Does Gay equal Gifted?

I've met far too many ungifted gay guys to lend this theory any credence.

Lex

 

Well there actually is a strong correlation. About 14% of gifted people are gay, self identififed, according to a recent study, which is MUCH higher than the general population. I have seen huge amounts of anecdotal information on this in therapy (Im a therapist)and in my own experience. (family member) I am looking for more research and have lots of "chicken and egg" questions about this. Your thoughts?

 

No, because one's sexual orientation does not denote if someone will have talent. I mean not to sound pessimistic, but how many straight people are singers, musicians, painters, politicians, actors, etc?

Granted there are gay people with a lot of talent. But it's not like the second they came out they were granted an amazing talent. Most people are born with a talent or they work very hard to develop it. Which has nothing to do with sexuality.

 

That's pretty intriguing. It seems a lot like the IQ debate. Like, people with higher incomes usually have higher IQs but do they have higher IQs because they have more resources at their disposal, or do they have higher incomes because they have higher IQs....

With the gifted/gay thing, it could be because gifted people tend to expose themselves to more viewpoints and more information, leading to independent thought (perhaps straying from their parents' points of view) so they are more likely to come out to themselves and accept themselves. Their 'straight' counterparts may just suppress their true self. Just a theory..

 

Speaking as a bi guy, I see bi as difficult to accept at first but as a "gift." I'm able to see the whole human equation completely. I'm able to see where straight people come from and where gay people come from. It's like I'm a bridge. Because of this I feel like it's my 'duty' or something to stand up and help others. Since I can "bridge" that divide. I also grew up on super heroes where mutants saw their powers as "gifts" while others feared them because of it. Being bi, I've also gotten to know and fell for a lot of cool gay guys that have furthered my wanting to stand up for their rights so they can enjoy the same liberties (like marriage) that I can (lean more towards girls, thus wife).

"You know what we get to do? We get to look people in the eye and say, 'Listen, I'm a mutant. I'm not a good person or a bad person. I'm just a person. And really, the only thing even remotely special about me is that I would fight, hard, for your right to be different. Mutant, human. Don't matter. You don't like me? You don't know me. I scare you? Well, I'm just a mutant. I'm not a disease. I'm me. And, I don't know, maybe one out of every five people hear us. Really hears us. But that one that does? You know you're changing someone's life."
- Ultimate X-Men

 

I was thinking about this topic the other day, and this is pretty much the same conclusion I came to.

While it's certainly true that there are plenty of extremely gifted/intelligent straight people as well as plenty of unremarkable gays, I have noticed that there seem to be far more non-straight people in more intellectual/artistic circles. I think that can also be partly attributed to the fact that, like suninthesky said up there, gifteds are more informed and accepting and are therefore easier to come out around than others.

But that's just based on my experience...It's completely possible that what I've noticed has just been due to chance.



Also, I love this:

 

In our society people with higher levels of education are more likely to come out. "Artistic and intellectual circles" are just places that foster more acceptance. I'm sure if everyone who was actually gay was compared to everyone who was actually straight, you'd find there to be little to no difference between orientations. But you can't measure people who aren't out of the closet.

 

According to Wikipedia's article on D.H. Lawrence, pioneer of post-Victorian sexual fiction, he is reports to have said in a letter written during 1913, "I should like to know why nearly every man that approaches greatness tends to homosexuality, whether he admits it or not…" I think this holds some credence, but natually one shouldn't stereotype

 

You clearly haven't met any Danish gays Most of them are far from intelligent and gifted

 

Gay people are more likely to be left-handed.

So are gifted people AND autistic people.

I don't think it's all nonsense.

I notice that A LOT of people on the autistic spectrum are gay or asexual. In order for this diagnosis to be made, you have to be considered somewhat *impaired* by a doctor, but I've read a lot about Asperger's and autism in general. I see a lot of similarities between so many other gay people I've known and people with autistic spectrum disorders. The people who go undiagnosed are just very high-functioning.

I am very much like the women with Asperger's that I see but I don't think I'd be severe enough to qualify for a diagnosis, I'm just saying that there seems to be a strong correlation between the two and that there may also be some evolutionary explanation for homosexual and asexual orientation within that community.

Population control, perhaps? Nature has ways of controlling these things. Certain species have turned to homosexual behavior to limit or weed out the population.

If gay and autistic people's brains are wired a bit differently, they could be useful in advancing society to some degree, but would begin to cause problems in huge numbers.

 

There might be a correlation, but I don't know how it could be justified.

:S not to be full of myself or anything, but here are some characteristics of my own, some erratic and others good:
- I tend to do very well in school without working too hard
- I play 2 different instruments
- I enjoy most intellectual subjects, ranging from abstract concepts in math and technical subjects such as the sciences to literature
- I'm good at public speaking and expressing my thoughts to others as well
- I have certain tics that might be OCD-ish but aren't really so
- I scored a 36 on the AQ Test (asperger's questionnaire?) but don't display the characteristics of autism/aspergers
- I want to be involved in (but feel much more nervous than an average person would during) social situations

 

<--- Fairly intelligent guy, not "gifted." Emphasis on "fairly."


This thread makes me lol.

 

I see paterns, if that counts as gifted... I'm great with numbers and stuff.

Does gay = gifted? No, as lots of people have said. But I think the suffering, bullying, exclusion, hatred and everything else some of us have been through gives us another perspective.

 

It's an interesting subject and at first, I thought this was the case, but gifted people can be straight, gay, whatever. To some degree, even the most evil people (look at Hitler, he was a great speaker at the time) can be gifted.

That being said however, I'm trying to appear smarter and have things that I can do on a higher scale compared to everyone else, so that when the time comes, there's still positive qualities after I come out for anyone who has issues with me. So maybe it's like someone said earlier, it's compensating for your sexuality or whatever else you may have.

This is interesting, because I've heard gay people are more likely to be left handed, yet I'm right handed and all the left handed people I know are straight.

What's more intriguing however is that I am on the Autistic Spectrum (mild Asperger's Syndrome) and am gay, yet for a period considered asexuality and prior to that, being straight but not for too long. I wouldn't mind reading about the similarities between the two however.

 

I've seen plenty of gay guys who aren't all that bright. Myself, I'm pretty smart. Not incredibly smart, but pretty smart.