My Little Sister Says She's Gay?

I'm pretty sure she's just trying to emulate you but you know she might not be, it's hard to be sure.

 

Probably just emulating you. My little brother tries to do the same by listening to the same music as me. I wouldn't worry about, I'd just leave it alone until she forgets about it.

 

Yeah she's not gay.

 

She's 9. She's probably just saying that because she wants to be just like her big sister. Whether she is or isn't, she'll figure it out herself when she gets old enough.

 

I agree with everyone else, she's just wanting to be like her big sister. I wouldn't stress over it too much. I'm sure she'll grow out of it soon.

 

I knew I was gay since I was 9.. and I still am, so there's a chance she could be.

 

I think she's too young to come to that conclusion.

 

It's possible to come to the realization that you're gay or queer at the age of nine (it's rare, though), but for now I think that your sister is probably just saying she's a lesbian because she wants to be like her big sister.

I would wait for a while to see how it goes because either way she'll definitely figure out more about herself in her coming teenage years. Whether she is a lesbian or not will most likely be made clear to her in the future when she better understands herself and sexuality.

 

While it's possible that she could know at nine, an older sister being out to a little sister then the little sister coming out seems like a copycat to me. I know they're people that know at nine and there's also people who are LGBT and also have an LGBT sibling. However, nine year olds love to copy older siblings. At least I did anyway.

 

I've known that I was a lesbian since I was pretty young. There's a chance that she looks up to you and since you say you're a lesbian she wants to be one too. Maybe next time it's brought up ask her why she thinks she's a lesbian..that way you could possibly be able to figure out if she really is or if she's just trying to be like you.

 

I agree, seems most likely to be a copycat response. If you want to be sure, ask her if she knows what a lesbian is. Have her describe it. If it sounds too much like how you described it to her, that most likely confirms the suspicions of most people in this thread. However if she is able to provide a more in depth explanation than what you gave her, then she might really be...

 

" I don't know whether or not I should believe her because she's so little and I doubt she even understands sexuality very well yet."

I'm going to go against the crowd here a bit and ask if you remember how people used the exact same line of reasoning on you? How can you know, you're too young.

She may well be just emulating you, but on the other hand she might not be. Let's say you believe her and you admit to her as much, it's not like you're going to start encouraging her to date every girl she see's any more than you would tell her to date all the guys to make her straight again.

If you say you believe her all you're doing is proving you're someone she can trust and come to with problems, and you know full well your parents aren't the ones to come to with this one. If she IS emulating you she's going to do it whether you believe it or not, heck she might do it MORE just to prove she wasn't making it up. No little girl wants to think her big sister doesn't believe her, even if it doesn't make sense some times.

 

I suppose the obvious question would be: does she even fully understand what a lesbian is? Did you explain it to her in any kind of detail, or did you just tell her you're a lesbian and leave it at that? There's a good chance she's walking around saying "I'm a lesbian!" because, while she might not understand what it means, she heard you say it so she wants to say it too.

Case in point: when I was eight or nine years old I took a shine to the word "incest" even though I had no clue what it meant. I'm sure I created some pretty awkward situations by using the word over and over again without the faintest idea what I was talking about.

Given that I questioned my own sexuality well into my 20s, I'd say the reasoning is fairly logical. Some people spend their entire lives trying to figure it all out. The chances that a 9-year-old child has successfully and definitively discovered her sexual identity are pretty slim. It's a lot more likely that she's emulating big sis. This stuff happens with siblings all of he time.

The best course of action is probably to indulge her (the way you indulge a child who insists that their invisible friend is real). Either she'll end up actually being a lesbian or she'll get bored with emulating big sis and move on to more typical 9-year-old problems.

Either way, it's an issue that probably shouldn't be forced.

 

^ exactly. She could be gay, I knew well before I was 9 and hinted to my parents when I was 10. Just tell her it doesn't matter whether she likes girls or boys, neither or both, you'll always support her.

 

I think she may be just copying you as well. When you came out to her did you explain what exactly a lesbian is? Maybe next time she brings it up, you could ask her a bit more details...like if she has crushes on boys or girls, etc.

I think it would be beneficial for you (and your parents) to know if she is gay just so she knows it's ok and maybe you could expose more to lgbt things so she doesn't feel isolated and different.

 

I wouldn't worry about your little sister turning out to be a lesbian. If she does turn out to be a lesbian then at least she'll have your support.
And don't worry too much about your mum's expectations either. All parents have hopes and dreams for their kids. We still live in a world where we assume that people are straight until they tell us otherwise. Until you tell your mum about your sexuality then she's gunna assume that you're gunna end up marrying a man and having a nice nuclear family and blah blah blah. I'm not telling you to come out. That's your choice to make! And whatever choice you make, we're here for you

 

I think the best thing for you to do is just to let her know that you will love her and support her no matter who she has crushes on, and remind her that its ok to have crushes on girls or on boys. That way you aren't telling her she isn't gay, but you're also letting her know she doesn't have to be gay to earn your love. It's sort of the reverse of what you see a lot because she may be looking up to you and thinking she has to be like you to get your love and support, or she may be telling you the truth because she thinks you will understand. So you want her to know either way is okay, and then maybe she will keep coming to you over time.