Teens getting 'more comfortable' with homosexuality, survey finds

BY KAREN S. PETERSON, Gannett News Service

Increasing numbers of teens have no problem with gay people, says a survey on sexual behavior commissioned by Seventeen magazine.

In 1991, responding to the same question, 17 percent said they were fine with homosexuality. In 1999, 54 percent of teens said they were comfortable with it.

In 1991, 27 percent felt that gays had something wrong with them; in 1999, 19 percent said they believed that.

"The culture is just a lot more open about it,'' says Gayle Forman, a senior writer for Seventeen. "It is part of the popular culture on TV and the movies. People know more gay people. The fear element has lessened.''

More than half the older teens (55 percent) in the sample said they have engaged in oral sex. About 45 percent thought that counted as sex, and 40 percent believed it didn't. Fifteen percent were not sure.

"This area of sex education needs to be addressed,'' Forman says. "So many are engaging in this behavior and believing it is not sex.''

Only teens 15 to 19 were asked questions about having sex. A total of 1,015 teens in 23 shopping malls across the country filled out questionnaires. Of those, 723 were 15 to 19.

The Kaiser Family Foundation, a national health care research and education organization, consulted with the magazine on the survey.

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