Widespread
misconceptions
about LGBT people

LGBTmyths.com
Misconception

If we make it acceptable to be gay, we'll encourage more kids to become gay when they grow up.

Reality

This statement is based on the assumption that all kids are naturally straight and can become (or choose to be) gay growing up. That is not the case. Depictions of LGBT people in the media do not encourage kids to become gay, but rather normalize such feelings, if already present.

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Misguided

We should “let kids decide” if they want to be gay when they grow up.

Reality

You can’t choose what you like and whom you are attracted to, just like you can’t choose your favorite foods and music.

Myth

Because gay people cannot procreate, they’ll be wiped out if they don’t “recruit” / turn kids gay.

Reality

LGBT people have always existed throughout history. A certain percentage of kids born is statistically bound to be LGBT. Thus, there’s no need to “turn” anyone, even if that were possible.

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Misconception

LGBT people want special rights.

Reality

LGBT people want to have the same rights as straight / cisgender people; nothing more, nothing less.

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Myth

You can become gay by associating with gay people.

Reality

There’s no evidence for that. We don’t know what “makes” a person gay, just like we don’t know what makes someone straight. But, hanging out with people who are open about being LGBT could help someone who’s afraid to come out to do so, hence the misconception.

Myth

You are either straight or gay. Bisexual people are just confused.

Reality

Although some bisexual people may later identify more strongly with either “gay” or “straight,” this doesn’t mean that those attracted to people of different sexes and gender identities are confused. Even if someone’s sexual orientation changes over time, that doesn’t make their initial attraction any less real or valid.

Myth

Bisexual people can’t be satisfied by a single partner, so they will cheat.

Reality

A bisexual person has the potential to be attracted to a person of any sex / gender. They are not more likely to want to be with more than one person at a time. Whether someone cheats on their partner is not related to their sexual orientation.

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Stereotype

You can tell if someone is gay / LGBT because they all behave a certain way.

Reality

Sometimes you might successfully guess a person’s sexual orientation by their appearance or mannerisms. But a lot of the time you’d be mistaken, so your impression is only a guess.

Myth

Kids are weirded out / confused when they see gay or trans people.

Reality

It’s almost always the parents that are. Children are typically nonchalant upon learning / seeing that someone is gay or trans—unless they’ve been told before that there’s something wrong with it.

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Misconception

Only adults can be LGBT because children aren’t sexual.

Reality

While children don’t experience sexual attraction, crushes are common from the age of 5. Just like some kids get crushes on others of the opposite sex, some get crushes on kids of the same sex.

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Linguistic Misunderstanding

A man cannot become a woman.

Reality

“Woman” can mean A. a human born with ovaries, or B. the behavioral expectations about how these humans behave. If you say “a man cannot become a woman,” you‘re using definition A. If you disagree, you’re going by definition B.

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Propaganda

Trans-women are predators.

Reality

“Many of the arguments against trans people today are simply recycled homophobia from the ’80s and ’90s. We [were] being told that gay people were predators and lesbians were a threat in single-sex spaces. That wasn’t true of lesbians, bi and gay people then, and it isn’t true of trans people now.”

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Misconception

Being sexually attracted to the same sex is unnatural.

Reality

Homosexuality is routinely observed in many animal species, including humans. It is therefore “natural”, in the sense that it commonly occurs in nature.

Myth

LGBT identities are a Western trend.

Reality

People whom we’d label LGBT today have existed either visibly or secretively in societies around the globe since the dawn of history.

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Straw Man Argument

If everyone were gay, humanity would end.

Reality

But not everyone is gay—only a few people are. Nobody’s advocating for more people to “become gay”. A small percentage of the population will always be gay, just as it’s always been.

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