LOL. really? there are traditional gay people? really? huh... I don't think I've met any. Though I definitely have a very well tuned gaydar. People have started betting on whether I'm right or not. *rolls eyes* The people betting on me being right normally win. just thought I'd throw in those two cents.

i have TERRIBLE "gaydar"...i was once talking to a woman at a bar and had no clue that she was hitting on me until it was pointed out to me...i just thought she was a friendly person!...

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serendipity, do you have good "straightdar" then?

JUST TO CLEAR UP: when i said "traditional gay man", i meant, COMPLETELY non-traditional, loud, flamboyant and crazy.

no, thats not a good straightdar, thats just a failure of any kind of 'dar. :p next time, check to see if youre in a gay bar. thats a BIG hint. XD

My mom has horrible gaydar- like, really really, bad. I'm WAY better than her.
LOL to Nick...hahaha I cracked up when I saw that XD

Edit: My step-mom said that she has a 'secret handshake' with other lesbians and gays...she says they see eachother and they just KNOW. I say she's full of crap 'cause her gaydar is almost as bad as mum's
But what do I know?

lol, nick. I've still not met any who meet the traditional gay standards... but then, I've told you about some of the gays I know... heh. Odd people no matter how you look at 'em.

i have terrible any-kind-of-dar...lol...i am straight and i never know when a guy is hitting on me...i am that completely clueless female that has many brain farts when it comes to dating/relationships...

@nick - i was in my neighborhood bar where we go all the time and we are always meeting friendly people there of all races/genders/ages/etc...and she said "you have no clue that i am hitting on, do you"...and i was shocked...i laughed and shook my head...it was funny and i was flattered lol

yeah, my friend is fairly flamboyant...flashy yet scarily intelligent...oh the things we talk/laugh about!

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well i dunno if I'm straight or gay, since I don't really care about that yet (i'm going on 20, if anyone's wondering). thankfully no one has hit on me (that I know of, anywayz, so it could be that I just have very terrible -dars) because i don't socialise much in RL. i've always thought of myself as rather asexual, hence the rather lame self-jokes about me being able to hopefully pro-create like earthworms. man, I'm crazy.

(btw, Nick, how d'you know if a gay bar's a gay bar?)

@aisling - i knew a person who thought she was asexual and talked to her doctor about...evidently it is possible...

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asexual? uhh YEAH, its possible. andy warhol was asexual, and my sister's partner's little sister (mouthful, right there) thinks shes asexual.

@ aislingyngaio: ive known for years my sexual prefrence and im only "going on" 18. gay bar = rainbows + guys who dress well + women who dont + if anyones dancing, you can really tell, depending wheather you dance in this bar...

@ addicted_emma: theres no handshake. XD but we do just "know."

i just realized that on my mother's side of the family one of her aunts had five childre...four grew up to be homosexual...and her children all admitted that they had great upbringings, supportive family (until they came out) and all that jazz...i always found that rather interesting...

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lol, im assuming this is in responce to my lesbian sister? yeah, im pretty sure its genetic, its really prevailant in some families. and its been noticed that gay men have a larger left(right?) side of the brain, like straight women, while lesbian have a slightly smaller left(right?) side, just like straight men. genetics are what would cause that, your brain wouldnt jsut suddenly shrink/expand. XD

So the nature vs. nurture debate...? hmm, interesting info, serendipity... but isn't the brain thing more about art vs. science, Nick?

oh and btw, I recall hearing somewhere that it's actually possible for your orientation to change without being an opposite-sex hater. Apparently sometimes it just happens.

@Nick: I think you're lucky to be so sure of yourself so young.

@aisling - brain is still nurture vs nature...because the debate is still "is it something that happens to you based on external experiences (nurture) or is it something genetic (nature)...

my mother was so funny as we were growing into teenagers...she insisted that she would love us no matter what our orientation (i really hate that word for it btw)...she just wanted us all to make sure that she would support us no matter what...

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OF COURSE your orientation can change! orientation is like a slider scale. but you cant force it to like so many people like to believe. for some people its slides, for some its doesnt. mine has never slid even the tiniest, but hey, it could happen.

@ aislingyngaio: no, while arts and science do have different sided of the brain, being more artistic wouldnt cause enlargment, we only use about 10% of our brains any ways, so theres no need for increase in brain matter for "artistic ability."

opposite sex hater? >_> whaaaaat? i dont hate women, half of my close friends and friends are women.

its probably both nature and nurture, but a lot less nurture than commonly believed, you cant raise someone "gay." gay couples raise straight kids, just like straight couples can raise gay ones. its possible its mostly nature and a little nurture. and in nature, some kind of "other" or variance is always required, so its logical that nature would have a gay gene or evolutionarily developed one, possibly for population control, or lack on one gender of some other reason.

@ serendipity: lucky. my mothers not like that, shes supportive and even had gay friends and stuff, but when it comes to her kids, omg, watch out. its moslty her religion though, she wants us to go to heaven. if god is real and all loving and knows everything like hes portrayed: im good, because im a good person, orientation doesnt change that.

population control XD I love that one.

@serendipity: I was talking about orientation (er... which word would you like us to sub it for?) when i mentioned nature vs. nurture.

@Nick: I was just referring to red_shine's comment about how "There are either fat bad-looking lesbians, who have been heterosexual for 40 years, than got dumped by their husbands, decided that they have enough of men, and THEN became lesbian, or there are the feminine gays."

Fun fact from Wikipedia:
Quote:

it is very logical that there would be a gene related to homosexuality as a population control device...just as there are spikes in diseases, etc that also act as control variables...

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the percentage sounds right, too, i believe its about an estimated 10% of people are either gay or lesbian, that sounds about the right percentage to make sure the species procreated, just not too much.

10%?

...

even with 90% hetero, i still kinda think we're procreating outta control.

@nick: hehe, the whole thing about changing orientation reminded me of "But I'm a Cheerleader" movie. Parody of a 'gay changing camp' complete with ex gays and ex ex gays XD

Though here's a question: how do you know you're straight, bi, gay, trans,etc. etc.?