Homosexual Yout

Abstract

DURING the 1980s, health professionals and laypersons alike have confronted the subject of homosexuality on a daily basis in journals and books, on radio and television, primarily in the context of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic. Despite an unprecedented public awareness of adult homosexuality and its relevance to a variety of individual and public health issues, disproportionately little attention has been focused on the antecedents of homosexuality in childhood and adolescence. Although the prevalence of adolescent homosexual behavior is well recognized, some authorities¹"clearly reject"²the notion that a homosexual orientation can be established prior to adulthood. Unlike other cultures, including Native American communities,³modern American society views heterosexuality as the only possibility for its young. The homosexual adult, as if by parthogenesis, springs from the heterosexual child at the age of 18 years. Not only does this perspective preclude understanding the origins and development of