"The Truth About Stereotypes..."

I've made a few observations in my life about certain stereotypes that are, despite what we like to say about stereotypes, sometimes very predictive and/or revealing about us.  When it comes to gay stereotypes, I've referred to these as "OGTs" or "Obviously Gay Traits."  

Can you spot the gay person in the photo above?*

Of course you can, it's the 13 year old in the plaid shirt and brown pants.

How did you know?

What gave him away?  

Well, for me the most glaring OGT in this photo is the young man's crossed legs and tilted pelvis.  But moreover, his overall body language is communicating his sexual orientation ever so subtly.  I've made a careful (non-scientific) study of OGTs over the years and even our apparently non-exaggerated body language is often a dead giveaway, even though most people never notice it.  I think we gay people notice it because we look for it... It's part of what we do. We're always on the lookout for each other since we're so few in number (most modern estimates say we're 3-5% of the population).  

As I accepted my own sexual orientation, I began to look for people like me, and that's when I first began to notice the OGTs that most of us exhibit, but that most people never pay attention to.  I'm fascinated by this ability which we sometimes refer to as "Gaydar."  Even modern science is beginning to recognize that there's something to this (see: New York Times - The Science of Gaydar).

* The young man appearing in this 1968 photo says that he did indeed grow up to self-identify as Gay.

"Fear Eats the Soul"