[Marilyn Monroe]

Quote by: italiangm;394103 [quote Society doesn't support or approve dating among gay teens like it does for hetero teens. For the most part, gay teens never get to participate in this important socialization process/ritual and most parents aren't receptive to their gay child's feelings, if they're aware of them at all.

This is unfortunate. Socialization among teens is a weird process. Lots of them get tossed to the wayside. It's really not like everybody is well-liked, popular, and has a ton of dates waiting in line. I never had a real BF till I got out of HS. When you are in school everybody knows you. They know how smart, not-smart you are. What you looked like before the nosejob. School is a hard place to really develop relationships. You might have some friends, but I'd guess most friends are devloped later. I still have a few friends from HS, but we weren't friends in HS. We met later.

In the case of gay boys, some find other outlets to vent their frustration and raging hormones, which explains why drug experimentation, anonymous sex, and STDs are so common.

The only guys I knew that might have been getting sex were the good-looking popular guys, or the jocks.

Delayed emotional maturation should be no surprise either, since the dating process doesn't exist until gay teens escape parental control. Unfortunately, accumulated emotional deficits can interfere with school and/or work as a young gay adult "catches up" to their hetero contemporaries.

If you have a few good friends I don't think it matters whether you're gay or not. You'll still mature socially. Lots of straight kids have trouble learning to socialize.

If they choose to focus on school/work, then emotional development of close personal relationships is further delayed. Having no practical experience, young gay adults enter the dating pool with years of pent-up, idealized fantasies of what dating, romance and intimacy should be like. They develop expectations based on those beliefs, many of which are unrealistic, and act on them.

You are painting a bleak picture for gays that I'm not sure is totally accurate. We all have scars from maturation, it's part of the process.

There wouldn't be so many emotional problems among gayfolk if society acknowledged its contribution to the problem. Many dismiss the teen dating issue claiming gay people should stop acting like victims. Yet, these same people (like yourself) are quick to complain that homosexuals recruit teens when they're young, impressionable bundles of raging hormones.

People are more receptive of gays now than ever before. I know some older gays that seem like they made it through ok. Lots of straights have emotional problems as well. MO you have to learn to live with the cards you are dealt. It's easy to make excuses, but it's wiser to let them go, and be free.