, or criminalize homosexuality. Homosexuality is illegal in almost all Muslim countries.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Iran 'must stop youth executions' |author=Steven Eke |date=28 July 2005 |newspaper=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4725959.stm}}</ref> Same-sex intercourse officially carries the death penalty in several Muslim nations: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, and Yemen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileID=1111&ZoneID=7&FileCategory=50 |title=7 countries still put people to death for same-sex acts |publisher=ILGA |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029185853/http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileID=1111&ZoneID=7&FileCategory=50 |archive-date=29 October 2009 }}</ref> Iranian President [[Biography:Mahmoud Ahmadinejad|Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]], during his [[Organization:Columbia University#Ahmadinejad speech controversy|2007 speech at Columbia University]], asserted that there were no gay people in Iran. However, the probable reason is that they keep their sexuality a secret for fear of government sanction or rejection by their families.<ref>{{cite news|first=Nazila|last=Fathi|title=Despite Denials, Gays Insist They Exist, if Quietly, in Iran|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/world/middleeast/30gays.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=30 September 2007|access-date=1 October 2007}}</ref>[[File:Shah Abbas and Wine Boy.jpg|upright=0.9|thumb|right|Shah Abbas I of Persia with a boy. By Muhammad Qasim (1627).<ref>Nahavandi and Bomati, illustration opposite p.162</ref>]]

====Pre-Islamic period====
In ancient Sumer, a set of priests known as ''[[Social:Gala (priests)|gala]]'' worked in the temples of the goddess [[Social:Inanna|Inanna]], where they performed elegies and lamentations.<ref name="Leick">{{cite book|last=Leick|first=Gwendolyn|title=Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-134-92074-7|location=New York City, New York|orig-year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKoWblE4pd0C&pg=PA64}}</ref>{{rp|285}} ''Gala'' took female names, spoke in the ''[[Social:Sumerian language#Dialects|eme-sal]]'' dialect, which was traditionally reserved for women, and appear to have engaged in homosexual intercourse.<ref name="Roscoe">{{cite book|last1=Roscoe|first1=Will|last2=Murray|first2=Stephen O.|date=1997|title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature|location=New York City, New York|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=0-8147-7467-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Zw-AAAAQBAJ&q=Gordon+1959+gala&pg=PA65|pages=65–66}}</ref> The Sumerian sign for ''gala'' was a [[Social:Typographic ligature|ligature]] of the signs for "penis" and "anus".<ref name="Roscoe"/> One Sumerian proverb reads: "When the ''gala'' wiped off his ass [he said], 'I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna].'"<ref name="Roscoe"/> In later [[Place:Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]]n cultures, ''kurgarrū'' and ''assinnu'' were servants of the goddess Ishtar (Inanna's East Semitic equivalent), who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples.<ref name="Roscoe"/> Several Akkadian [[Social:Proverb|proverb]]s seem to suggest that they may have also engaged in homosexual intercourse.<ref name="Roscoe"/>

In ancient [[Place:Assyria|Assyria]], homosexuality was present and common; it was also not prohibited, condemned, nor looked upon as immoral or disordered. Some religious texts contain prayers for divine blessings on homosexual relationships.<ref>Gay Rights Or Wrongs: A Christian's Guide to Homosexual Issues and Ministry, by Mike Mazzalonga, 1996, p.11</ref><ref>The Nature Of Homosexuality, Erik Holland, page 334, 2004</ref> The ''Almanac of Incantations'' contained prayers favoring on an [[Social:Equality before the law|equal basis]] the love of a man for a woman, of a woman for a man, and of a man for man.<ref>Pritchard, p.181.</ref>

===South Pacific===
In some societies of [[Place:Melanesia|Melanesia]], especially in Papua New Guinea, same-sex relationships were an integral part of the culture until the mid-1900s. The Etoro and Marind-anim for example, viewed heterosexuality as unclean and celebrated homosexuality instead. In some traditional Melanesian cultures a prepubertal boy would be paired with an older adolescent who would become his mentor and who would "inseminate" him (orally, anally, or topically, depending on the tribe) over a number of years in order for the younger to also reach puberty. Many Melanesian societies, however, have become hostile towards same-sex relationships since the introduction of [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] by European missionaries.<ref name=melanesia>{{citation |title=Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia |first=Gilbert H. |last=Herdt |year=1984 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-08096-3 |pages=128–136}}</ref>

==Sexuality and identity==

===Behavior and desire===

The [[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]], the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of Social Workers identify sexual orientation as "not merely a personal characteristic that can be defined in isolation. Rather, one's sexual orientation defines the universe of persons with whom one is likely to find the satisfying and fulfilling relationships":<ref name=amici />
{{Quote|Sexual orientation is commonly discussed as a characteristic of the individual, like biological sex, gender identity, or age. This perspective is incomplete because sexual orientation is always defined in relational terms and necessarily involves relationships with other individuals. Sexual acts and romantic attractions are categorized as homosexual or heterosexual according to the biological sex of the individuals involved in them, relative to each other. Indeed, it is by acting—or desiring to act—with another person that individuals express their heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality. This includes actions as simple as holding hands with or kissing another person. Thus, sexual orientation is integrally linked to the intimate personal relationships that human beings form with others to meet their deeply felt needs for love, attachment, and intimacy. In addition to sexual behavior, these bonds encompass nonsexual physical affection between partners, shared goals and values, mutual support, and ongoing commitment.<ref name=amici />}}

The Kinsey scale, also called the Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale,<ref name="kinsey">{{cite web|url=http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/ak-hhscale.html|title=Kinsey's Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale|publisher=The Kinsey Institute|access-date=8 September 2011}}</ref> attempts to describe a person's sexual history or episodes of his or her sexual activity at a given time. It uses a scale from 0, meaning exclusively [[Social:Heterosexuality|heterosexual]], to 6, meaning exclusively homosexual. In both the Male and Female volumes of the Kinsey Reports, an additional grade, listed as "X", has been interpreted by scholars to indicate asexuality.<ref name="Stange">{{cite book|author1=Mary Zeiss Stange|author2= Carol K. Oyster|author3= Jane E. Sloan |title = Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World|isbn = 978-1-4129-7685-5 |publisher=Sage Pubns|year=2011|page=2016|access-date=17 December 2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOkPjFQoBj8C&pg=PA158}}</ref>

===Sexual identity and sexual fluidity===
{{Main|Philosophy:Sexual identity|Social:Sexual fluidity}}
Often, sexual orientation and [[Philosophy:Sexual identity|sexual identity]] are not distinguished, which can impact accurately assessing sexual identity and whether or not sexual orientation is able to change; sexual orientation identity can change throughout an individual's life, and may or may not align with biological sex, sexual behavior or actual sexual orientation.<ref name="Sinclair">Sinclair, Karen, About Whoever: The Social Imprint on Identity and Orientation, NY, 2013 {{ISBN|9780981450513}}</ref><ref name="Rosario et al.">{{cite journal | last1 = Rosario | first1 = M. | last2 = Schrimshaw | first2 = E. | last3 = Hunter | first3 = J. |last4 = Braun | first4 = L. | year = 2006 | title = Sexual identity development among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths: Consistency and change over time | journal = Journal of Sex Research | volume = 43 | issue = 1| pages = 46–58 | doi=10.1080/00224490609552298| pmc = 3215279 | pmid=16817067}}</ref><ref name="Concordance/discordance in SO">{{cite journal|first=Michael W.|last=Ross|author2=Essien, E. James |author3=Williams, Mark L. |author4= Fernandez-Esquer, Maria Eugenia. |title=Concordance Between Sexual Behavior and Sexual Identity in Street Outreach Samples of Four Racial/Ethnic Groups|publisher=American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association|year=2003|pmid=12567166|journal=Sexually Transmitted Diseases|volume=30|issue=2|pages=110–113|doi=10.1097/00007435-200302000-00003|s2cid=21881268}}</ref> Sexual orientation is stable and unlikely to change for the vast majority of people, but some research indicates that some people may experience change in their sexual orientation, and this is more likely for women than for men.<ref name=fluidity>
*{{cite journal|last1=Bailey|first1=J. Michael|last2=Vasey|first2=Paul|last3=Diamond|first3=Lisa|last4=Breedlove|first4=S. Marc|last5=Vilain|first5=Eric|last6=Epprecht|first6=Marc|title=Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science|journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest|date=2016|volume=17|issue=2|pages=45–101|doi=10.1177/1529100616637616|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301639075|quote=Sexual fluidity is situation-dependent flexibility in a person’s sexual responsiveness, which makes it possible for some individuals to experience desires for either men or women under certain circumstances regardless of their overall sexual orientation....We expect that in all cultures the vast majority of individuals are sexually predisposed exclusively to the other sex (i.e., heterosexual) and that only a minority of individuals are sexually predisposed (whether exclusively or non-exclusively) to the same sex.|pmid=27113562|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite book|authors=Dennis Coon, John O. Mitterer|title=Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior with Concept Maps and Reviews|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1111833633|year=2012|page=372|access-date=February 18, 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYwjCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA372|quote=Sexual orientation is a deep part of personal identity and is usually quite stable. Starting with their earliest erotic feelings, most people remember being attracted to either the opposite sex or the same sex. [...] The fact that sexual orientation is usually quite stable doesn't rule out the possibility that for some people sexual behavior may change during the course of a lifetime.}}
*{{cite book|authors=Eric Anderson, Mark McCormack|title=The Changing Dynamics of Bisexual Men's Lives|chapter=Measuring and Surveying Bisexuality|publisher= Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-319-29412-4|year=2016|page=47|access-date=June 22, 2019|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_AgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA47|quote=[R]esearch suggests that women's sexual orientation is slightly more likely to change than men's (Baumeister 2000; Kinnish et al. 2005). The notion that sexual orientation can change over time is known as ''sexual fluidity''. Even if sexual fluidity exists for some women, it does not mean that the majority of women will change sexual orientations as they age – rather, sexuality is stable over time for the majority of people.}}</ref> The American Psychological Association distinguishes between sexual orientation (an innate attraction) and sexual orientation identity (which may change at any point in a person's life).<ref name=apa2009-2>{{cite web |title=Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation|publisher=[[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]]|pages=63, 86|date=2009|access-date=February 3, 2015|url=http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/therapeutic-response.pdf}}</ref>

===Same-sex relationships===
{{multiple image
 | align = vertical
 | width1 = 141
 | image1 = Male homosexuality symbol.svg
 | caption1 = Male homosexuality symbol
 | width2 = 111
 | image2 = Female homosexuality symbol.svg
 | caption2 = Female homosexuality symbol
 }}
People with a homosexual orientation can express their sexuality in a variety of ways, and may or may not express it in their behaviors.<ref name=apahelp /> Many have sexual relationships predominantly with people of their own [[Biology:Sex|sex]], though some have sexual relationships with those of the opposite sex, bisexual relationships, or none at all ([[Philosophy:Celibacy|celibacy]]).<ref name=apahelp/> Studies have found same-sex and opposite-sex couples to be equivalent to each other in measures of satisfaction and commitment in relationships, that age and sex are more reliable than sexual orientation as a predictor of satisfaction and commitment to a relationship, and that people who are heterosexual or homosexual share comparable expectations and ideals with regard to romantic relationships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/apa-elo011708.php |title=Relationship Satisfaction and Commitment |publisher=Eurekalert.org |date=22 January 2008 |access-date=24 August 2010}}</ref><ref name=Duffy>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1300/J082v12n02_01|title=Satisfaction and commitment in homosexual and heterosexual relationships|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|year=1985|first=S.M/|last=Duffy|author2=C.E. Rusbult|volume=12|issue=2|pages=1–23|url=http://www.labmeeting.com/paper/17688909/duffy-rusbult-1985-satisfaction-and-commitment-in-homosexual-and-heterosexual-relationships|access-date=29 July 2009|pmid=3835198|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019190212/http://www.labmeeting.com/paper/17688909/duffy-rusbult-1985-satisfaction-and-commitment-in-homosexual-and-heterosexual-relationships|archive-date=19 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Baccman>{{Cite journal|title=Expectations of romantic relationships: A comparison between homosexual and heterosexual men with regard to Baxter's criteria|journal=Social Behavior and Personality|year=1999|first=Baccman|last=Charlotte|author2=Per Folkesson|author3= Torsten Norlander|volume=27|issue=4|pages=363–374|doi=10.2224/sbp.1999.27.4.363|url=http://www.sbp-journal.com/index.php/sbp/article/view/976|access-date=4 October 2012}}</ref>

===Coming out of the closet===
{{Main|Social:Coming out}}
''Coming out'' (''of the closet'') is a phrase referring to one's disclosure of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and is described and experienced variously as a psychological process or journey.<ref name="Coming Out: A Journey">{{cite web|url=http://utahpridecenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=44 |title=Coming Out: A Journey |publisher=Utahpridecenter.org |access-date=22 July 2012}}</ref> Generally, coming out is described in three phases. The first phase is that of "knowing oneself", and the realization emerges that one is open to same-sex relations.<ref>In a joint statement with other major American medical organizations, the APA says that "different people realize at different points in their lives that they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual".
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/justthefacts.html
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807205013/http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/justthefacts.html
 |archive-date=7 August 2007
 |title=Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel
 |access-date=28 August 2007
 |year=1999
 |publisher=American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, The Interfaith Alliance, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, National Education Association
}}</ref> This is often described as an internal coming out. The second phase involves one's decision to come out to others, e.g. family, friends, or colleagues. The third phase more generally involves living openly as an LGBT person.<ref name=hrccontinuum>{{citation |access-date=4 May 2007 |url=http://dev.hrc.org/issues/3333.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102101657/http://dev.hrc.org/issues/3333.htm |archive-date=2 November 2007 |periodical=Human Rights Campaign |title=The Coming Out Continuum}}</ref> In the United States today, people often come out during high school or college age. At this age, they may not trust or ask for help from others, especially when their orientation is not accepted in society. Sometimes their own families are not even informed.

According to Rosario, Schrimshaw, Hunter, Braun (2006), "the development of a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) sexual identity is a complex and often difficult process. Unlike members of other minority groups (e.g., ethnic and racial minorities), most LGB individuals are not raised in a community of similar others from whom they learn about their identity and who reinforce and support that identity. Rather, LGB individuals are often raised in communities that are either ignorant of or openly hostile toward homosexuality."<ref name="Rosario et al."/>

[[Social:Outing|Outing]] is the practice of publicly revealing the sexual orientation of a closeted person.<ref name=glbtqouting>{{citation|last=Neumann |first=Caryn E |url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/outing.html |title=Outing |year=2004 |periodical=[[Glbtq.com|glbtq.com]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609220520/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/outing.html |archive-date=9 June 2007 }}</ref> Notable politicians, celebrities, military service people, and clergy members have been outed, with motives ranging from malice to political or moral beliefs. Many commentators oppose the practice altogether,<ref name=biasfreeusage>{{citation |title=The Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage: A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language |last=Maggio |first=Rosalie |year=1991 |publisher=Oryx Press |isbn=0-89774-653-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbias00rosa/page/208 208] |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbias00rosa/page/208 }}</ref> while some encourage outing public figures who use their positions of influence to harm other gay people.<ref name=statesmanouting>{{citation |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and-society/2007/04/human-rights-gay-outing-outed |title=Outing hypocrites is justified |first=Peter |last=Tatchell |date=23 April 2007 |access-date=4 May 2007 |periodical=New Statesman}}</ref>

==Demographics==
In their 2016 literature review, Bailey ''et al.'' stated that they "expect that in all cultures...a minority of individuals are sexually predisposed (whether exclusively or non-exclusively) to the same sex." They state that there is no persuasive evidence that the demographics of sexual orientation have varied much across time or place.<ref name=Bailey/> Men are more likely to be exclusively homosexual than to be equally attracted to both sexes, while the opposite is true for women.<ref name=Bailey/><ref name=LeVay/><ref name=Balthazart/>

Surveys in Western cultures find, on average, that about 93% of men and 87% of women identify as completely heterosexual, 4% of men and 10% of women as mostly heterosexual, 0.5% of men and 1% of women as evenly bisexual, 0.5% of men and 0.5% of women as mostly homosexual, and 2% of men and 0.5% of women as completely homosexual.<ref name=Bailey/> An analysis of 67 studies found that the lifetime prevalence of sex between men (regardless of orientation) was 3–5% for East Asia, 6–12% for South and South East Asia, 6–15% for Eastern Europe, and 6–20% for Latin America.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Caceres|first1=C.|last2=Konda|first2=K.|last3=Pecheny|first3=M.|last4=Chatterjee|first4=A.|last5=Lyerla|first5=R.|title=Estimating the number of men who have sex with men in low and middle income countries|journal=Sexually Transmitted Infections|date=2006|volume=82|issue=Suppl. III|pages=iii3–iii9|doi=10.1136/sti.2005.019489|pmid=16735290|pmc=2576725}}</ref> The International HIV/AIDS Alliance estimates that worldwide between 3 and 16% of men have had some form of [[Social:Men who have sex with men|sex with another man]] at least once during lifetime.<ref name="International HIV/AIDS Alliance 2003">{{cite book |author=International HIV/AIDS Alliance |title=Between Men: HIV/STI Prevention For Men Who Have Sex With Men |url=https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/vct/sw_toolkit/Between_men_full_version.pdf |year=2003 |oclc=896761012}}</ref>

According to major studies, 2% to 11% of people have had some form of same-sex sexual contact within their lifetime;<ref name = Billy1993>{{Cite journal|doi=10.2307/2136206|vauthors=Billy JO, Tanfer K, Grady WR, Klepinger DH |title=The sexual behavior of men in the United States|jstor=2136206 |journal=Family Planning Perspectives |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=52–60 |year=1993 |pmid=8491287}}</ref><ref name = Bogaert2004>{{Cite journal|author=Bogaert AF |title=The prevalence of male homosexuality: the effect of fraternal birth order and variations in family size |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=230 |issue=1 |pages=33–7 |date=September 2004 |pmid=15275997 |doi=10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.04.035|bibcode=2004JThBi.230...33B }} Bogaert argues that: "The prevalence of male homosexuality is debated. One widely reported early estimate was 10% (e.g., Marmor, 1980; Voeller, 1990). Some recent data provided support for this estimate (Bagley and Tremblay, 1998), but most recent large national samples suggest that the prevalence of male homosexuality in modern Western societies, including the United States, is lower than this early estimate (e.g., 1–2% in Billy et al., 1993; 2–3% in Laumann et al., 1994; 6% in Sell et al., 1995; 1–3% in Wellings et al., 1994). It is of note, however, that homosexuality is defined in different ways in these studies. For example, some use same-sex behavior and not same-sex attraction as the operational definition of homosexuality (e.g., Billy et al., 1993); many sex researchers (e.g., Bailey et al., 2000; Bogaert, 2003; Money, 1988; Zucker and Bradley, 1995) now emphasize attraction over overt behavior in conceptualizing sexual orientation." (p.33) Also: "...the prevalence of male homosexuality (in particular, same-sex attraction) varies over time and across societies (and hence is a "moving target") in part because of two effects: (1) variations in fertility rate or family size; and (2) the fraternal birth order effect. Thus, even if accurately measured in one country at one time, the rate of male homosexuality is subject to change and is not generalizable over time or across societies." (p.33)</ref><ref name = Fay1989>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Fay RE, Turner CF, Klassen AD, Gagnon JH |title=Prevalence and patterns of same-gender sexual contact among men |journal=Science |volume=243 |issue=4889 |pages=338–48 |date=January 1989 |pmid=2911744 |doi=10.1126/science.2911744|bibcode=1989Sci...243..338F }}</ref><ref name = Sell1995>{{Cite journal|doi=10.1007/BF01541598|vauthors=Sell RL, Wells JA, Wypij D |title=The prevalence of homosexual behavior and attraction in the United States, the United Kingdom and France: results of national population-based samples |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=235–48 |date=June 1995 |pmid=7611844|s2cid=12929812 }}</ref><ref name=SavinWilliams2009>{{Cite book |editor1-last = Hope | editor1-first = Debra A | title = Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Identities | doi = 10.1007/978-0-387-09556-1 | series = Nebraska Symposium on Motivation | volume = 54 | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-0-387-09555-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/contemporarypers0000nebr}}</ref> this percentage rises to 16–21% when either or both same-sex attraction and behavior are reported.<ref name=SavinWilliams2009/>

According to the 2000 United States Census, there were about 601,209 same-sex unmarried partner households.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gay and Lesbian Families in the United States: Same-Sex Unmarried Partner Households |url=http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1000491_gl_partner_households.pdf |last1=Smith |first1=David M. |last2=Gates |first2=Gary J. |date=22 August 2001 |access-date=26 January 2011}}</ref> In the {{wipe|United States}}, according to a report by The Williams Institute in April 2011, 3.5% or approximately 9 million of the adult population identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/how-many-people-are-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender |author=Gary Gates |title=How Many People are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender? |publisher=The Williams Institute |date=April 2011 |access-date=12 May 2014 |archive-date=21 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721165514/http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/census-lgbt-demographics-studies/how-many-people-are-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-2011.pdf |author=Gary Gates |title=How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender? |publisher=The Williams Institute |page=1 |date=April 2011}}</ref> A 2013 study by the CDC, in which over 34,000 Americans were interviewed, puts the percentage of self-identifying lesbians and gay men at 1.6%, and of bisexuals at 0.7%.<ref name="cdc.gov">[https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr077.pdf "Sexual Orientation and Health Among U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2013."] ''CDC''. 15 July 2014. 15 July 2014. p.3.</ref>

In October 2012, Gallup started conducting annual surveys to study the demographics of LGBT people, determining that 3.4% (±1%) of adults identified as LGBT in the United States.<ref name=gallup>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-adults-identify-lgbt.aspx |title=Special Report: 3.4% of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBT |last1=Gates|first1=Gary J.|last2=Newport|first2=Frank|date=2012-10-18|website=Gallup|access-date=2015-01-13}}</ref> It was the nation's largest poll on the issue at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gallup-survey-claims-34-percent-in-us-are-lgbt|title=Gallup survey claims 3.4 percent in U.S. are LGBT |date=2012-10-18 |website=CBS News |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=2015-01-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/18/adults-lesbian-gay-bisexual/1642203|title=New survey: 3.4% of U.S. adults are LGBT |last1=Jayson|first1=Sharon|date=2012-10-19|website=[[Software:USA Today|USA Today]]|access-date=2015-01-13}}</ref> In 2017, the percentage was estimated to have risen to 4.5% of adults, with the increase largely driven by Millennials. The poll attributes the rise to greater willingness of younger people to reveal their sexual identity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/234863/estimate-lgbt-population-rises.aspx?source=link_NEWSV9&g_medium=TOPIC&g_campaign=item_&g_content=In%2520U.S.%2c%2520Estimate%2520of%2520LGBT%2520Population%2520Rises%2520to%25204.5%2525|title=In U.S., Estimate of LGBT Population Rises to 4.5%|last=Newport|first=Frank|date=2018-05-22|website=Gallup|access-date=2018-06-17}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left: 2em;"
|+ Gallup polling of U.S. adults identifying as LGBT per year
! scope="col" style="width: 7em;" | Date of birth
! scope="col" style="width: 4em;" | 2012
! scope="col" style="width: 4em;" | 2013
! scope="col" style="width: 4em;" | 2014
! scope="col" style="width: 4em;" | 2015
! scope="col" style="width: 4em;" | 2016
! scope="col" style="width: 4em;" | 2017
|-	
! scope="row" | 1913–1945
| style="text-align: center;" | 1.8%
| style="text-align: center;" | 1.8%
| style="text-align: center;" | 1.9%
| style="text-align: center;" | 1.5%
| style="text-align: center;" | 1.5%
| style="text-align: center;" | 1.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 1946–1964
| style="text-align: center;" | 2.7%
| style="text-align: center;" | 2.7%
| style="text-align: center;" | 2.7%
| style="text-align: center;" | 2.6%
| style="text-align: center;" | 2.4%
| style="text-align: center;" | 2.4%
|-
! scope="row" | 1965–1979
| style="text-align: center;" | 3.2%
| style="text-align: center;" | 3.3%
| style="text-align: center;" | 3.4%
| style="text-align: center;" | 3.3%
| style="text-align: center;" | 3.2%
| style="text-align: center;" | 3.5%
|-
! scope="row" | 1980–1999
| style="text-align: center;" | 5.8%
| style="text-align: center;" | 6.0%
| style="text-align: center;" | 6.3%
| style="text-align: center;" | 6.7%
| style="text-align: center;" | 7.3%
| style="text-align: center;" | 8.2%
|-
|}

A survey by the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2010 found that 95% of Britons identified as heterosexual, 1.5% of Britons identified themselves as homosexual or bisexual, and the last 3.5% gave more vague answers such as "don't know", "other", or did not respond to the question.<ref>{{cite web|title=Measuring Sexual Identity : Evaluation Report, 2010|url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ethnicity/measuring-sexual-identity---evaluation-report/2010/index.html|publisher=Office for National Statistics|date=23 September 2010}}</ref>

Reliable data as to the size of the gay and lesbian population are of value in informing public policy.<ref name=black>{{cite journal | last1 = Black | first1 = Dan | last2 = Gates | first2 = Gary | last3 = Sanders | first3 = Seth | last4 = Taylor | first4 = Lowell | year = 2000 | title = Demographics of the Gay and Lesbian Population in the United States: Evidence from Available Systematic Data Sources | journal = Demography | volume = 37 | issue = 2| pages = 139–154 | doi=10.2307/2648117 | jstor = 2648117 | pmid=10836173| doi-access = free }}</ref> For example, demographics are of help in calculating the costs and benefits of domestic partnership benefits, of the impact of legalizing [[Social:LGBT adoption|gay adoption]], and of the impact of the U.S. military's former Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.<ref name=black/> Further, knowledge of the size of the "gay and lesbian population holds promise for helping social scientists understand a wide array of important questions—questions about the general nature of labor market choices, accumulation of human capital, specialization within households, discrimination, and decisions about geographic location."<ref name=black/>

Measuring the prevalence of homosexuality presents difficulties. It is necessary to consider the measuring criteria that are used, the cutoff point and the time span taken to define a sexual orientation.<ref name="levay"/> Many people, despite having same-sex attractions, may be reluctant to identify themselves as gay or bisexual. The research must measure some characteristic that may or may not be defining of sexual orientation. The number of people with same-sex desires may be larger than the number of people who act on those desires, which in turn may be larger than the number of people who self-identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.<ref name=black/>

==Psychology==
The [[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]], the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of Social Workers state:
{{cquote|In 1952, when the American Psychiatric Association published its first [[Medicine:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders|Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]], homosexuality was included as a disorder. Almost immediately, however, that classification began to be subjected to critical scrutiny in research funded by the [[Organization:National Institute of Mental Health|National Institute of Mental Health]]. That study and subsequent research consistently failed to produce any empirical or scientific basis for regarding homosexuality as a disorder or abnormality, rather than a normal and healthy sexual orientation. As results from such research accumulated, professionals in medicine, mental health, and the behavioral and social sciences reached the conclusion that it was inaccurate to classify homosexuality as a mental disorder and that the DSM classification reflected untested assumptions based on once-prevalent social norms and clinical impressions from unrepresentative samples comprising patients seeking therapy and individuals whose conduct brought them into the criminal justice system.

In recognition of the scientific evidence,<ref>{{cite journal | year = 1998 | title = Gay Is Okay With APA—Forum Honors Landmark 1973 Events | url = http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=187846 | journal = JAMA | volume = 280 | issue = 6| pages = 497–499 | doi = 10.1001/jama.280.6.497 | pmid = 9707127 | last1 = Lamberg | first1 = L. }}</ref> the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM in 1973, stating that "homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities." After thoroughly reviewing the scientific data, the American Psychological Association adopted the same position in 1975, and urged all mental health professionals "to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with homosexual orientations." The National Association of Social Workers has adopted a similar policy.

Thus, mental health professionals and researchers have long recognized that being homosexual poses no inherent obstacle to leading a happy, healthy, and productive life, and that the vast majority of gay and lesbian people function well in the full array of social institutions and interpersonal relationships.<ref name=amici />}}

The consensus of research and clinical literature demonstrates that same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and behaviors are normal and positive variations of human sexuality.<ref name=response>American Psychological Association: [http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/therapeutic-response.pdf Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation]</ref> There is now a large body of research evidence that indicates that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment.<ref name="rcp2007" /> The [[Organization:World Health Organization|World Health Organization]]'s ICD-9 (1977) listed homosexuality as a mental illness; it was removed from the [[Medicine:ICD-10|ICD-10]], endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly on 17 May 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/communicable-diseases/hivaids/news/news/2011/6/stop-discrimination-against-homosexual-men-and-women |title=Stop discrimination against homosexual men and women |publisher=World Health Organisation — Europe |date=17 May 2011 |access-date=8 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileCategory=50&FileID=546 |title=The decision of the World Health Organisation 15 years ago constitutes a historic date and powerful symbol for members of the LGBT community |publisher=ILGA |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030051630/http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileCategory=50&FileID=546 |archive-date=30 October 2009 }}</ref><ref name=pinknewsstigma>{{citation |title=Homophobic stigma&nbsp;– A community cause |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-1496.html |date=17 May 2006 |periodical=PinkNews.co.uk |first=Marc |last=Shoffman |access-date=4 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070419234733/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-1496.html |archive-date=19 April 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Like the DSM-II, the ICD-10 added [[Medicine:Ego-dystonic sexual orientation|ego-dystonic sexual orientation]] to the list, which refers to people who want to change their [[Philosophy:Gender identity|gender identities]] or sexual orientation because of a psychological or behavioral disorder ({{ICD10|F|66|1|f|60}}). The Chinese Society of Psychiatry removed homosexuality from its [[Philosophy:Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders|Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders]] in 2001 after five years of study by the association.<ref>''The New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/08/health/08PSYC.html Homosexuality Not an Illness, Chinese Say]</ref> According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists "This unfortunate history demonstrates how marginalisation of a group of people who have a particular personality feature (in this case homosexuality) can lead to harmful medical practice and a basis for discrimination in society."<ref name="rcp2007" /> In response to claims on ''The Nolan Show'' regarding homosexuality being a psychiatric disorder, the Royal College of Psychiatrists wrote:<ref name=rcp2008>Royal College of Psychiatrists: {{cite web|url=http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pressparliament/pressreleases2008/pr14.aspx |title=Royal College of Psychiatrists response to comments on Nolan Show regarding homosexuality as a mental disorder |access-date=2009-06-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611014113/http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pressparliament/pressreleases2008/pr14.aspx |archive-date=11 June 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><blockquote>There is now a large body of research evidence that indicates that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. However, the experiences of discrimination in society and possible rejection by friends, families and others, such as employers, means that some LGB people experience a greater than expected prevalence of mental health difficulties and substance misuse problems. Although there have been claims by conservative political groups in the USA that this higher prevalence of mental health difficulties is confirmation that homosexuality is itself a mental disorder, there is no evidence whatever to substantiate such a claim.</blockquote>Most lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who seek psychotherapy do so for the same reasons as heterosexual people (stress, relationship difficulties, difficulty adjusting to social or work situations, etc.); their sexual orientation may be of primary, incidental, or no importance to their issues and treatment. Whatever the issue, there is a high risk for anti-gay bias in psychotherapy with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients.<ref name=textbook>Cabaj, R; Stein, T. eds. ''Textbook of Homosexuality and Mental Health'', p.421</ref> Psychological research in this area has been relevant to counteracting prejudicial ("homophobic") attitudes and actions, and to the LGBT rights movement generally.<ref name=intro>ed. Sandfort, T; et al. Lesbian and Gay Studies: An Introductory, Interdisciplinary Approach. Chapter 2.</ref>

The appropriate application of affirmative psychotherapy is based on the following scientific facts:<ref name="response"/>
* Same-sex sexual attractions, behavior, and orientations per se are normal and positive variants of human sexuality; in other words, they are not indicators of mental or developmental disorders.
* Homosexuality and bisexuality are stigmatized, and this stigma can have a variety of negative consequences (e.g., [[Social:Minority stress|minority stress]]) throughout the life span (D'Augelli & Patterson, 1995; DiPlacido, 1998; Herek & Garnets, 2007; Meyer, 1995, 2003).
* Same-sex sexual attractions and behavior can occur in the context of a variety of sexual orientations and sexual orientation identities (Diamond, 2006; Hoburg et al., 2004; Rust, 1996; Savin-Williams, 2005).
* Gay men, lesbians, and bisexual individuals can live satisfying lives as well as form stable, committed relationships and families that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential respects (APA, 2005c; Kurdek, 2001, 2003, 2004; Peplau & Fingerhut, 2007).
* There are no empirical studies or peer-reviewed research that support theories attributing same-sex sexual orientation to family dysfunction or trauma (Bell et al., 1981; Bene, 1965; Freund & Blanchard, 1983; Freund & Pinkava, 1961; Hooker, 1969; McCord et al., 1962; D. K. Peters & Cantrell, 1991; Siegelman, 1974, 1981; Townes et al., 1976).

==Causes==

===Biological vs. environmental determinants===
Although scientists favor biological models for the cause of sexual orientation,<ref name="Frankowski"/> they do not believe that the development of sexual orientation is the result of any one factor. They generally believe that it is determined by a complex interplay of [[Philosophy:Biology and sexual orientation|biological]] and environmental factors, and is shaped at an early age.<ref name="apahelp"/><ref name="Lamanna"/><ref name="Stuart"/> There is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial, biological causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males.<ref name="Bailey"/> There is no substantive evidence which suggests parenting or early childhood experiences play a role with regard to sexual orientation.<ref name="rcp2007"/> Scientists do not believe that sexual orientation is a choice.<ref name="Frankowski"/><ref name="Lamanna"/><ref name="Kersey-Matusiak"/>

The American Academy of Pediatrics stated in ''Pediatrics'' in 2004:
{{cquote|There is no scientific evidence that abnormal parenting, sexual abuse, or other adverse life events influence sexual orientation. Current knowledge suggests that sexual orientation is usually established during early childhood.<ref name="Frankowski"/><ref name="perrin2002">{{Cite book
 | last = Perrin
 | first = E. C.
 | title = Sexual Orientation in Child and Adolescent Health Care
 | url = https://archive.org/details/sexualorientatio0000perr
 | url-access = registration
 | publisher = Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
 | year = 2002
 | location = New York
 | isbn = 0-306-46761-5
 }}</ref>}}

The [[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]], American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers stated in 2006:
{{cquote|Currently, there is no scientific consensus about the specific factors that cause an individual to become heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual—including possible biological, psychological, or social effects of the parents' sexual orientation. However, the available evidence indicates that the vast majority of lesbian and gay adults were raised by heterosexual parents and the vast majority of children raised by lesbian and gay parents eventually grow up to be heterosexual.<ref name="apahelp"/>}}

==== "Gay genes" ====
Despite numerous attempts, no "gay gene" has been identified. However, there is substantial evidence for a genetic basis of homosexuality, especially in males, based on twin studies; some association with regions of [[Biology:Chromosome 8|Chromosome 8]], the [[Biology:Xq28|Xq28]] locus on the [[Biology:X chromosome|X chromosome]], and other sites across many chromosomes.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Ngun | first1 = TC | last2 = Vilain | first2 = E | year = 2014 | title = The biological basis of human sexual orientation: is there a role for epigenetics? | journal = Adv Genet | volume = 86 | pages = 167–84 | doi = 10.1016/B978-0-12-800222-3.00008-5 | pmid = 25172350 }}</ref>


Starting in the 2010s, potential epigenetic factors have become a topic of increased attention in genetic research on sexual orientation. A study presented at the [[Organization:American Society of Human Genetics|ASHG]] 2015 Annual Meeting found that the methylation pattern in nine regions of the genome appeared very closely linked to sexual orientation, with a resulting algorithm using the [[Biology:Methylation|methylation]] pattern to predict the sexual orientation of a control group with almost 70% accuracy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Balter|first=Michael|date=2015-10-09|title=BEHAVIORAL GENETICS. Can epigenetics explain homosexuality puzzle?|journal=Science|volume=350|issue=6257|pages=148|doi=10.1126/science.350.6257.148|issn=1095-9203|pmid=26450189}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ashg.org/press/201510-sexual-orientation.html|title=Epigenetic Algorithm Accurately Predicts Male Sexual Orientation {{!}} ASHG|website=www.ashg.org|date=8 October 2015|access-date=2019-01-21}}</ref>

Research into the causes of homosexuality plays a role in political and social debates and also raises concerns about genetic profiling and prenatal testing.<ref name=chicagotribune>{{citation|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/aug/12/news/chi-gaygene_bd12aug12 |title=Study of gay brothers may find clues about sexuality |first=Robert |last=Mitchum |periodical=Chicago Tribune |date=12 August 2007 |access-date=4 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023155659/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2007/aug/12/news/chi-gaygene_bd12aug12 |archive-date=23 October 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=60752 |title=How much is known about the origins of homosexuality? |publisher=Church Times |date=16 November 2007 |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100406055257/http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=60752 |archive-date=6 April 2010 }}</ref>

===Evolutionary perspectives===
Since homosexuality tends to lower reproductive success, and since there is considerable evidence that human sexual orientation is genetically influenced, it is unclear how it is maintained in the population at a relatively high frequency.<ref>Zietsch et al. (2008)</ref> There are many possible explanations, such as genes predisposing to homosexuality also conferring advantage in heterosexuals, a [[Philosophy:Kin selection|kin selection]] effect, social prestige, and more.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Evolutionary-Mystery-of/135762/|title=The Evolutionary Mystery of Homosexuality|newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education|author=David P. Barash|date=19 November 2012}}</ref> A 2009 study also suggested a significant increase in [[Philosophy:Fecundity|fecundity]] in the females related to the homosexual people from the maternal line (but not in those related from the paternal one).<ref>{{Cite journal|title=New Evidence of Genetic Factors Influencing Sexual Orientation in Men: Female Fecundity Increase in the Maternal Line |author1=Iemmola, Francesca |author2=Camperio Ciani, Andrea|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|publisher=Springer Netherlands|year=2009|volume=38|issue=3 |doi=10.1007/s10508-008-9381-6|pmid=18561014|pages=393–9|s2cid=508800 }}</ref>

===Sexual orientation change efforts===
There are no studies of adequate scientific rigor that conclude that sexual orientation change efforts work to change a person's sexual orientation. Those efforts have been controversial due to tensions between the values held by some faith-based organizations, on the one hand, and those held by LGBT rights organizations and professional and scientific organizations and other faith-based organizations, on the other.<ref name="apa2009"/> The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality ''per se'' is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation, and therefore not a mental disorder.<ref name="apa2009"/> The American Psychological Association says that "most people experience little or no sense of choice about their sexual orientation".<ref name="answers">{{cite web
 |url=http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/sorientation.pdf |title=Answers to Your Questions. For a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality |access-date=20 December 2010
 |publisher=American Psychological Association}}</ref>
Some individuals and groups have promoted the idea of homosexuality as symptomatic of developmental defects or spiritual and moral failings and have argued that sexual orientation change efforts, including psychotherapy and religious efforts, could alter homosexual feelings and behaviors. Many of these individuals and groups appeared to be embedded within the larger context of conservative religious political movements that have supported the stigmatization of homosexuality on political or religious grounds.<ref name="apa2009" />

No major mental health professional organization has sanctioned efforts to change sexual orientation and virtually all of them have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public about treatments that purport to change sexual orientation. These include the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, National Association of Social Workers in the U.S.,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/2009-11-17-doma-aff-herek.pdf |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5sEshQkXj?url=http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/2009-11-17-doma-aff-herek.pdf |archive-date=25 August 2010 |title=Expert affidavit of Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D. |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref> the Royal College of Psychiatrists,<ref name=royal2009>Royal College of Psychiatrists: [http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/press/pressreleasearchives/2009/statement.aspx Statement from the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Gay and Lesbian Mental Health Special Interest Group] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527055029/http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/press/pressreleasearchives/2009/statement.aspx |date=27 May 2010 }}</ref> and the [[Organization:Australian Psychological Society|Australian Psychological Society]].<ref name="aps">Australian Psychological Society: [http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/tip_sheets/orientation/ Sexual orientation and homosexuality] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090717121843/http://www.psychology.org.au/publications/tip_sheets/orientation/ |date=17 July 2009 }}</ref> The American Psychological Association and the Royal College of Psychiatrists expressed concerns that the positions espoused by NARTH are not supported by the science and create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.<ref name="royal2009"/><ref name="apaexgay">{{cite web|url=http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/policy/ex-gay.pdf |title=Statement of the American Psychological Association |access-date=24 August 2010}}</ref>

The American Psychological Association states that "sexual orientation is not a choice that can be changed at will, and that sexual orientation is most likely the result of a complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors...is shaped at an early age...[and evidence suggests] biological, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person's sexuality."<ref name="Lamanna"/> They say that "sexual orientation identity—not sexual orientation—appears to change via psychotherapy, support groups, and life events."<ref name=apa2009/> The American Psychiatric Association says "individuals maybe become aware at different points in their lives that they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual" and "opposes any psychiatric treatment, such as 'reparative' or [[Social:Conversion therapy|'conversion' therapy]], which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality ''per se'' is a mental disorder, or based upon a prior assumption that the patient should change his/her homosexual orientation". They do, however, encourage gay affirmative psychotherapy.<ref name="What is">[http://www.psychiatry.org/lgbt-sexual-orientation "LGBT-Sexual Orientation: What is Sexual Orientation?"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628094701/http://www.psychiatry.org/lgbt-sexual-orientation |date=28 June 2014 }}, the official web pages of APA. Accessed 9 April 2015</ref> Similarly, the American Psychological Association<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apa.org/about/policy/sexual-orientation.aspx|title=Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts|website=apa.org}}</ref> is doubtful about the effectiveness and side-effect profile of sexual orientation change efforts, including conversion therapy.

The American Psychological Association "encourages mental health professionals to avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts by promoting or promising change in sexual orientation when providing assistance to individuals distressed by their own or others' sexual orientation and concludes that the benefits reported by participants in sexual orientation change efforts can be gained through approaches that do not attempt to change sexual orientation".<ref name="apa2009"/>

==Parenting==
{{Main|Social:LGBT parenting|Social:LGBT adoption}}
Scientific research has been generally consistent in showing that lesbian and gay parents are as fit and capable as heterosexual parents, and their children are as psychologically healthy and well-adjusted as children reared by heterosexual parents.<ref name=cpa2006>{{cite web |url=http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/Marriage%20of%20Same-Sex%20Couples%20Position%20Statement%20-%20October%202006%20(1).pdf |title=Marriage of Same-Sex Couples&nbsp;– 2006 Position Statement Canadian Psychological Association |access-date=2 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419195945/http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/Marriage%20of%20Same-Sex%20Couples%20Position%20Statement%20-%20October%202006%20%281%29.pdf |archive-date=19 April 2009 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=apsp>{{cite web |url=http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/LGBT-Families-Lit-Review.pdf |title=Elizabeth Short, Damien W. Riggs, Amaryll Perlesz, Rhonda Brown, Graeme Kane: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Parented Families&nbsp;– A Literature Review prepared for The Australian Psychological Society |access-date=5 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110304014530/http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/LGBT-Families-Lit-Review.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=amici2010>{{cite web|url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2010/10/27/amicus29.pdf |title=Brief of the American Psychological Association, The California Psychological Association, The American Psychiatric Association, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy as Amici Curiae in support of plaintiff-appellees |access-date=21 December 2010}}</ref> According to scientific literature reviews, there is no evidence to the contrary.<ref name="amici"/><ref name=pediatrics>{{cite journal |vauthors=Pawelski JG, Perrin EC, Foy JM, etal |title=The effects of marriage, civil union, and domestic partnership laws on the health and well-being of children |journal=Pediatrics |volume=118 |issue=1 |pages=349–64 |date=July 2006 |pmid=16818585 |doi=10.1542/peds.2006-1279|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="herek2006">{{cite journal|author=Herek GM |title=Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: a social science perspective |journal=The American Psychologist |volume=61 |issue=6 |pages=607–21 |date=September 2006 |pmid=16953748 |doi=10.1037/0003-066X.61.6.607 |url=http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/AP_06_pre.PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610164736/http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/AP_06_pre.PDF |archive-date=10 June 2010 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name=stacey2010>{{cite journal|title=How Does the Gender of Parents Matter | doi = 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2009.00678.x|volume=72|journal=Journal of Marriage and Family|pages=3–22|year=2010 |last1=Biblarz |first1=Timothy J. |last2=Stacey |first2=Judith }}</ref><ref name=cpa2005>{{cite web |url=http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/advocacy/brief.pdf |title=Brief presented to the Legislative House of Commons Committee on Bill C38 by the Canadian Psychological Association | date=2 June 2005 |access-date=2 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013225547/http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/advocacy/brief.pdf |archive-date=13 October 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

A 2001 review suggested that the children with lesbian or gay parents appear less traditionally gender-typed and are more likely to be open to homoerotic relationships, partly due to genetic (80% of the children being raised by same-sex couples in the US are not adopted and most are the result of previous heterosexual marriages.<ref name=ABCNews>{{cite news |title=Census 2010: One-Quarter of Gay Couples Raising Children |first= SUSAN |last=DONALDSON JAMES |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/sex-couples-census-data-trickles-quarter-raising-children/story?id=13850332 |newspaper=ABC News |date=23 June 2011 |access-date=11 July 2013|quote="Still, more than 80 percent of the children being raised by gay couples are not adopted, according to Gates."}}</ref>) and family socialization processes (children grow up in relatively more tolerant school, neighborhood, and social contexts, which are less heterosexist), even though majority of children raised by same-sex couples identify as heterosexual.<ref name="Stacey_Biblarz">{{cite journal |vauthors=Stacey J, Biblarz TJ | year = 2001 | title = (How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter? | url = http://faculty.law.miami.edu/mcoombs/documents/Stacey_Biblarz.pdf | journal = American Sociological Review | volume = 66 | issue = 2| pages = 159–183 |quote=This may be partly due to genetic and family socialization processes, but what sociologists refer to as "contextual effects" not yet investigated by psychologists may also be important...even though children of lesbian and gay parents appear to express a significant increase in homoeroticism, the majority of all children nonetheless identify as heterosexual, as most theories across the essentialistt" to "social constructionist" spectrum seem (perhaps too hastily) to expect. | doi=10.2307/2657413| jstor = 2657413 }}</ref> A 2005 review by Charlotte J. Patterson for the American Psychological Association found that the available data did not suggest higher rates of homosexuality among the children of lesbian or gay parents.<ref name="APAreport">American Psychological Association [http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/parenting-full.pdf Lesbian & Gay Parenting]</ref>

==Health==

===Physical===
[[File:MSM_Blood_Donation_Map_New.svg|thumb|right|350px|[[Men who have sex with men blood donor controversy|Blood donation policies for men who have sex with men]]
{{legend|LightGreen|Men who have sex with men may donate blood; '''No deferral'''}}
{{legend|Lime|Men who have sex with men may donate blood; '''No deferral, except for blood transfusions'''<sup>1</sup>}}
{{legend|Khaki|Men who have sex with men may donate blood; '''Temporary deferral'''}}
{{legend|Salmon|Men who have sex with men may not donate blood; '''Permanent deferral'''}}
{{legend|#CCCCCC|No Data}}
<sup>1</sup>No restriction on transfusions in Israel, if last MSM activity was before 1977.]]

The terms "[[Social:Men who have sex with men|men who have sex with men]]" (MSM) and "[[Social:Women who have sex with women|women who have sex with women]]" (WSW) refer to people who engage in sexual activity with others of the same sex regardless of how they identify themselves—as many choose not to accept [[Social:Identity (social science)|social identities]] as lesbian, gay and bisexual.<ref name=msmafrica>{{cite web|url=http://www.aidsportal.org/News_Details.aspx?id=5208&nex=5 |title=MSM in Africa: highly stigmatized, vulnerable and in need of urgent HIV prevention |publisher=Aidsportal.org |access-date=24 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713125016/http://www.aidsportal.org/News_Details.aspx?ID=5208 |archive-date=13 July 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name=UNAIDS1>{{cite web
 |title=UNAIDS: Men who have sex with men 
 |publisher=UNAIDS 
 |url=http://www.unaids.org/en/PolicyAndPractice/KeyPopulations/MenSexMen/default.asp 
 |format=asp 
 |access-date=24 July 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618190907/http://www.unaids.org/en/PolicyAndPractice/KeyPopulations/MenSexMen/default.asp 
 |archive-date=18 June 2008 
 |df=dmy 
}}</ref><ref name=TGHIVINF>{{cite web
 |last=Greenwood 
 |first=Cseneca 
 |author2=Mario Ruberte 
 |title=African American Community and HIV (Slide 14 mentions TG women) 
 |publisher=East Bay AIDS Education and Training Center 
 |date=9 April 2004 
 |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/African_American_Transgenders_and_HIV.ppt 
 |format=ppt 
 |access-date=24 July 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910171338/http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/African_American_Transgenders_and_HIV.ppt 
 |archive-date=10 September 2008 
}}</ref><ref name=MSTSW>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Operario D, Burton J, Underhill K, Sevelius J |title=Men who have sex with transgender women: challenges to category-based HIV prevention |journal=AIDS Behav |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=18–26 |date=January 2008 |pmid=17705095 |doi=10.1007/s10461-007-9303-y|s2cid=31831055 }}</ref><ref name=TGMSMNET>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Operario D, Burton J |title=HIV-related tuberculosis in a transgender network—Baltimore, Maryland, and New York City area, 1998–2000 |journal=MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. |volume=49 |issue=15 |pages=317–20 |date=April 2000 |pmid=10858008 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4915a1.htm}}</ref> These terms are often used in medical literature and [[Social:Social research|social research]] to describe such groups for study, without needing to consider the issues of sexual self-identity. The terms are seen as problematic by some, however, because they "obscure social dimensions of sexuality; undermine the self-labeling of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people; and do not sufficiently describe variations in sexual behavior".<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Young RM, Meyer IH |title=The trouble with "MSM" and "WSW": erasure of the sexual-minority person in public health discourse |journal=Am J Public Health |volume=95 |issue=7 |pages=1144–9 |date=July 2005 |pmid=15961753 |pmc=1449332 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2004.046714}}</ref>

In contrast to its benefits, sexual behavior can be a [[Biology:Vector (epidemiology)|disease vector]]. Safe sex is a relevant harm reduction philosophy.<ref>{{cite web|title=STI Epi Update: Oral Contraceptive and Condom Use |url=http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/epiu-aepi/std-mts/std511_e.html |publisher=[[Organization:Public Health Agency of Canada|Public Health Agency of Canada]] |date=23 April 1998 |access-date=11 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927063228/http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/epiu-aepi/std-mts/std511_e.html |archive-date=27 September 2006 }}</ref> Many countries currently prohibit men who have sex with men from donating blood; the policy of the {{wipe|United States of America}} [[Organization:Food and Drug Administration|Food and Drug Administration]] states that "they are, as a group, at increased risk for [[Biology:HIV|HIV]], [[Medicine:Hepatitis B|hepatitis B]] and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion."<ref name=Blood>{{cite web|author=Cber / Fda |url=https://www.fda.gov/cber/faq/msmdonor.htm |title=FDA Policy on Blood Donations from Men Who Have Sex with Other Men |access-date=24 August 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071011035223/https://www.fda.gov/cber/faq/msmdonor.htm |archive-date = 11 October 2007}}</ref>

====Public health====
These safer sex recommendations are agreed upon by public health officials for women who have sex with women to avoid sexually transmitted infections (STIs):
* Avoid contact with a partner's menstrual blood and with any visible genital lesions.
* Cover sex toys that penetrate more than one person's vagina or anus with a new [[Medicine:Condom|condom]] for each person; consider using different toys for each person.
* Use a barrier (e.g., latex sheet, [[Engineering:Dental dam|dental dam]], cut-open condom, plastic wrap) during oral sex.
* Use latex or vinyl gloves and lubricant for any manual sex that might cause bleeding.<ref name=mravack>Mravack, Sally A. (July 2006)."Primary Care for Lesbians and Bisexual Women", ''American Family Physician'' '''74''' (2) pp.279–286.</ref>

These safer sex recommendations are agreed upon by public health officials for men who have sex with men to avoid sexually transmitted infections:
* Avoid contact with a partner's bodily fluids and with any visible genital lesions.
* Use [[Medicine:Condom|condom]]s for anal and oral sex.
* Use a barrier (e.g., latex sheet, dental dam, cut-open condom) during anal–oral sex.
* Cover sex toys that penetrate more than one person's anus with a new condom for each person; consider using different toys for each person.
* Use latex or vinyl gloves and lubricant for any manual sex that might cause bleeding.<ref>Catalyst, Sr. Kitty, Staff of {{wipe|San Francisco}} City Clinic; "Reading This Might Save Your Ass"; 2001, San Francisco HIV Prevention and STD Prevention and Control.</ref><ref>Men Like Us: The GMHC Complete Guide to Gay Men's Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Well-being; Wolfe, Daniel; Gay Men's Health Crisis, Inc; Published by Ballantine Books, 2000; {{ISBN|0-345-41496-9}}, 9780345414960.</ref>

===Mental===
When it was first described in medical literature, homosexuality was often approached from a view that sought to find an inherent psychopathology as its root cause. Much literature on mental health and homosexual patients centered on their depression, substance abuse, and suicide. Although these issues exist among people who are non-heterosexual, discussion about their causes shifted after homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in 1973. Instead, social ostracism, legal discrimination, internalization of negative stereotypes, and limited support structures indicate factors homosexual people face in Western societies that often adversely affect their mental health.<ref>
Schlager, Neil, ed. (1998). ''Gay & Lesbian Almanac''. St. James Press. {{ISBN|1-55862-358-2}}, p.152.</ref>
Stigma, prejudice, and discrimination stemming from negative societal attitudes toward homosexuality lead to a higher prevalence of mental health disorders among lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals compared to their heterosexual peers.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Meyer, Ilan H. |title=Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence |journal=Psychological Bulletin |volume=129 |issue=5 |pages=674–97 |date=September 2003 |pmid=12956539 |pmc=2072932 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674}}</ref> Evidence indicates that the liberalization of these attitudes over the 1990s through the 2010s is associated with a decrease in such mental health risks among younger LGBT people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/cums-bgm100207.php |title=Black gay men, lesbians, have fewer mental disorders than whites, says Mailman School of PH study |publisher=Eurekalert.org |access-date=24 August 2010}}</ref>

===Gay and lesbian youth===
Gay and lesbian youth bear an increased risk of suicide, substance abuse, school problems, and isolation because of a "hostile and condemning environment, verbal and physical abuse, rejection and isolation from family and peers".<ref name=dhhs>{{citation |title=Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide |editor-first=Marcia R. |editor-last= Fenleib |year=1989 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |isbn=0-16-002508-7 |last=Gibson |first=P. |contribution=Gay and Lesbian Youth Suicide}}</ref> Further, LGBT youths are more likely to report psychological and physical abuse by parents or caretakers, and more sexual abuse. Suggested reasons for this disparity are that (1) LGBT youths may be specifically targeted on the basis of their perceived sexual orientation or gender non-conforming appearance, and (2) that "risk factors associated with sexual minority status, including discrimination, invisibility, and rejection by family members...may lead to an increase in behaviors that are associated with risk for victimization, such as substance abuse, sex with multiple partners, or running away from home as a teenager."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.apa.org/journals/features/ccp733477.pdf |title=Victimization Over the Life Span: A Comparison of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Siblings |first=Kimberly F. |last=Balsam |author2=Esther D. Rothblum |date=June 2005 |journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=477–487 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311233920/http://www.apa.org/journals/features/ccp733477.pdf |archive-date=11 March 2007 |doi=10.1037/0022-006x.73.3.477 |pmid=15982145}}</ref> A 2008 study showed a correlation between the degree of rejecting behavior by parents of LGB adolescents and negative health problems in the teenagers studied:
{{Quote|Higher rates of family rejection were significantly associated with poorer health outcomes. On the basis of odds ratios, lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults who reported higher levels of family rejection during adolescence were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide, 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression, 3.4 times more likely to use illegal drugs, and 3.4 times more likely to report having engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse compared with peers from families that reported no or low levels of family rejection.<ref>{{Cite journal
|doi=10.1542/peds.2007-3524
|url=http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/123/1/346
|title=Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes in White and Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults
|first=Caitlin
|last=Ryan
|journal=Pediatrics
|author2=David Huebner
|author3=Rafael M. Diaz
|author4=Jorge Sanchez
|date=January 2009
|volume=123
|issue=1
|pages=346–352
|pmid=19117902
|s2cid=33361972
}}</ref>}}

Crisis centers in larger cities and information sites on the Internet have arisen to help youth and adults.<ref name=suicideorg>{{citation |title=Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Suicide|url=http://www.suicide.org/gay-and-lesbian-suicide.html |first=Kevin |last=Caruso |website=Suicide.org |access-date=4 May 2007}}</ref> The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention helpline for gay youth, was established following the 1998 airing on HBO of the Academy Award winning short film ''Trevor''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/07/02/trevor.project/index.html | title=24-hour help for gay youth | work=CNN | date=2 July 2008 | access-date=26 July 2015 | author=Wilson, Jacque}}</ref>

==Law and politics==

===Legality===
[[File:Decriminalization of Homosexuality by country or territory.svg|thumb|right|400px|Decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity by country or territory
{{div col |colwidth=10em}}
{{legend|#FFB380|1790–1799}}
{{legend|#C87137|1800–1829}}
{{legend|Maroon|1830–1839}}
{{legend|#FF0000|1840–1859}}
{{legend|Tomato|1860–1869}}
{{legend|#FF6600|1870–1879}}
{{legend|Orange|1880–1889}}
{{legend|#FFFF00|1890–1929}}
{{legend|Goldenrod|1930–1939}}
{{legend|GreenYellow|1940–1949<sup>1</sup>}}
{{legend|#00FF00|1950–1959}}
{{legend|#008800|1960–1969}}
{{legend|#00FFFF|1970–1979}}
{{legend|#0000FF|1980–1989}}
{{legend|#000080|1990–1999<sup>2</sup>}}
{{legend|#800080|2000–2009}}
{{legend|#FF00FF|2010–present}}
{{legend|#cccccc|Same-sex sexual activity legal<sup>3</sup>}}
{{legend|#6C5353|Male same-sex sexual activity illegal}}
{{legend|#2B0000|Same-sex sexual activity illegal}}
{{Div col end}}
{{Hidden |Notes|
1: During [[Social:World War II|World War II]], [[Place:Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany]] annexed territory or established {{lang|de|reichskommissariat}}s which extended Germany's laws against same-sex sexual activity to those territories and {{lang|de|reichskommissariat}}s. Same-sex sexual activity was previously legalized in the following countries or territories before German annexation or establishment of {{lang|de|reichskommissariat}}s: {{lang|fr|Bas-Rhin}} (legal in 1791), Belgium (legal in 1795), {{lang|it|Belluno}} (legal in 1890), {{lang|it|Friuli-Venezia Giulia}} (legal in 1890), {{lang|fr|Haut-Rhin}} (legal in 1791), Luxembourg (legal in 1795), {{lang|fr|Moselle}} (legal in 1791), Netherlands (legal in 1811), {{lang|fr|Nord}} (legal in 1791), {{lang|fr|Pas-de-Calais}} (legal in 1791), [[Place:Second Polish Republic|Poland]] (legal in 1932), and {{lang|it|Trentino-Alto Adige|nocat=y}} / {{lang|de|Südtirol|nocat=y}} (legal in 1890). All countries and territories listed that where annexed or established into {{lang|de|reichskommissariat}}s by Nazi Germany during World War II where restored as independent countries or reincorporated into their previous countries during or after the war and thus re-legalized same-sex sexual activity in those areas.<br />
2: In May 1973, the Libyan Arab Republic annexed the Aouzou Strip from Chad. Libya's laws against same-sex sexual activity where thus extended to the annexed Aouzou Strip. In August 1987, during the Toyota War between the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Chad, Aouzou fell to the Chadian forces, only to be repelled by an overwhelming Libyan counter-offensive. The Aouzou dispute was concluded on 3 February 1994, when the judges of the International Court of Justice by a majority of 16 to 1 decided that the Aouzou Strip belonged to Chad. Monitored by international observers, the withdrawal of Libyan troops from the Strip began on 15 April 1994, and was completed by 10 May 1994. The formal and final transfer of the Aouzou Strip from Libya to Chad took place on 30 May 1994, when the sides signed a joint declaration stating that the Libyan withdrawal had been effected.<br />
3: Same-sex sexual activity was never criminalized in the following countries and territories: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia Central African Republic, Chad (excluding Aouzou Strip), Clipperton Island, Republic of the Congo, {{lang|fr|Côte d'Ivoire}}, Democratic Republic of Congo, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, {{lang|fr|Mayotte}}, New Caledonia, Niger, North Korea, Rwanda, South Korea, Vietnam, and Wallis and Futuna. Same-sex sexual activity was also never criminalized in [[Earth:Antarctica|Antarctica]].}}]]
Most nations do not prohibit consensual sex between unrelated persons above the local age of consent. Some jurisdictions further recognize identical rights, protections, and privileges for the family structures of same-sex couples, including [[Social:Same-sex marriage|marriage]]. Some countries and jurisdictions mandate that all individuals restrict themselves to heterosexual activity and disallow homosexual activity via sodomy laws. Offenders can face the death penalty in Islamic countries and jurisdictions ruled by [[Religion:Sharia|sharia]]. There are, however, often significant differences between official policy and real-world enforcement.

Although homosexual acts were decriminalized in some parts of the Western world, such as Poland in 1932, Denmark in 1933, Sweden in 1944, and England and Wales in 1967, it was not until the mid-1970s that the [[Social:LGBT community|gay community]] first began to achieve limited [[Social:Civil and political rights|civil rights]] in some [[Finance:Developed country|developed countries]]. A turning point was reached in 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association, which previously listed homosexuality in the DSM-I in 1952, removed homosexuality in the DSM-II, in recognition of scientific evidence.<ref name=amici/> In 1977, Quebec became the first state-level jurisdiction in the world to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. During the 1980s and 1990s, several developed countries enacted laws decriminalizing homosexual behavior and prohibiting discrimination against lesbian and gay people in employment, housing, and services. On the other hand, many countries today in the Middle East and Africa, as well as several countries in Asia, the Caribbean and the South Pacific, outlaw homosexuality. In 2013, the Supreme Court of India upheld Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code,<ref>{{cite news |last=Shyamantha |first=Asokan |title=India's Supreme Court turns the clock back with gay sex ban |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-rights-gay-idUSBRE9BA05620131211 |access-date=23 December 2013 |newspaper={{wipe|Reuters}} |date=11 December 2013 |archive-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216040454/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/11/us-india-rights-gay-idUSBRE9BA05620131211 |url-status=live }}</ref> but in 2018 overturned itself and legalized homosexual activity in India.<ref>{{cite news |title=Supreme Court of India scraps ban on homosexuality with its judgment on Section 377. |date=9 September 2018 |work=NDTV |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/supreme-court-verdict-of-section-377-full-text-1912373 }}</ref> Ten countries or jurisdictions, all of which are predominantly [[Religion:Islam|Islam]]ic and governed according to [[Religion:Sharia|sharia]] law, have imposed the death penalty for homosexuality. These include Afghanistan, Iran, Brunei, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, and several regions in Nigeria and Jubaland.<ref name="ILGA 2015">{{cite web|author1=Aengus Carroll|author2=Lucas Paoli Itaborahy|title=State-Sponsored Homophobia: A World Survey of Laws: criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love|url=https://ilga.org/downloads/2017/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2017_WEB.pdf|website=International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex association|access-date=April 5, 2019|date=May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/28/brunei-brings-in-death-by-stoning-as-punishment-for-gay-sex|title=Brunei introduces death by stoning as punishment for gay sex|last=correspondent|first=Hannah Ellis-Petersen South-east Asia|date=2019-03-28|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-03-28|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Brunei says it won't enforce gay death penalty after backlash |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brunei-lgbt-sultan/brunei-says-it-wont-enforce-gay-death-penalty-after-backlash-idUSKCN1SB0FS |website=Reuters |date=6 May 2019 |access-date=August 19, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf|title=State-Sponsored Homophobia 2019|last=Mendos|first=Lucas Ramón|publisher=ILGA|year=2019|location=Geneva|pages=359}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=UAE Penal Code |url=https://www.adjd.gov.ae/sites/Authoring/AR/ELibrary%20Books/E-Library/PDFs/Penal%20Code.pdf |website=ADJD.gov.ae |access-date=1 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/ |title=Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death |work=The Washington Post |date=16 June 2016 |access-date=25 August 2017}}</ref>

===Laws against sexual orientation discrimination===

====United States====
* '''[[Social:Employment discrimination|Employment discrimination]]''' refers to discriminatory employment practices such as bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, and compensation, and various types of harassment. In the United States there is "very little statutory, common law, and case law establishing employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation as a legal wrong."<ref name=soandthelaw>{{citation |title=Sexual Orientation and the Law |first=James M |last=Donovan |author2=American Association of Law Libraries Standing Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues |year=2007 |publisher=William S. Hein & Co. |isbn=978-0-8377-0166-0}} § 5:17</ref> Some exceptions and alternative legal strategies are available. President Bill Clinton's Executive Order 13087 (1998) prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in the competitive service of the federal civilian workforce,<ref name=clintonexecorder>{{citation |title=Executive Order 13087 of May 28, 1998 |url=http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1998_register&docid=fr02jn98-135.pdf |periodical=Federal Register |volume=63 |number=105 |date=2 June 1998 |access-date=7 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041118191439/http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1998_register&docid=fr02jn98-135.pdf |archive-date=18 November 2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and federal non-civil service employees may have recourse under the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.<ref name=ashtonciviletti>''Ashton v. Civiletti'', 613 F.2d 923, 20 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1601, 21 Empl. Prac. Dec. ([[Company:CCH|CCH]]) ¶ 30297 (D.C. Cir. 1979)</ref> Private sector workers may have a Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 action under a quid pro quo [[Social:Sexual harassment|sexual harassment]] theory,<ref name=kellyoakland>''Kelly v. City of Oakland'', 198 F.3d 779, 81 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1455, 77 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) ¶ 46281 (9th Cir. 1999)</ref> a "[[Social:Hostile work environment|hostile work environment]]" theory,<ref name=oncalesundowner>{{ussc|name=Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.|link=|volume=523|page=75|pin=|year=1998}}.</ref> a sexual stereotyping theory,<ref name=pwchopkins>{{ussc|name=Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins|link=|volume=490|page=228|pin=|year=1989}}.</ref> or others.<ref name=soandthelaw/>
* '''Housing discrimination''' refers to discrimination against potential or current tenants by landlords. In the United States, there is no federal law against such discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but at least thirteen states and many major cities have enacted laws prohibiting it.<ref name=findlawrenters>{{citation |access-date=7 September 2007 |url=http://realestate.findlaw.com/tenant/tenant-fair-housing/tenant-fair-housing-orientation.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210161544/http://realestate.findlaw.com/tenant/tenant-fair-housing/tenant-fair-housing-orientation.html |archive-date=10 December 2007 |title=Renter's Rights Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination}}</ref>
* '''Hate crimes''' (also known as '''bias crimes''') are crimes motivated by bias against an identifiable [[Social:Social group|social group]], usually groups defined by race (human classification), [[Religion:Religion|religion]], sexual orientation, [[Social:Disability|disability]], [[Social:Ethnicity|ethnicity]], nationality, age, [[Biology:Gender|gender]], [[Philosophy:Gender identity|gender identity]], or political affiliation. In the United States, 45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation (the exceptions are AZ, GA, {{wipe|Indiana}}, SC, and WY). Each of these statutes covers bias on the basis of race, religion, and ethnicity; 32 of them cover sexual orientation, 28 cover gender, and 11 cover transgender/gender-identity.<ref name=adl>{{citation|url=http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/state_hate_crime_laws.pdf |title=State Hate Crime Laws |periodical=Anti-Defamation League |date=June 2006 |access-date=4 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614124916/http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/state_hate_crime_laws.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007 }}</ref> In October 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which "...gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability", was signed into law and makes hate crime based on sexual orientation, amongst other offenses, a federal crime in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrc.org/13699.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028224353/http://www.hrc.org/13699.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 October 2009 |title=President Barack Obama Signs Hate Crimes Legislation Into Law |publisher=HRC |date=28 October 2009 |access-date=24 August 2010 }}</ref>

====European Union====
In the [[Social:European Union|European Union]], discrimination of any type based on sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.<ref>Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union</ref>

===Political activism===
{{Further|Social:LGBT social movements}}

Since the 1960s, many LGBT people in the West, particularly those in major metropolitan areas, have developed a so-called gay culture. To many,{{Who|date=January 2012}} gay culture is exemplified by the [[Social:Gay pride|gay pride]] movement, with annual parades and displays of rainbow flags. Yet not all LGBT people choose to participate in "queer culture", and many gay men and women specifically decline to do so. To some{{Who|date=January 2012}} it seems to be a frivolous display, perpetuating gay stereotypes.

With the outbreak of AIDS in the early 1980s, many LGBT groups and individuals organized campaigns to promote efforts in AIDS education, prevention, research, patient support, and community outreach, as well as to demand government support for these programs.

The death toll wrought by the AIDS epidemic at first seemed to slow the progress of the gay rights movement, but in time it galvanized some parts of the LGBT community into community service and political action, and challenged the heterosexual community to respond compassionately. Major American motion pictures from this period that dramatized the response of individuals and communities to the AIDS crisis include ''An Early Frost'' (1985), ''Longtime Companion'' (1990), ''And the Band Played On'' (1993), ''Philadelphia'' (1993), and ''Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt'' (1989).

[[Social:Coming out|Publicly gay politicians]] have attained numerous government posts, even in countries that had sodomy laws in their recent past. Examples include Guido Westerwelle, Germany's Vice-Chancellor; Pete Buttigieg, the United States Secretary of Transportation, Peter Mandelson, a British Labour Party cabinet minister and Per-Kristian Foss, formerly {{wipe|Norway}} Minister of Finance.

LGBT movements are opposed by a variety of individuals and organizations. Some [[Philosophy:Social conservatism|social conservatives]] believe that all sexual relationships with people other than an opposite-sex spouse undermine the traditional family<ref>{{cite web|author=Salt Lake City, UT |url=http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=a1312e636369f010VgnVCM100000176f620aRCRD |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603123925/http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=a1312e636369f010VgnVCM100000176f620aRCRD |archive-date=3 June 2008 |url-status=dead |title=First Presidency Message on Same-Gender Marriage |publisher=Newsroom.lds.org |date=20 October 2004 |access-date=24 August 2010}}</ref> and that children should be reared in homes with both a father and a mother.<ref name=DMD>{{cite web|last=Brownback |first=Sam |title=Defining Marriage Down&nbsp;– We need to protect marriage. |work=National Review |date=9 July 2004 |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/brownback200407090921.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601155703/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/brownback200407090921.asp |archive-date=1 June 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng |title=''The Family: A Proclamation to the World'' |publisher=Lds.org |date=23 September 1995 |access-date=24 August 2010}}</ref> Some argue that gay rights may conflict with individuals' freedom of speech,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/michael_gove/article805241.ece |newspaper=The Times |title=I'd like to say this, but it might land me in prison |date=24 December 2002 |first=Michael |last=Gove | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/christian-group-likens-tory-candidate-review-to-witch-hunt-1.644299 |title=Christian group likens Tory candidate review to witch hunt |date=28 November 2007 |publisher=CBC News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605082143/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/christian-group-likens-tory-candidate-review-to-witch-hunt-1.644299 |archive-date=5 June 2008 }}</ref> religious freedoms in the workplace,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1193735028038 |title=Employer's Dilemma: When Religious Expression and Gay Rights Cross |first=Judith |last=Moldover |work=New York Law Journal |date=31 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_1_68/ai_n24944645 |title=Collision of religious and gay rights in the workplace |work=Humanist |date=January–February 2008 |first=Bob |last=Ritter |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305210524/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_1_68/ai_n24944645/ |archive-date=5 March 2012 }}</ref> the ability to run churches,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6904057.stm |title=Bishop loses gay employment case |date=18 July 2007 |work=BBC News Online}}</ref> charitable organizations<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2080669/Catholic-adoption-service-stops-over-gay-rights.html |title=Catholic adoption service stops over gay rights |date=5 June 2008 |work=The Daily Telegraph |first=Martin |last=Beckford | location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/03/11/catholic_charities_stuns_state_ends_adoptions/ |title=Catholic Charities to halt adoptions over issue involving gays |date=10 March 2006 |last=LeBlanc |first=Steve |work=The Boston Globe }}</ref> and other religious organizations<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.therecord.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/341201 |date=24 April 2008 |first=Greg |last=Mercer |work=The Record |title=Christian Horizons rebuked: Employer ordered to compensate fired gay worker, abolish code of conduct |access-date=21 August 2009 }}</ref> in accordance with one's religious views, and that the acceptance of homosexual relationships by religious organizations might be forced through threatening to remove the tax-exempt status of churches whose views do not align with those of the government.<ref name=BannedBoston>{{Cite news |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/191kgwgh.asp |title=Banned in Boston: The coming conflict between same-sex marriage and religious liberty |first=Maggie |last=Gallagher |date=15 May 2006 |volume=011 |issue=33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/nyregion/14civil.html |date=14 August 2007 |title=Church Group Complains of Civil Union Pressure |first=Jill |last=Capuzzo |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/nyregion/18grove.html |title=Group Loses Tax Break Over Gay Union Issue |first=Jill |last=Capuzzo |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} | date=18 September 2007 | access-date=31 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700226242,00.html |title=LDS Church expresses disappointment in California gay marriage decision |date=15 May 2008 |first=Carrie |last=Moore |work=Deseret News |access-date=21 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601193325/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1%2C5143%2C700226242%2C00.html |archive-date=1 June 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref> Some critics charge that [[Social:Political correctness|political correctness]] has led to the association of sex between males and HIV being downplayed.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.netassets.co.za/medical/medical.asp?websiteContentItemID=67274 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222949/http://www.netassets.co.za/medical/medical.asp?websiteContentItemID=67274 |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 March 2016 |first=James |last=Chin |title=The risks in hiding the HIV/AIDS truth |work=Business Day |date=12 March 2007 |volume=9 }}</ref>

===Military service===
[[File:Obama signs DADT repeal.jpg|thumb|U.S. President [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]] signs into law the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010]]
Policies and attitudes toward gay and lesbian military personnel vary widely around the world. Some countries allow gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people to serve openly and have granted them the same rights and privileges as their heterosexual counterparts. Many countries neither ban nor support LGB service members. A few countries continue to ban homosexual personnel outright.

Most Western military forces have removed policies excluding sexual minority members. Of the 26 countries that participate militarily in NATO, more than 20 permit openly gay, lesbian and bisexual people to serve. Of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, three ({{wipe|United Kingdom}}, {{wipe|France}} and {{wipe|United States}}) do so. The other two generally do not: {{wipe|China}} bans gay and lesbian people outright, {{wipe|Russia}} excludes all gay and lesbian people during peacetime but allows some gay men to serve in wartime (see below). [[Place:Israel|Israel]] is the only country in the Middle East region that allows openly LGB people to serve in the military.

While the question of homosexuality in the military has been highly politicized in the United States, it is not necessarily so in many countries. Generally speaking, sexuality in these cultures is considered a more personal aspect of one's identity than it is in the United States.

According to the [[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]], [[Empirical evidence|empirical evidence]] fails to show that sexual orientation is germane to any aspect of military effectiveness including unit cohesion, morale, recruitment and retention.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=American Psychological Association | url=http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/military.aspx | title=Proceedings of the American Psychological Association, Incorporated, for the legislative year 2004. Minutes of the meeting of the Council of Representatives July 28 & 30, 2004, Honolulu, HI | access-date=18 November 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215235251/http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/military.aspx |archive-date=15 February 2010 }}</ref> Sexual orientation is irrelevant to task cohesion, the only type of cohesion that critically predicts the team's military readiness and success.<ref>American Psychological Association: [Report of the APA Joint Divisional Task Force on Sexual Orientation & Military Service]</ref>

==Society and sociology==
{{Further|Philosophy:Societal attitudes toward homosexuality}}

===Public opinion===
[[File:Acceptance of Homosexuality Worldwide (Pew Research Poll 2019-20).svg|thumb|right|2019 Pew Global Research Poll: Should homosexuality be accepted in society? Percentage of responders that answered ''accept'': 
{{legend|#a50026|0-10%}}
{{legend|#d73027|11-20%}}
{{legend|#f46d43|21-30%}}
{{legend|#fdae61|31-40%}}
{{legend|#fee090|41-50%}}
{{legend|#e0f3f8|51-60%}}
{{legend|#abd9e9|61-70%}}
{{legend|#74add1|71-80%}}
{{legend|#4575b4|81-90%}}
{{legend|#313695|91-100%}}
{{legend|#c0c0c0|No data}}]] 
Societal acceptance of non-heterosexual orientations such as homosexuality is lowest in Asian, African and Eastern European countries,<ref>{{cite news |title=Anti-LGBT views still prevail, global survey finds |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/17/global-lgbt-rights-new-survey-ilga |work=The Guardian |date=17 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/social-views-and-morality/ |work=Pew Research Center |date=10 May 2017}}</ref> and is highest in Western Europe, Australia, and the Americas. Western society has become increasingly accepting of homosexuality since the 1990s. In 2017, Professor Amy Adamczyk contended that these cross-national differences in acceptance can be largely explained by three factors: the relative strength of democratic institutions, the level of economic development, and the religious context of the places where people live.<ref name="Adamczyk">{{cite book | last=Adamczyk|first=Amy |title=Cross-National Public Opinion about Homosexuality: Examining Attitudes across the Globe| year=2017|publisher=University of California Press|pages=3–7|isbn=9780520963597 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wly8DQAAQBAJ}}</ref>

===Relationships===
In 2006, the [[Organization:American Psychological Association|American Psychological Association]], American Psychiatric Association and National Association of Social Workers stated in an amicus brief presented to the Supreme Court of California: "Gay men and lesbians form stable, committed relationships that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential respects. The institution of marriage offers social, psychological, and health benefits that are denied to same-sex couples. By denying same-sex couples the right to marry, the state reinforces and perpetuates the stigma historically associated with homosexuality. Homosexuality remains stigmatized, and this stigma has negative consequences. California's prohibition on marriage for same-sex couples reflects and reinforces this stigma". They concluded: "There is no scientific basis for distinguishing between same-sex couples and heterosexual couples with respect to the legal rights, obligations, benefits, and burdens conferred by civil marriage."<ref name=amici />

===Religion===
Though the relationship between homosexuality and religion is complex, current authoritative bodies and doctrines of the world's largest religions view homosexual behaviour negatively.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} This can range from quietly discouraging homosexual activity, to explicitly forbidding same-sex sexual practices among adherents and actively opposing social acceptance of homosexuality. Some teach that homosexual desire itself is sinful,<ref name=OPCtrial>{{cite web|url=http://www.upper-register.com/irons_trial/charges.pdf|title=Charge #1 and specifications preferred by the Presbytery of Southern California against The Rev. C. Lee Irons|access-date=27 June 2008|publisher=Presbytery of Southern California of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church|quote=claiming that homosexuality is an unchosen "condition," rather than a sin of the heart, [...] contradicts the teaching of Scripture that both the desire and the act are sin.|archive-date=23 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723194409/http://www.upper-register.com/irons_trial/charges.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> others state that only the sexual act is a sin,<ref>Sex and Society – Volume 3 – Page 824</ref> while others are completely accepting of gays and lesbians.<ref>The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice – Page 543, Michael D. Palmer, Stanley M. Burgess – 2012</ref> Some claim that homosexuality can be overcome through religious faith and practice. On the other hand, voices exist within many of these religions that view homosexuality more positively, and liberal religious denominations may bless [[Social:Same-sex marriage|same-sex marriage]]s. Some view same-sex love and sexuality as sacred, and a mythology of same-sex love can be found around the world.<ref>Cabezón, p.vii, "Introduction"</ref>

==Discrimination==
[[File:Cologne Germany Cologne-Gay-Pride-2015 Parade-17a.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|LGBT activists at Cologne Pride in 2015 carrying a banner with the flags of 70 countries where homosexuality is illegal]]

===Gay bullying===
Gay bullying can be the verbal or [[Medicine:Physical abuse|physical abuse]] against a person who is perceived by the aggressor to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, including persons who are actually heterosexual or of non-specific or unknown [[Social:Sexual orientation|sexual orientation]]. In the US, teenage students heard anti-gay slurs such as "homo", "faggot" and "sissy" about 26 times a day on average, or once every 14 minutes, according to a 1998 study by Mental Health America (formerly National Mental Health Association).<ref>{{cite web|title=Mental Health American, Bullying and Gay Youth |url=http://www.nmha.org/go/information/get-info/children-s-mental-health/bullying-and-gay-youth |publisher="Mental Health America" formerly National Mental Health Association |access-date=27 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414144851/http://www.nmha.org/go/information/get-info/children-s-mental-health/bullying-and-gay-youth |archive-date=14 April 2012 }}</ref>

===Heterosexism and homophobia===
[[File:Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill protest.jpg|thumb|left|Protests in New York City against Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill.]]
In many cultures, homosexual people are frequently subject to prejudice and discrimination. A 2011 Dutch study concluded that 49% of Holland's youth and 58% of youth foreign to the country reject homosexuality.<ref>{{cite web|title=Half of young Dutch people reject homosexuality|url=http://community.expatica.com/forums/topic/2993/half-of-young-dutch-people-reject-homosexuality|publisher=Expatica/COC|access-date=9 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111201212113/http://community.expatica.com/forums/topic/2993/half-of-young-dutch-people-reject-homosexuality|archive-date=1 December 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Similar to other minority groups they can also be subject to stereotyping. These attitudes tend to be due to forms of homophobia and heterosexism (negative attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships). Heterosexism can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the norm and therefore superior. {{linktext|Homophobia}} is a fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexual people. It manifests in different forms, and a number of different types have been postulated, among which are internalized homophobia, social homophobia, emotional homophobia, rationalized homophobia, and others.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.genderandhealth.ca/en/modules/sexandsexuality/gss-homophobia-02.jsp |title=Riddle Homophobia Scale |access-date=April 27, 2021}}</ref> Similar is [[Social:Lesbophobia|lesbophobia]] (specifically targeting lesbians) and [[Social:Biphobia|biphobia]] (against bisexual people). When such attitudes manifest as crimes they are often called hate crimes and [[Social:Gay bashing|gay bashing]].

Negative stereotypes characterize LGB people as less romantically stable and more likely to abuse children, but there is no scientific basis to such assertions. Gay men and lesbians form stable, committed relationships that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential respects.<ref name=amici /> Sexual orientation does not affect the likelihood that people will abuse children.<ref name=lamb>Michael Lamb, Ph.D.: [http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/2009-11-17-doma-aff-lamb.pdf Affidavit&nbsp;– United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (2009)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225193923/http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/2009-11-17-doma-aff-lamb.pdf |date=25 December 2010 }}</ref><ref name=herekm>Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D.: [http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419022239/http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/facts_molestation.html |date=19 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>American Psychological Association: [http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/parenting-full.pdf Lesbian & Gay Parenting]</ref> Claims that there is scientific evidence to support an association between being gay and being a pedophile are based on misuses of those terms and misrepresentation of the actual evidence.<ref name="herekm"/>

===Violence against homosexuals===
{{Main|Social:Violence against LGBT people}}
{{Further|Medicine:Rape}}

In the United States, the FBI reported that 20.4% of hate crimes reported to law enforcement in 2011 were based on sexual orientation bias. 56.7% of these crimes were based on bias against homosexual men. 11.1% were based on bias against homosexual women. 29.6% were based on anti-homosexual bias without regard to gender.<ref name=fbicrime>{{citation |title=Victims |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2011/narratives/victims |periodical=FBI |access-date=26 July 2013}}</ref> The 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student, is a notorious such incident in the U.S. LGBT people, especially lesbians, may become the victims of "[[Social:Corrective rape|corrective rape]]", a violent crime with the supposed aim of making them heterosexual. In certain parts of the world, LGBT people are also at risk of "[[Social:Honor killing|honor killing]]s" perpetrated by their families or relatives.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/honor-killings-target-turkeys-lgbt-community/ |title="Honor killings" target Turkey's LGBT community |publisher=CBS News |date=12 October 2011 |access-date=23 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Di Piero Russo |url=http://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2011/08/05/news/sei_il_disonore_della_famiglia-20061452/ |title="Sei il disonore della famiglia" e accoltella il fratello gay |date=5 August 2011 |publisher=bari.repubblica.it |access-date=23 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/father-confesses-to-killing-his-own-son-in-landmark-homosexual-murder-case.aspx?PageID=238&NID=47579&NewsCatID=341 |title=Father confesses to killing his own son in landmark homosexual murder case |publisher=hurriyetdailynews.com |access-date=23 December 2013}}</ref>

In Morocco, a [[Social:Constitutional monarchy|constitutional monarchy]] following Islamic laws, homosexual acts are a punishable offence. With a population hostile towards LGBT people, the country has witnessed public demonstrations against homosexuals, public denunciations of presumed homosexual individuals, as well as violent intrusions in private homes. The community in the country is exposed to additional risk of prejudice, social rejection and violence, with a greater impossibility of obtaining protection even from the police.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ft.dk/samling/20161/almdel/uui/bilag/148/1735024.pdf|title=Morocco Situation of LGBT Persons|access-date=21 March 2019|publisher=Danish Immigration Service}}</ref>

==Homosexual behavior in other animals==
{{Main|Biology:Homosexual behavior in animals}}
[[File:Manchot 01.jpg|thumb|Roy and Silo, two {{wipe|New York City}} Central Park Zoo male [[Biology:Chinstrap penguin|chinstrap penguin]]s similar to those pictured, became internationally known when they coupled and later were given an egg that needed hatching and care, which they successfully provided.<ref name="Love That Dare Not Squeak">{{Cite news
|last=Smith
|first=Dinitia
|title=Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name
|newspaper=the New York Times
|date=7 February 2004
|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C1EF83A5F0C748CDDAB0894DC404482
|access-date=10 September 2007}}</ref>]]

Homosexual and bisexual behaviors occur in a number of other animal species. Such behaviors include [[Biology:Animal sexual behaviour|sexual activity]], [[Biology:Courtship|courtship]], affection, [[Philosophy:Pair bond|pair bond]]ing, and parenting,<ref name=Bagemihl/> and are widespread; a 1999 review by researcher Bruce Bagemihl shows that homosexual behavior has been documented in about 500 species, ranging from [[Biology:Primate|primate]]s to [[Biology:Acanthocephala|gut worms]].<ref name=Bagemihl/><ref name="Biological Exuberance: Animal">{{cite magazine
|last=Harrold
|first=Max
|title=Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity
|magazine=The Advocate, reprinted in Highbeam Encyclopedia
|date=16 February 1999
|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Biological+Exuberance:+Animal+Homosexuality+and+Natural+Diversity.-a053877996
|access-date=10 September 2007}}</ref> Animal sexual behavior takes many different forms, even within the same species. The motivations for and implications of these behaviors have yet to be fully understood, since most species have yet to be fully studied.<ref name="'Catalogue of Life' reaches">{{cite web
|last=Gordon |first=Dr Dennis
 | title='Catalogue of Life' reaches one million species
|publisher=National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
|date=10 April 2007
|url=http://www.niwascience.co.nz/pubs/mr/archive/2007-04-10-3
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713004634/http://www.niwascience.co.nz/pubs/mr/archive/2007-04-10-3
|archive-date=13 July 2007
|access-date=10 September 2007}}</ref> According to Bagemihl, "the animal kingdom [does] it with much greater sexual diversity—including homosexual, bisexual and nonreproductive sex—than the scientific community and society at large have previously been willing to accept".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/19990201/26501-gay-lib-for-the-animals-a-new-look-at-homosexuality-in-nature-.html |title=Gay Lib for the Animals: A New Look At Homosexuality in Nature – 2/1/1999 – Publishers Weekly |publisher=Publishersweekly.com |access-date=2 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729131204/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/19990201/26501-gay-lib-for-the-animals-a-new-look-at-homosexuality-in-nature-.html |archive-date=29 July 2012 }}</ref>

A review paper by N. W. Bailey and [[Biography:Marlene Zuk|Marlene Zuk]] looking into studies of same-sex sexual behaviour in animals challenges the view that such behaviour lowers reproductive success, citing several hypotheses about how same-sex sexual behavior might be adaptive; these hypotheses vary greatly among different species. Bailey and Zuk also suggest future research needs to look into evolutionary consequences of same-sex sexual behaviour, rather than only looking into origins of such behaviour.<ref name="Bailey et al.">{{cite journal | last1 = Bailey | first1 = N. W. | last2 = Zuk | first2 = M. | year = 2009 | title = Same-sex sexual behavior and evolution | url = http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~mzuk/Bailey%20and%20Zuk%202009%20Same%20sex%20behaviour.pdf | journal = Trends in Ecology & Evolution | volume = 24 | issue = 8| pages = 439–446 | doi = 10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.014 | pmid=19539396}}</ref>

==See also==
{{cols|colwidth=16em}}
* LGBT rights by country or territory
* LGBT rights at the United Nations
* [[Social:Anti-LGBT rhetoric|Anti-LGBT rhetoric]]
* [[Philosophy:Biology and sexual orientation|Biology and sexual orientation]]
* Fraternal birth order and male sexual orientation
* Gay sexual practices
* [[Medicine:Gender dysphoria|Gender dysphoria]]
* [[Social:Hate speech|Hate speech]]
* [[Philosophy:Human male sexuality|Human male sexuality]]
* List of nonfiction books about homosexuality
* List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
* Religion and sexuality
* [[Social:Riddle scale|Riddle homophobia scale]]
* [[Social:Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures|Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures]]
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|30em}}

===Books===
;1980s
* Adam, Barry (1987). ''The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement'', G. K. Hall & Co. {{ISBN|0-8057-9714-9}}
* {{Citation |first=John |last=Boswell |url=https://archive.org/details/christianitysoci00john |title=Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-226-06711-7 }}
* Dover, Kenneth J., ''Greek Homosexuality'', Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 1979, {{ISBN|0-674-36261-6}} (hardcover), {{ISBN|0-674-36270-5}} (paperback)
* d'Emilio, John ''Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940–1970'', [[Organization:University of Chicago Press|University of Chicago Press]] 1983, {{ISBN|0-226-14265-5}}
* {{Citation |title=The History of Sexuality |first=Michel |last=Foucault |year=1986 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=0-394-41775-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsexuali03fouc }}
* Roth, Norman. ''The care and feeding of gazelles: Medieval Arabic and Hebrew love poetry.'' IN: Lazar & Lacy. ''Poetics of Love in the Middle Ages'', George Mason University Press 1989, {{ISBN|0-913969-25-7}}
;1990s
* {{Citation|first1=Bruce |last1=Bagemihl |title=Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=1999|isbn=0-312-19239-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CbRGV8AAIQC}}
* Bérubé, Allan, ''Coming out under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two'', New York: MacMillan 1990, {{ISBN|0-02-903100-1}}
* {{Citation |year=1997 |title=Two spirit people: American Indian, lesbian women and gay men |author1=Brown, Lester B. |editor1=Lester B. Brown |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7890-0003-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwnQBETJsvEC}}
* {{Citation |year=2000 |title=Handbook of medieval sexuality |first1=Vern L. |last1=Bullough |first2=James A. |last2=Brundage |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-8153-3662-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgSI1gvKhtAC}}
* {{Citation |year=1995 |title=Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940 |author1=Chauncey, George |edition=reprint, illustrated |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02621-0 }}
* {{Citation |year=1990 |title=Encyclopedia of homosexuality (2 Volumes) |first1=Wayne R. |last1=Dynes |first2=Warren |last2=Johansson |first3=William A. |last3=Percy |first4=Stephen |last4=Donaldson |publisher=Garland Pub. |isbn=978-0-8240-6544-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYyGAAAAIAAJ}}
* {{Citation |year=1993 |title=Odd girls and twilight lovers: a history of lesbian life in twentieth-century America |author1=Faderman, Lillian|edition=4 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-07488-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44i96GWYxSQC}}
* Hinsch, Bret, ''Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China'', The University of California Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-520-06720-7}}
* {{Citation |year=1994 |title=Outing: shattering the conspiracy of silence |author1=Johansson, Warren |author2=William A. Percy |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-56024-419-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lZ903C-dkMC}}
* {{Citation |year=1994 |title=Sex in America: a definitive survey |author1=Michael, Robert T. |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-91191-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PkjmGwAACAAJ}}
* {{Citation |year=1998 |title=Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece |author1=Percy, William Armstrong |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06740-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TCvoj1efp8UC}}
* {{Citation |year=1987 |title=Compañeras: Latina lesbians (an anthology) |author1=Ramos, Juanita |publisher=Latina Lesbian History Project |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElVnAAAAMAAJ}}
* Rousseau, George, ''Perilous Enlightenment: Pre- and Post-Modern Discourses—Sexual, Historical'', Manchester University Press 1991, {{ISBN|0-7190-3301-2}}
* {{Citation |year=1992 |title=Sexuality and eroticism among males in Moslem societies |author1=Schmitt, Arno |author2=Jehoeda Sofer |editor1=Arno Schmitt |editor2=Jehoeda Sofer |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-56024-047-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw_BVSVmNsUC}}
* {{Citation |year=1999 |title=An American obsession: science, medicine, and homosexuality in modern society |author1=Terry, Jennifer |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-79367-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6pGoWWLfhEC}}
;2000s
* {{Citation |year=2005 |title=Regulating sex: the politics of intimacy and identity |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Bernstein |first2=Laurie |last2=Schaffner |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-94869-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQzW5I2RGNcC}}
* {{Citation |year=2002 |title=Before Stonewall: activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context |author1=Bullough, Vern L. |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-56023-193-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7x_VnES2esC}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Greeks And Greek Love: A Radical Reappraisal of Homosexuality In Ancient Greece|author=Davidson, James|year=2007|isbn=978-0-297-81997-4|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson}}
* {{cite book |last=Gunther |first=Scott Eric |date=2009 |title=The Elastic Closet, A History of Homosexuality in France, 1942-present |location=New York |publisher=[[Company:Palgrave Macmillan|Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0-230-59510-1}}
* {{Citation |year=2004 |title=The lavender scare: the Cold War persecution of gays and lesbians in the federal government |author1=Johnson, David K. |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-40481-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FM_hkMdxpIC}}
* {{Citation |year=2003 |title=Historical dictionary of the lesbian liberation movement: still the rage |author1=Myers, JoAnne |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-4506-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dzYbAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{Citation |year=2002 |title=Queering India: same-sex love and eroticism in Indian culture and society |author1=Vanita, Ruth |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-92950-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I9rrucxQbmEC}}

===Journal articles===
* {{Citation |title=On the Prevalence of Homosexuality and Bisexuality, in a Random Community Survey of 750 Men Aged 18 to 27 |last1=Bagley |first1=Christopher |last2=Tremblay |first2=Pierre |location=New York |publisher=Haworth Press |year=1998 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |volume=36 |issue= 2 |issn=0091-8369 |oclc=91129391|doi=10.1300/j082v36n02_01 |pages=1–18|pmid=9736328 }}
* {{Citation |doi=10.2307/374839 |title=The Homophobic Imagination |last1=Crew |first1=Louie |last2=Norton |jstor=374839 |first2=Rictor |location=3, Nov 74 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=272–90 |journal=College English |issn=0010-0994 |year=1974 |oclc=427092211 }}
* {{Citation |title=New Evidence of Genetic Factors Influencing Sexual Orientation in Men: Female Fecundity Increase in the Maternal Line |last1=Iemmola |first1=Francesca |last2=Ciani |first2=Andrea Camperio |publisher=Springer |format=Article |year=2009 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |pages=393–399 |volume=38 |issue=3 |location=no. 3 |issn=0004-0002 |oclc=360232526 |doi=10.1007/s10508-008-9381-6 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10508-008-9381-6 |pmid=18561014|s2cid=508800 }}
* {{Citation |doi=10.1126/science.1887219 |title=A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men. |last=LeVay |first=Simon |year=1991 |journal=Science |pages=1034–7 |issue=5023 |volume=253 |issn=0036-8075 |oclc=121655996 |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/253/5023/1034 |pmid=1887219 |bibcode=1991Sci...253.1034L |s2cid=1674111 }}
* {{Citation |title=Fraternal Birth Order and Ratio of Heterosexual/Homosexual Feelings in Women and Men |first9=N |last9=Martin |first8=J |last8=Bailey |first7=M |last7=Wright |first6=S |last6=MacGregor |last1=McConaghy |first5=M |first1=N |last2=Hadzi-Pavlovic |first2=D |last5=Keller |last3=Stevens |first3=C |last4=Manicavasagar |first4=V | display-authors = 8|year=2006 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |pages=161–174 |issue=4 |volume=51 |issn=0091-8369 |oclc=202629885 |pmid=17135133 |doi=10.1300/J082v51n04_09 |s2cid=24828176 }}

===Online articles===
* Burr, Chandler. [https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199706/homosexuality-biology/ Homosexuality and biology]. ''The Atlantic'', June 1997, {{ISSN|1072-7825}}. An overview of recent research in layman's language.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/55169.stm BBC News (Feb 1998)]: Fingerprints Study
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/325979.stm BBC News (Apr 1999)]: Doubt cast on 'gay gene'
* {{cite web |url=https://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20000329/pointing-finger-androgen-cause-homosexuality |title=Pointing the Finger at Androgen as a Cause of Homosexuality |website=WebMD |date=March 2000 |access-date=31 January 2017}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3735668.stm BBC News (Oct 2004)]: Genetics of homosexuality
* James Davidson, ''London Review of Books'', 2 June 2005, [http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n11/davi02_.html "Mr and Mr and Mrs and Mrs"]—detailed review of ''The Friend'', by Alan Bray, a history of same-sex marriage and other same-sex formal bonds
{{Refend}}

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* {{curlie|Society/Gay,_Lesbian,_and_Bisexual/History/|Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual/History}}
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/homosexuality/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy&nbsp;– Homosexuality]

{{Sexual identities}}

[[Category:Interpersonal attraction]]
[[Category:Interpersonal relationships]]

{{Sourceattribution|Homosexuality|1}}