Wow. These are all very interesting answers yall have given. Just by reading some of these articles and responses on this issue; combined with my knowledge of the gay lifestyle (by being the brother of a gay person), I have noticed something. The gay lifestyle is one of the most confusing conditions to cope with and understand known to mankind. Growing up my brother, who is 3 years older than I, liked everything I liked, sports, girls, pizza, pokemon cards, girls, and GIRLS. He hung out with the same people I hung out with, he did the same things I did and didn’t act differently at all. OK, heres where the confusion begins. My brother was never the type of person to care what another person would think, he was very independent and the complete opposite of self-centered. Myself on the other hand, cared greatly about my social life, probably alot more than bearable at times, making me come off as an asshole or narcissistic type of person. My brother came out to my parents when he first entered high school, in the 9th grade. My parents were the only ones to know at this point, and they completely disagreed with his lifestyle at first and didn’t want me to know because they thought I would judge him. So finally, when it was time for me to enter high school, I had GREAT suspicion that my brother was extremely gay, but didn’t want to ask him because I figured it would have already been adressed and talked about with me. So my parents kept my brother being gay a secret from all my friends so I wouldn’t know, but it made it seem to me like him being gay was a problem. I am much more mature at this point when I have already accepted him for my brother and nothing else, but I would just like to expose examples of REAL FACTS about the complexity of the effects of having a gay family member. In the long run, depending on the how the parents react to the gay child, it can have a great effect on others. All throughout high school I was embarassed as hell about people asking about my brother, because this was put into me.